Cannot Connect Macbook To TV

[cupol]

I have a Macbook Pro running Sierra, and am having an issue with connecting it to my TV through its thunderbolt cable.
(Getting this to work in the past has always been troublesome and very finicky.)
Sometimes the connection would not work at all; sometimes requiring a shut down and restart to get it to be available to the TV.
I read this has something to do with a signal the laptop sends out when starting, which may make sense, as when all else failed, this would usually work.
(Pressing ‘restart’ would not work, it had to be a total shut down.)

Now it’s not working at all, though that may be down to the adapter I’m using.
I have a active display port to HDMI adapter going to the TV.
I tried another one, but this one is passive, and doesn’t work, though, strangely, it does on my iMac, though without sound.
I’m thinking I need another active adapter for this older model, but am finding it almost impossible to locate one.
(Unless, of course, it's the thunderbolt jack on the computer which is at fault.)

Anyone have any thoughts or experience with this issue?

 

[TonyAguila]

I have a Macbook Pro running Sierra, and am having an issue with connecting it to my TV through its thunderbolt cable.
(Getting this to work in the past has always been troublesome and very finicky.)
Sometimes the connection would not work at all; sometimes requiring a shut down and restart to get it to be available to the TV.
I read this has something to do with a signal the laptop sends out when starting, which may make sense, as when all else failed, this would usually work.
(Pressing ‘restart’ would not work, it had to be a total shut down.)

Now it’s not working at all, though that may be down to the adapter I’m using.
I have a active display port to HDMI adapter going to the TV.
I tried another one, but this one is passive, and doesn’t work, though, strangely, it does on my iMac, though without sound.
I’m thinking I need another active adapter for this older model, but am finding it almost impossible to locate one.
(Unless, of course, it's the thunderbolt jack on the computer which is at fault.)

Anyone have any thoughts or experience with this issue?

This may have nothing to do with your setup, but my experience with HDMI to TV is with my 2018 Mac mini. It had an HDMI 2.0 port (so no need to convert Display Port to HDMI) connected to a 4K Roku TV and the best connection I had was using a 4K High Speed 18Gbps HDMI 2.0 Cable. I remember trying a couple of “standard” HDMI cables and didn’t get a good result. But with certain other variables, I don’t know if this will apply to your setup. I would start first with trying a high-speed HDMI 2.0 cable.

 

[cupol]

Thanks - that's what I'm using.
Not sure that's the issue, as it worked before.
I actually think it's the adapter that's gone bad.

 

[cupol]

Bought a new cable; now the mac connects, but only for a split second.
There is a burst of static, and the connection is lost.

 

[cupol]

Can't make heads nor tails on this issue:

Bought a new adapter, and the mac appeared on the TV screen, but only for a second (as before.)
I decided to bring it in to the store, where it worked fine, hooked up to a small monitor there.
(The tech mentioned it may be the display chip going bad that's causing the trouble.)

Brought it to a friends house, where it also worked through the VGA port on his TV, making me think the laptop is not the issue.

Figuring it was my TV, I tried an imac - but this works fine, so the TV is also not the issue.
(I also did a re-set on the TV by unplugging it for a few minutes.)

So it seems to work in every configuration except for my laptop with the TV; whereas it worked for years before.
I'm leaning towards what the tech said, and it's time for a replacement.

 

[cupol]

Does the macbook indeed have an internal display chip that can go bad?