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danbrew · Feb 20, 2007, 11:57 PM

I recently bought a MacPro and have had great success in installing Vista Ultimate with bootcamp. I ran out and bought a Dell 30" monitor and am running into issues with it... damn. The Dell support guys were a joke.

First, on OS X, is anyone running the Dell 30" at 2560x1600? I'm using the stock video card in the MacPro (NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256mb) and can't get OS X to display 2560x1600. I'm for sure using a dual link cable (the one that came with the Dell) - but OS X won't display the maximum resolution. Damn. Do I need to connect to one port or the other on the back of the video card?

Second, I can't get Vista to recognize the monitor. I was previously using a Dell 2001FP display (early DVI display) with the MacPro and had no problems with either OS X or Vista. I simply unplugged this monitor and plugged in the 3007WFP and, when booting into Vista, get fuzzy lines, scrolling refresh, etc. Obviously the refresh rate and resolution the card is sending out to the monitor isn't working. Damn. I tried several combinations - booting without the monitor plugged in, pluged in, etc. No luck. I booted with the older 2001 DVI monitor and tried to install the "Vista" software that came on the Dell CD (and downloaded from the Dell website) with no luck. I did run the install as administrator but it seems that Vista won't install the drivers unless it sees the monitor. If I plug in the monitor, I get the screwed up refresh and all that jazz. Damn.

Any pointers from folks successfully using the Dell 3007WFP with either a stock OS X configuration on a MacPro or a Vista with bootcamp would seriously be appreciated.

I can't believe I've got this smoken' 30" display on my desk and I have to use it as 640x480 with Vista and 1200x something or other with OS X. Arrrrrgggggghhhhhhh.

Buckaroo · Feb 21, 2007, 12:19 AM

Welcome to the world of Windows equipment and support.

Sorry, i couldn't resist.

Are there any drivers for the Dell?

danbrew · Feb 21, 2007, 10:16 AM

well, **** me to tears. the card that comes with the MacPro (NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT) has ONE dual link DVI port and ONE single link port. If you can't get it to work with OS X, simply switch ports. Now I've gotta reboot into Vista and see if that solves my problems. I doubt it will, though, as I was getting 1/2 resolution on the single link port under OS X and static when in Vista... so we'll see.

NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT with 256MB of GDDR2 SDRAM, one single-link DVI port, and one dual-link DVI port

danbrew · Feb 21, 2007, 11:04 AM

well, how 'bout that. it works under vista too. dang, i was pissed last night - spent hours screwing around with the settings and trying to use another monitor, etc. just goes to show what a good nights sleep will do. first thing i tried this morning and it's working just fine on both.

Leonard · Feb 21, 2007, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by danbrew

well, **** me to tears. the card that comes with the MacPro (NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT) has ONE dual link DVI port and ONE single link port. If you can't get it to work with OS X, simply switch ports.

Yes, I was about to answer this when I saw you already got your answer. Alot of people make this mistake and can't figure it out. And it's an easy problem to solve, as you've found out, just switch ports. I actually believe somewhere in the specs or documentation it indicates which port is a dual-link DVI port, but it's just as easy switching ports until you find the right one.

Buckaroo · Feb 21, 2007, 09:09 PM

I'm glad things worked out. Hey what happened to your menu bar. It's missing. Just kidding!

Originally Posted by danbrew

well, how 'bout that. it works under vista too. dang, i was pissed last night - spent hours screwing around with the settings and trying to use another monitor, etc. just goes to show what a good nights sleep will do. first thing i tried this morning and it's working just fine on both.

Cadaver · Feb 27, 2007, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by Buckaroo

Hey what happened to your menu bar. It's missing. Just kidding!

I'm worse. I've got an Apple keyboard, just like in the picture above, sitting in front of an Apple 30" display, also running Vista.
Enough to make any Apple fanboi cry.

Buckaroo · Mar 1, 2007, 09:55 PM

Egads. I can't believe I just did what I did. I was planning on buying an Apple 30" next month, but when I found Costco.com selling Dell 30" for $1250 (after my 2% discount) I couldn't resist, and ordered one. If it was only a couple hundred dollars, I'd buy the Apple, but we're talking about almost $800. Sorry Apple.

Cadaver · Mar 2, 2007, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by Buckaroo

Egads. I can't believe I just did what I did. I was planning on buying an Apple 30" next month, but when I found Costco.com selling Dell 30" for $1250 (after my 2% discount) I couldn't resist, and ordered one. If it was only a couple hundred dollars, I'd buy the Apple, but we're talking about almost $800. Sorry Apple.

Yeah. Dell displays would be easy to skip if they sucked, but they're usually very good.

Cheap and good is hard to pass up.

*that's what I said about my wife! :rimshot:

Buckaroo · Mar 2, 2007, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by Cadaver

Cheap and good is hard to pass up.

*that's what I said about my wife! :rimshot:

Now those are the BEST kind of wife ever.

danbrew · Mar 3, 2007, 12:17 PM

I'll trade 'ya my wife, heck, my wife & my neighbors wife, for another Dell 30". My neighbor can come over every now and again and use the monitor...

snicker snicker