[cambro]

First of all, I'm no rookie. I have been using projectors and computers for years. Before I bother my AV lab (always a pain) I thought I'd ask this keen group.

ISSUE DESCRIPTION:
1. when in spanning mode (secondary screen to bottom), the top of the projected image is cut off and put at the bottom of the projected image with a horizontal black bar separating the two images.

1A. i.e., if you take a window in the MBP display and drag it downwards towards the spanned desktop, it will first appear at the bottom of the projected image and then come out of the top if you keep dragging down.

2. manipulating spanning position, resolution, mirroring, etc. doesn't usually clear it up immediately.

3. Eventually at some unpredictable point after making changes it starts behaving fine. Normal behavior doesn't appear to consistently be associated with any particular change or setting as I usually end up right back where I started in terms of configuration...just sometimes it takes a long time to get there and it really MAKES ME MAD!

HISTORY:
1. I used this same projector for three weeks without any trouble with my old Ghz Ti Book using the exact same set up.

2. My old Ghz TiBook behaved identically with a different projector, making me suspect it is a setting on the projector??? But then, why would it start working properly at all after tweaking randomly only to end up back to where you started when it wasn't working?

HELP!!

EDIT:: I should mention that this happened today, and right after I was done the next to go plugged in a recent iBook and never had the problem??!!

[tooki]

The projector's not syncing up right. It's most likely got nothing to do with your settings. But just to be sure, use the projector's native resolution at 60Hz (higher rates do not help!).

tooki

[cambro]

For archival purposes in case somebody searches the forum, I've managed to find some answers:

There are three possible solutions to symptoms described in the OP:

1) Tiling a desktop picture makes some projectors unhappy! I'm not sure why, but avoid this desktop picture setting if you use different projectors frequently.

2) Some media center consoles have an "adjust image location" knob. I have no idea why it's there, but this is usually a little knob that shifts the projected image across the projected area. Sometimes this gets set so that there is a black bar on one side of the screen.

3) Occassionally the projector isn't "syncing," as Tooki pointed out. Although MacBooks/Powerbooks will automatically sync to the projector on plug-in, this process can be forced by detecting displays. However, the problem is usually with the projector and one can find a sync button on the projector remote or less frequently on the projector itself.

In the particular case described in the OP, the problem was #1.