[Miniryu]

I have tried deleting any prefference file that says "monitor" or "display" in both my individual library--> prefferences folder and the root library-->prefferences folder. And that didn't help. Here is my situtation (I searched the forums, I haven't found anyone with a similar problem):

I can't remember exactly how, but for some reason my G5 (single processor) restarted/crashed while I was experimenting with new resolutions for my monitor. So now, it is stuck at a resolution that my monitor is incapable of displaying (I get a black screen). I can restart my computer with my monitor turned off, and the monitor will work fine using the default "VGA Disaplay" settings, but as soon as I try to "Detect Displays" the screen goes black again. At that point, I can turn my monitor off, detatch it from the tower, reattach it, then turn it back on and the VGA Display settings are back.

I am not exactly sure how all of the Display specific setting work, but I don't want to have to turn off my display everytime I want to restart. I am using a Sony Trinitron Multiscan 300sf. Thanks in advance.

[reader50]

Try deleting:
(home)/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver.(randomstring).plist

Delete it by moving it to the Trash, reboot, empty Trash.

[Miniryu]

Dammit- I tried that and it didn't work. Does anyone else have any other ideas?

[Mafia]

that is odd. i know in jaguar when there was a problem you could reset your open firmware. It's kind of like zapping the PRAM but different. To do it, shut down your Mac, then press Command-Option-O-F as you start it back up. You can release the keys when you see a white screen that says "Welcome to Open Firmware." At the Open Firmware prompt, type "reset-all" (without the quotation marks) and then press Return or Enter. To exit Open Firmware, type "bye" or "mac-boot" .

I'm not sure if this will fix your problem or if its the same in panther, i've never had to do it. if it doesn't work try zapping your pram also.

[Miniryu]

Originally posted by Mafia:
that is odd. i know in jaguar when there was a problem you could reset your open firmware. It's kind of like zapping the PRAM but different. To do it, shut down your Mac, then press Command-Option-O-F as you start it back up. You can release the keys when you see a white screen that says "Welcome to Open Firmware." At the Open Firmware prompt, type "reset-all" (without the quotation marks) and then press Return or Enter. To exit Open Firmware, type "bye" or "mac-boot" .

I'm not sure if this will fix your problem or if its the same in panther, i've never had to do it. if it doesn't work try zapping your pram also.

I already tried zapping the pram already, but I'm going to try reseting the firmware. I was just reading an article in the Apple Disscussion boards about doing a safe-boot. I don't know if that will do any good or not, but I'll try it after taking your suggestion. Thanks.

[Miniryu]

Well I'll be damned. Going into safemode solved everything. My display was detected and I could change the refresh rate to something my monitor could handle. Thanks for everyone who helped.

[JHromadka]

How do you do a safe boot?

[iREZ]

I had a post about this a few months ago. I had to go step by step with the monitor plugged in and all black without seeing a single thing on the screen. I got my PB, sat it next to my work PM, then without using the mouse I figured the steps on how to change my screen settings on the PB and mirrored them with the PM. It took an hour or so, and is very "cavemanish" of me but that was the only thing that worked for me. If you don't have an extra PM here are the steps that worked for me running 10.3.5:

When you start your computer the mouse cursor is just a little left of the Apple, move it a little to the right and click it once (don't hold it, all you wanna do is click it once to display the menu options below) after that don't touch your mouse and do the following:
-tap the down key four times and hit enter (this selects sys pref)
-if you haven't moved your mouse your cursor should still be over the apple, click the mouse button once again.(this is to highlight the menu's, needed for next step)
-tap right key 3 times to highlight view menu
-tap down 11 times to highlight display, and hit enter to select it
-now this is tricky, hit tab then tap right then tap left then hit tab again
-now your in the resolution section, tap up or down once then hit enter and it should be a different resolution and hopefully (like me) it's a resolution that displays something and you should be set (hopefully).

If it doesn't work try it again, its really cumbersome but it should work if you have the same problem I had. I had a problem with refresh rate and the screen being black.

[Mafia]

Originally posted by iREZ:
I had a post about this a few months ago. I had to go step by step with the monitor plugged in and all black without seeing a single thing on the screen. I got my PB, sat it next to my work PM, then without using the mouse I figured the steps on how to change my screen settings on the PB and mirrored them with the PM. It took an hour or so, and is very "cavemanish" of me but that was the only thing that worked for me. If you don't have an extra PM here are the steps that worked for me running 10.3.5:

When you start your computer the mouse cursor is just a little left of the Apple, move it a little to the right and click it once (don't hold it, all you wanna do is click it once to display the menu options below) after that don't touch your mouse and do the following:
-tap the down key four times and hit enter (this selects sys pref)
-if you haven't moved your mouse your cursor should still be over the apple, click the mouse button once again.(this is to highlight the menu's, needed for next step)
-tap right key 3 times to highlight view menu
-tap down 11 times to highlight display, and hit enter to select it
-now this is tricky, hit tab then tap right then tap left then hit tab again
-now your in the resolution section, tap up or down once then hit enter and it should be a different resolution and hopefully (like me) it's a resolution that displays something and you should be set (hopefully).

If it doesn't work try it again, its really cumbersome but it should work if you have the same problem I had. I had a problem with refresh rate and the screen being black.

i like it.

[tRr]

Apple's page in case anyone cares:

Mac OS X: No Video After Changing Resolutions in Display Pane of System Preferences

I think they used to have this displayed rather prominently... It took me some searching to find it this time though.

[Miniryu]

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393

yeah, this is what I did. its a little easier than doing it all with the screen black, but far less inventive.