Trying to hook up external monitor

[msw123307]

I'm hooking up an external monitor to my 24" iMac. It's being hooked up DVI, problem is, when it's plugged in, the picture on the Dell monitor I'm trying to use just jutters and shakes. I tried different resolution options and none worked, most just left the Dell monitor black. I calibrated the monitor and that stopped the shaking, but when I look at the monitor everything is too big and there are still tons of "bright" pixels in the background, along with some faint lines..it just isn't right. Any suggestions?

 

[spinnerlys]

What is the model of the external monitor (Dell xd 6382 for example) and what resolution does it currently use?

Also what version of Mac OS X is on your Mac?

 

[msw123307]

Snow Leopard on the Mac.

The Dell monitor is probably old..it says AS500

 

[spinnerlys]

Snow Leopard on the Mac.

The Dell monitor is probably old..it says AS500

Are you sure that is not the "sound bar"?

Look on the back of the monitor, there should be a label with more information.

And what about the resolution shown in System Preferences > Displays for the external display?

 

[msw123307]

Yeah I noticed that soundbar too, I thought it might have been the same number because it's bundled in with the monitor. It looks like the monitor is a Dell 1905FP.

 

[msw123307]

Looks like the resolution is 1280 x 1024..but when I switch it to that everything shakes uncontrollably on that monitor and goes black eventually.

 

[spinnerlys]

It seems 1280 x 1024 is the native resolution, what about switching to lower ones?

Can you use the VGA port?

Maybe a pin is broken with the DVI connector of the monitor or the cable or the adapter.

 

[msw123307]

I could use the VGA port but I'd have to buy another adapter. It works in 1024 x 768 but there's stuff blinking in the background and it just looks off. Maybe I can try swapping DVI cables...it was a pain hooking them up.

 

[msw123307]

Looks like a new DVI cable fixed the problem. The port on the back did look kind of messed up (on the monitor) but the new cable has taken away all the issues.

Although with 1280 x 1024 everything still seems too big. I wish I could make things smaller/more proportionate to the iMac.

 

[Darth.Titan]

Looks like a new DVI cable fixed the problem. The port on the back did look kind of messed up (on the monitor) but the new cable has taken away all the issues.

Although with 1280 x 1024 everything still seems too big. I wish I could make things smaller/more proportionate to the iMac.

It's just that that monitor has a relatively low maximum resolution. 1280x1024 is indeed going to look large compared to the resolution on the iMac, but that's the best it can do.

You'll probably want to save for a newer model display.

 

[msw123307]

It's just that that monitor has a relatively low maximum resolution. 1280x1024 is indeed going to look large compared to the resolution on the iMac, but that's the best it can do.

You'll probably want to save for a newer model display.

Yeah - it was just an extra monitor laying around at work. So it'll do for work, but it's too bad you can't override that max. setting to change the resolution to something more suitable.