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jcdavies

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 7, 2010
86
0
I have a 3 or 4 year old dell monior not quite sure what model its one that is my girlfriends i never purchased the thing. It is hooked up to my late 2009 mac mini with a vga adaptor. when my mac mini goes to sleep the monitor does not it just has a colourful box bouncing around the screen think its a menu of some sort. Is there any way i can sync it up to sleep when my m mini does?
 

indg

macrumors 6502
Feb 7, 2007
459
12
it's up to the monitor to turn off or go into power saving mode once it stops receiving a signal from the mini. mini can't control it. this is one area where the imac has an advantage with its integrated display.
 

Wicked1

macrumors 68040
Apr 13, 2009
3,283
14
New Jersey
Try giving it two Tylenol PM's works for me :D

No Seriously there are settings on the monitors menu where you can make an adjustment to sleep wake up etc. Go thru the monitor Menu it is there, unless it is a really old monitor older then 5 years.
 

Baby Mac

macrumors regular
Jul 28, 2010
178
0
Kentucky
I use Dell 2405FPW monitors for my mini. Boot Camp/Win7. No problem with the monitor sleeping.

I have only seen the box that glides around the screen when I unplug the computer end of the video cable. Whether the computer is on, off, sleep, etc., you should not see that box any time the computer end is plugged in.
 

old-wiz

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2008
8,331
228
West Suburban Boston Ma
I have a 5 year old Dell monitor connected to my wife's Mini, and it has no problems sleeping. What kind of connection are you using to the monitor? IIRC, there's also something in the monitor setup as others mentioned.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,343
12,459
"I have a 3 or 4 year old dell monior not quite sure what model its one that is my girlfriends i never purchased the thing. It is hooked up to my late 2009 mac mini with a vga adaptor."

I'm wondering if the fact that the monitor is connected via VGA (rather than via DVI) could have something to do with this.

I'm not as well-versed in video connection schemes as I should be, but could it be possible that the particular VGA cable that you're using doesn't have the ability to transmit "sleep" commands or information from the computer to the monitor?

I'm guessing the "bouncing box" that you're seeing is what the monitor displays when it "loses" the input signals (which I believe is what happens when the computer sleeps, that is, it stops sending "color signals" to the monitor).

Can the monitor's menus be accessed to change this setting?

I'm using a Dell 1905FP display hooked to a PowerMac g4. Generally, I have my "sleep" settings set "way out there", so the computer doesn't attempt sleep for a long time (it won't go into deep sleep anyway, due to PCI cards installed). However, when it does drop off to sleep, this particular Dell monitor "goes black".

Perhaps the "bouncing box" is something more recent, purposely put there to show that the monitor is powered on, but has no "display input signal" from the computer.

The fact that the box "moves" will prevent any screen "burn in" or memory. If you can't stand the box being there, perhaps the best solution is to reach for the power button.

Another suggestion would be to try a DVI type connection.
 

cfedu

Suspended
Mar 8, 2009
1,166
1,566
Toronto
I have a dell 2408 monitor, I have had 10 different macs connected to it including mac mini's. All have used my mini DP to DP cable. I picked up a new used 2009 mini yesterday and the monitor will not power off when the mac mini sleeps
 

Baby Mac

macrumors regular
Jul 28, 2010
178
0
Kentucky
I'm wondering if the fact that the monitor is connected via VGA (rather than via DVI) could have something to do with this.
If I have just a VGA cable connected at one end to the Dell 2405FPW monitor and the other end not connected, I get the floating box. Same as the DVI connector.
 

cfedu

Suspended
Mar 8, 2009
1,166
1,566
Toronto
I fixed my problem. It seems that I did not have the mini displayport cable pushed in far enough into the mini. now it goes to sleep with no problem
 
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