Display for Power Mac 8600

Could you tell us what kind of Video card / Video port? You may need a special adapter if you did not upgrade the machine with a new video card with DVI/VGA. I believe it may have the older Apple display port http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DSubminiatures.svg (top one). If so, you'll need an adapter to convert to VGA, and then you should be able to purchase any VGA monitor to use with your machine.

The going pink then dying Sony may be as simple as broken wires in the VGA cable, or broken solder joints in the monitor behind the connection jack. It went pink because the Green gun stopped firing, indicating there was no Green signal making it to the tube (there are three signals, Red, Green and Blue).

You should be able to get the Sony monitor looked at by a competent TV repair place, and estimated. I have had several similar monitors resurrected for under $50

The Sony is a VGA monitor. You already have a DB-15 to HD-15 adaptor between the machine and the monitor cable. This adaptor may be adjustable, or it may be fixed to one resolution. (shorting of pins within the adaptor 'tells' the Mac what resolution to display). Any multiple-sync VGA monitor should be able to run at the same resolution that your Sony ran at.

Your 8600 has a built-in video 'card' and a DB-15 video output.
If you elect to get a video card, it would have to be a PCI card. The only one I can think of off the top of my head that is somewhat available on EBay etc. is the ATI Radeon 7000 PCI Mac edition but I don;t know how that works in the 8600. I do know it works in the Beige G3 tower under OS 9.2, which is the next model from the 8600.

Pretty much every monitor I've tried on both of my 8600s using the internal video has worked, even ones using a VGA adapter. The main thing is to max out the video memory to 4 MB (they came with 2 MB standard).

As for cards, I've used and seen used a wide range of Mac PCI video cards on the 8600s. Currently I have an ATI Rage 128 (pulled from a Blue & White G3, 16 MB of VRAM) in one of my 8600s and both an ixMicro Ultimate Rez and Pro Rez cards (both with 8 MB of VRAM) in the other one. An in the past I had an IMS/ixMicro TwinTurbo M8 (TwinTurbo 128M+, with 8 MB VRAM) in my 8600 too, but right now it is in my 7500.

To be on the safe side, you could also use any of the video cards that Apple shipped with the 9500/9600 series systems. Those came with the following cards:The key thing for using older cards is finding drivers for them... specially if the companies that made them aren't around any more.

mw2 said:

Supporting this fact is that the amber light goes on but the green will not when the G3 monitor is hooked to the 8600.

Click to expand...

There are no G3 monitors, but there were monitors sold at the same time as G3s... So a couple questions:

1. What type of monitor are you using? Specifics would be helpful. Actual model number, description of case, manufacture date, anything that gives us an idea what monitor this may be.
2. What G3 are you talking about? The 8600 series and 9600 series were still being sold when the first Beige G3s were released.

That having been said, to my recollection Apple didn't sell any monitors during the production of Power Macintosh G3 systems (1997-1999) that wouldn't work with an 8600 (1997-1998). Knowing what hardware you are talking about would help determine if this is an adapter problem, display problem, or logic board problem.

As for LCD displays... as stated, the 8600 is pretty compatible with anything, but you'll need an adapter. I would suggest getting an LCD display that has one of the following as it's native resolution; 1024 x 768, 1152 x 870, 1280 x 1024. Those are supported resolution for the built-in video on the 8600.

Apple VGA Studio Displays (the ones designed with the PM G3s) did work a little differently than regular VGA monitors. Although it works flawlessly as a monitor, my Studio Display will not get a picture from with my brother's component/s-video->VGA converter box, whereas every other VGA monitor we've ever tried works perfectly. Although you'd think the Apple monitor would work, I'd just try another monitor with your 8600.

mw2 said:

The G3 Power Mac is a blue series that goes back to April 1999. Its monitor came with it as a package (and it, of course, is an Apple that does have an adapter). But the booklet does say, as already mentioned that the video circuitry may not be compatible with another computer.

Click to expand...

Apple sold two displays with the Blue & White G3s, a 17" and a 21" Studio Display. The 17" is compatible with all Power Macs, and the 21" is compatible with the 8600 with a USB card (works without the USB card, but is not supported in that configuration). Both displays should work on the 8600 even if you only have 2 MB of VRAM.

These displays were sold to all who wanted them (including PC users) which is why Apple includes the warning about compatibility.

If either of these displays are not working with your 8600, then you may be having logic board issues. There are steps that I would take in this case if this was a system I (or one of my clients) owned to verify what the trouble is, but I also have a lot more resources than the average user would have on hand.

If you've added VRAM to the system, remove the additional memory leaving only the original Apple memory. Also, you could try the card from the Blue & White in the 8600 to make sure that the system is working at all. The fact that the displays aren't receiving a signal from the onboard video isn't a good sign for the logic board in general.

If it does turn out to be the logic board, they aren't too hard to replace.