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I have an early 2011 Macbook Pro. I'm running a Dell 2407 monitor using a VGA adapter and I get intermittent wavy lines on the external display. If I open the display menu on the monitor itself while the problem happens, the overlaid menu is not 'waving'. If I adjust the pixel clock on the monitor while the wavy lines are there, this temporarily resolves the problem

I'm using VGA as the DVI connection had other issues - intermittent noise / snow. I will probably replace the Macbook later this year and maybe even upgrade to a new thunderbolt display but in the meantime, this is incredibly annoying.

This video shows the wavy lines I'm seeing (but this was not uploaded by me) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEyUk6S07iQ

I've plugged the monitor into a completely separate power source and can't identify any other source of interference.

I'm running OSX 10.8.2 Mountain Lion. The display adapter is an official apple one.

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Is the VGA cable captive on the monitor end? – Thorgrim Feb 6 at 21:58
@Thorgrim not sure what that means? – codecowboy Feb 7 at 10:57
Can the VGA cable be unattached from where it connects to the monitor? Captive in this case means "cannot be removed". – Thorgrim Feb 7 at 14:44
It can be removed yes. I have also tried a different cable. – codecowboy Feb 7 at 15:49
My guess would still be the cable. Did either of the VGA cables have attached magnets? The magnets can prevent the cable from picking up external signals like an antenna. See Ferrite Bead, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead for an explanation. – Thorgrim Feb 7 at 22:56

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