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2011 Mac Mini no-likey 5m DVI cable

S

stab

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 13, 2007
20
5
Weird voodoo is happening connecting 2011 Macmini to Dell u2410.

My old 09 Macmini connects to this Monitor with a 5m dvi cable and mini-dvi adapter no worries.
If I use the very same cable with either the minidisplayport>dvi OR the hdmi>dvi adapters to my 2011 Macmini it doesn't work - no picture at all.

I thought I must have a faulty Mac so I reset the smu and pr ram rang Apple, got it check out at a local dealer and its all good!

I'm now guessing its something to do with the way the 2011 Macmini talks to the 5m DVI cable.

I thought a straight 5m hdmi cable might be an alternative but when I plug in a 2m I had at home I get a nasty grainy image on the u2410 - so I'm guessing this isn't an option.

Any thoughts on a solution to this dilemma will be greatly appreciated!
 
philipma1957

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
6,367
251
Howell, New Jersey
stab said:
Weird voodoo is happening connecting 2011 Macmini to Dell u2410.

My old 09 Macmini connects to this Monitor with a 5m dvi cable and mini-dvi adapter no worries.
If I use the very same cable with either the minidisplayport>dvi OR the hdmi>dvi adapters to my 2011 Macmini it doesn't work - no picture at all.

I thought I must have a faulty Mac so I reset the smu and pr ram rang Apple, got it check out at a local dealer and its all good!

I'm now guessing its something to do with the way the 2011 Macmini talks to the 5m DVI cable.

I thought a straight 5m hdmi cable might be an alternative but when I plug in a 2m I had at home I get a nasty grainy image on the u2410 - so I'm guessing this isn't an option.

Any thoughts on a solution to this dilemma will be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

plug in that 2 meter hdmi cable and go to system perferences go to displays and check your resolution settings. I have a sony tv as a monitor so 1080p is the best setting for me. in your case 1920 by 1080 may be the choice. I am guessing the grainy picture means you are set on 800 by 600 or some other low resolution
 

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Last edited:
T

tqmcguire

macrumors member
Jun 21, 2010
54
25
Skoopman said:
I use a 5m HDMI-DVI cable with no problems. The adapter might be the problem.
Click to expand...

I second the thoughts on the adapter. For whatever reason they're a little dodgy. I went through two of them in 2 months before finally giving up on them.
 
S

stab

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 13, 2007
20
5
So getting a 5m hdmi to dvi might be the go. Going to the monitor settings was the first thing I did - I tried every possible display setting change both on the mini and the monitor with every cable combination and it made no difference; couldn't see a damn thing. hdmi to hdmi seems to only work with TVs; reading from other forums it seems that the macmini assumes that doing this means you are plugging into a tv and it adjusts some setting to make this happen (and it was confirmed when I went to system profiler where under displays it says Television).

I just don't want to buy another cable and be stuck with it if it doesn't work.
 
S

stab

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 13, 2007
20
5
On another forum they said that dvi-d has a max length of 2.5m...
 
S

stab

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 13, 2007
20
5
Hdmi > dvi cable has done the trick. Thanks all for advice. Lesson learned... Better quality cable needed for long distances.
 
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