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tbroox · Dec 13, 2003, 08:53 PM

Please be gentle with me--I don't know my way around Mac OS X yet. My daughter was trying to force quit the finder on the Mac G4 and started smashing random keys in aggravation. It froze and she unplugged and restarted. The desktop appearance has changed to a negative image--like an x-ray. I thought, let's zap the p-ram, but I guess you can't do that in OSX. Looking at the display set-up, we switched from 256 colors to millions and now there's color, but it's the reverse of what it should be--blues are now complementary orange and whites are black. It sounds like she inadvertantly hit some programming keystrokes that caused this to happen. Does anyone know the reverse spell? Thanks in advance!
-Teresa

moonmonkey · Dec 13, 2003, 09:00 PM

Originally posted by tbroox:
Please be gentle with me--I don't know my way around Mac OS X yet. My daughter was trying to force quit the finder on the Mac G4 and started smashing random keys in aggravation. It froze and she unplugged and restarted. The desktop appearance has changed to a negative image--like an x-ray. I thought, let's zap the p-ram, but I guess you can't do that in OSX. Looking at the display set-up, we switched from 256 colors to millions and now there's color, but it's the reverse of what it should be--blues are now complementary orange and whites are black. It sounds like she inadvertantly hit some programming keystrokes that caused this to happen. Does anyone know the reverse spell? Thanks in advance!
-Teresa

The setting is in Universal Access in preferences.

rjenkinson · Dec 13, 2003, 09:20 PM

and you can actually zap the PRAM in OS X, just as you could in OS 9 and below. hold command-option-P-R during the startup process.

-r.

tbroox · Dec 13, 2003, 09:23 PM

Moonmonkey, that was it! Thank you! I am thrilled that it's possible to get a reply on this board so quickly. You made my day!
-Teresa

tbroox · Dec 13, 2003, 09:28 PM

Thank you for the advice, too, rjenkinson. I thought that rebuilding the desktop and zapping the pram were not necessary in OSX and therefore not an option. By the way, where is "japanada?"
-Teresa

lenox · Dec 15, 2003, 12:12 PM

It's a small pseudojapanese island off of the west coast of canada. Excellent mammoth tempura. Excellent.

Chuckit · Dec 15, 2003, 05:30 PM

Originally posted by tbroox:
I thought that rebuilding the desktop and zapping the pram were not necessary in OSX and therefore not an option.

You're right about rebuilding the desktop -- OS X doesn't use the Desktop Database anymore, so it doesn't need rebuilding. PRAM is still exactly the same.

RBattin · Dec 16, 2003, 02:31 AM

The same thing happened to me recently. The weird part is that I was shutting down the computer with command-option-control-EJECT. It shut down the computer but also made the command-option-control-8 change as well!

diamondsw · Dec 16, 2003, 01:03 PM

Originally posted by tbroox:
Please be gentle with me--I don't know my way around Mac OS X yet. My daughter was trying to force quit the finder on the Mac G4 and started smashing random keys in aggravation. It froze and she unplugged and restarted. The desktop appearance has changed to a negative image--like an x-ray. I thought, let's zap the p-ram, but I guess you can't do that in OSX. Looking at the display set-up, we switched from 256 colors to millions and now there's color, but it's the reverse of what it should be--blues are now complementary orange and whites are black. It sounds like she inadvertantly hit some programming keystrokes that caused this to happen. Does anyone know the reverse spell? Thanks in advance!
-Teresa

I'd also say that if your daughter is "smashing random keys in aggravation" then there may be other long-term solutions, such as not allowing her on your computer.

SupahCoolX · Dec 16, 2003, 09:51 PM

For the record: Pressing command-control-option-8 will give you the "negative" appearance (and switch it back to normal).

CarbonG4 · Dec 16, 2003, 10:12 PM

Originally posted by SupahCoolX:
For the record: Pressing command-control-option-8 will give you the "negative" appearance (and switch it back to normal).

Wow, that's an easy way to slow down Expos�, hehe... I guess it has to negatize everything on the fly?

Anyway, not important.
//Carbon

proton · Dec 17, 2003, 10:33 AM

Originally posted by CarbonG4:
Wow, that's an easy way to slow down Expos�, hehe... I guess it has to negatize everything on the fly?

Anyway, not important.

Runs smooth as ever here with inverse on or off. I guess you haven't got a G5?

On another note, this question comes up almost once a week. Please can we all remember to do a search before posting? Please? Pretty please with sugar on top?

- proton

SupahCoolX · Dec 17, 2003, 09:30 PM

Originally posted by proton:
Runs smooth as ever here with inverse on or off. I guess you haven't got a G5?

Runs just fine on my 600mhz G3 iBook. So fooey on your G5