[lenox]

Here's my dilemma:

I recently upgraded video cards in my mdd powermac. The old card was a radeon 8500 (with a vga and a dvi port) and the new card is a geforce4ti (with a dvi and an adc port). On the old video card, my vga monitor (a nokia 445pro) was recognized, i.e. it's name was in the title of the 'displays' control panel window, and I was able to select all resolutions and refresh rates it supported.

Using the dvi->vga adapter that came with my mdd, on the new card, i was only able to support some 'basic' video modes. Many games would render my video unresponsive as they'd try to switch to a video mode that my monitor 'didnt support'. Some video modes would cause my monitor to go into interlaced mode! Not fun! I had to install switchresx just to get back to my regular desktop video mode (1600x1200@90hz).

The thing is, I'd really like to use this new card...it has twice the vram and is much better with quartz extreme. I'd like to 'hack in' the monitor profile, that the old card recognized fine, so that I wouldn't have these problems. Has anyone done this? Is it possible? Why does os x have such trouble with vga monitors?

[macaddict0001]

Hmm I don't know how to do this, all i know is that it is possible to show all resolutions through some sort of thing. I hope this gives you hope.

[lenox]

Thanks for the words of hope, but does anyone actually know how to do this?

[Leonard]

Originally posted by lenox:
Why does os x have such trouble with vga monitors?

My guess is it's not the a problem with OS X but a problem with how the monitor is connected. My guess is that the adapter is blocking the Mac from detecting the type of monitor. This is probably a general problem with DVI-to-VGA converters.

[Waragainstsleep]

Is it possible the adaptor is defective? Monitors can do all sorts of odd things simply from having dodgy cables.

[Waragainstsleep]

Maybe this will help:

http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/action...73&-search

[lenox]

Thanks for your help, guys. I had been using SwitchResX as a workaround but was still having issues with some games and itunes plugins.

On a hunch, I replaced my vga cable (which was a really nice thick, but LONG one) with a much shorter one.

Worked like a charm! I guess the monitor identifying signal (whatever that may be) wasn't strong enough to traverse such a long cord.

Thanks again for the help!

[lenox]

Ehh, maybe I spoke too soon. It only seems to recognize the monitor fully _sometimes_.

Whatever, it's close enough, at least I don't have 'unsupported mode' errors anymore.

Thanks!