Plugged dvi to 23" monitor and it worked fine. Plugged a dvi to VGA adapter with VGA going to the same monitor and it only allows 640x480 resolution. Tried different cables and adapters. Any advice? Thanks!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
G4 MDD 9600 VGA woes
- Thread starter Rafalski24
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
d88co88
macrumors 6502
Yeah, just tried another monitor. Is it possible this is a limitation of the hardware? I find it hard to believe a graphics card of this age can't use VGA past 640x480 but can do 1920x1200 via DVI...
MacHamster68
macrumors 68040
dont look for your graphics card look for your monitor , they not all work with computers like they should , i have here a lcd tv which only connects via hdmi to my mac mini g4 with ati radeon 9200 when i connect it via vga no picture at all will come up only the lcd says out of range
the fun side i have two of these tv's exactly identical and the other works via vga too without trouble
but i have a dell zino too and then it gets even funnier while the Mac's show 1280x800 via hdmi despite the little problem with vga out of range on one
the zino only wants to display 640x480 or something like that even via hdmi on these tv's , on my main tv its fine there both the zino and the mini shows full 1920x1080. via hdmi
i also had a HP monitor which would not show any kind of image via vga when connected to the mini but perfect via dvi and the zino hmm there it was on the same monitor the opposite way round vga fine but dvi out of range
so the culprit might be your monitor and not your g5
the fun side i have two of these tv's exactly identical and the other works via vga too without trouble
but i have a dell zino too and then it gets even funnier while the Mac's show 1280x800 via hdmi despite the little problem with vga out of range on one
the zino only wants to display 640x480 or something like that even via hdmi on these tv's , on my main tv its fine there both the zino and the mini shows full 1920x1080. via hdmi
i also had a HP monitor which would not show any kind of image via vga when connected to the mini but perfect via dvi and the zino hmm there it was on the same monitor the opposite way round vga fine but dvi out of range
so the culprit might be your monitor and not your g5
MacHamster68
macrumors 68040
i too thought first my mini is rubbish and broken and i was resetting , reinstalling for a whole week trying to get the hp monitor to work on vga , as i first had no dvi cable , but it isnt its these lcd makers who out of their mind put some connectors on their monitors/tv's but forget to programm their devices proper , yes there are little chips inside every monitor nowadays which tell your Mac for example what display is connected when pressing detect display and for the menu to work , so i sold that hp monitor again and bought a acer monitor
another thing i found on that way i bought one of these fancy gold plated dvi cables , it looks the same as the standard one that came with the acer monitor
but has golden connectors (bit of spray paint i suppose ) and i did want a white cable
but when i connect the mini with this cable (looks really exactly the same same pins as the one that came with the monitor i checked several times over and over again if there might be a pin missing ( at the end i even opened up the cable to see if all pins are proper soldered on , they had been soldered on proper)but
my mini is unable to detect the monitor with this cable when you press detect display , it does however display a picture fine and some resolutions but not the original resolution of the monitor ,it displays 1280x 768 but monitor standard is 1280x800 (at least that whats written on the box and manual) with the original cable it displays 1280x800
so check the cable too 😉
because i doubt as much that its your g4 graphics as i trust a politicians word
another thing i found on that way i bought one of these fancy gold plated dvi cables , it looks the same as the standard one that came with the acer monitor
but has golden connectors (bit of spray paint i suppose ) and i did want a white cable
but when i connect the mini with this cable (looks really exactly the same same pins as the one that came with the monitor i checked several times over and over again if there might be a pin missing ( at the end i even opened up the cable to see if all pins are proper soldered on , they had been soldered on proper)but
my mini is unable to detect the monitor with this cable when you press detect display , it does however display a picture fine and some resolutions but not the original resolution of the monitor ,it displays 1280x 768 but monitor standard is 1280x800 (at least that whats written on the box and manual) with the original cable it displays 1280x800
so check the cable too 😉
because i doubt as much that its your g4 graphics as i trust a politicians word
Giuly
macrumors 68040
Install SwitchResX and change the resolution as needed maybe?
You can deinstall switchresx after you set the correct resolution, this way it won't bug you about the 15 day trail, and it works beyond that.
You can deinstall switchresx after you set the correct resolution, this way it won't bug you about the 15 day trail, and it works beyond that.
I couldn't get SwithresX working. It still didn't give me the option of anything other then 640x480. And when I put in the correct resolution it wouldn't apply. Maybe I was doing something wrong. I will try again when I get home from my office.