[~obey~]

i recently upgrade from Jaguar to Panther (10.3.5). i have been using dual monitors in Jaguar using a second PCI Video Card from ATI (i believe its a RAGE 3D PRO, XCALIM).

after installing Panther, my second monitor (attached to the ATI PCI Card) only displays 8 bit grayscale...very poor...and definently not like it was in Jaguar.

Does anyone know why this video card isn't supported? i've looked all over Apples site for an answer and they seem to be ignoring the problem (which others are having as well). ATI doesn't make a driver for OSX (of any kind for this card) because they claim its embedded within the OS...but is not.

I've thought about getting a different card, that is supported, but that would cost around 40.00. I've read some articles about "Flashing" a PC card to Mac, but i'm not sure what "Flashing" is. I've also read that i need to downgrade back to Jaguar...but Apple seems to discourage that (of course...).

does anyone have any ideas or know how to fix this? thanks.

[BetaMac]

Hey there,

I have an old 9500 PowerMac that is upgraded with a G3-300, and the first time I installed Panther, I had the same problem! I was using an ATi XCLAIM VR Pro (3D Rage Pro, 8mb).

So, I bought a new PCI card on ebay (a flashed ATi 9100), but before it got here, I reinstalled on another HD. Guess what? The video works FINE now!

So, now I have dual(actually triple if I had another monitor) displays in OS X! You might try a clean install and see if that works. I know that my ATi cards BOTH work in Panther, and I did the upgrade to 10.3.5 as well - no issues yet regarding video.

Good luck!

[~obey~]

Originally posted by BetaMac:
Hey there,

I have an old 9500 PowerMac that is upgraded with a G3-300, and the first time I installed Panther, I had the same problem! I was using an ATi XCLAIM VR Pro (3D Rage Pro, 8mb).

So, I bought a new PCI card on ebay (a flashed ATi 9100), but before it got here, I reinstalled on another HD. Guess what? The video works FINE now!

So, now I have dual(actually triple if I had another monitor) displays in OS X! You might try a clean install and see if that works. I know that my ATi cards BOTH work in Panther, and I did the upgrade to 10.3.5 as well - no issues yet regarding video.

Good luck!

Can you explain what "flashed" is? not familiar with it at all. also, are you suggesting i do a clean install, completely reformatting my HD (making copies of all files first...of course), then trying it out?

thanks for the tips!

[BetaMac]

'Flashing' a video card involves updating the BIOS on the video card. You need a PC to do it correctly, due to the flashers being DOS-based and all, and it's not for the faint of heart.

Yeah, a clean install on a fresh HD might work - or might not! I know it did in my case, but who knows if it will work for you. I thought it quite odd when my 2nd install had full color whereas the first had the crappy 256 greys. I really can't explain it.

Oh, also what kind of Mac do you have?

[~obey~]

thanks again. i may have to try a fresh reinstall as a last resort to buying a new card.

[JKT]

You might want to try resetting your PRAM first if you haven't already - hold down command-option-P-R while restarting.

[BetaMac]

Originally posted by JKT:
You might want to try resetting your PRAM first if you haven't already - hold down command-option-P-R while restarting.

Shoot! That's too easy!

But, if it works - HOORAH! I was actually thinking of that after I posted. My old Mac is sooo not stock, it's not even funny.

I usually have to zap my PRAM to boot into OS 9, hehehee.

BTW, I checked and my ATi VR Rage Pro 8mb also works fine in Tiger WWDC Preview. ADC is a great program, join it!

[BetaMac]

I'll also be testing this with a Blue and White G3 sometime this week. I'll keep you guys posted on what I find or do not find out.

[~obey~]

i'll try it out tonight and let you guys know if it works out or not. thanks again!