G5 Display Issues
 

Ok so I just got my new G5 in today, needless to say I was extremely excited as this would be my entry into the mac realm.

My plan of action was to use my old VGA monitor from my Windows PC on the G5 for a few weeks till I could save up enough for a nifty TFT monitor.

Well........ When I start it up I get to the grey apple with the little animation, then the screen goes black and the monitor displays "Monitor out of Range...." then something about frequency, this is all news to me. I'm assuming that this monitor will probably never work, I'm not even sure how old it is.

But if there is away to make it work then let me know, I really wanna use that G5. If it doesn't work then will most current CRT monitors generally work because I may have to get a tide-me-over monitor in the morning.

Thank You,
Steve

Steve, without knowing the brand and model, it's impossible to say if your monitor will work or not.

The fact that it worked when you booted the machine implies that it might be usable. It sounds as though that error message is coming from the monitor, not the computer... is that the case? And evidently the problem is that the Mac's sending it video using the wrong refresh rate, and maybe a resolution that it can't handle as well.

I don't have a G5, but on my G4's the machine seems to assume the 'lowest common denominator' at boot time and uses something very conservative like 640x480 resolution with 60hz refresh. Then as the boot progresses it will set the monitor to your preference.

I don't know how old your monitor is or what sort of shape it's in... anything made in the last 5 years or so should have internal circuitry that actually tells the Mac what frequencies and resolutions it's capable of. It sounds as though your screen isn't doing this either because it's too old or maybe even a bad connector or cable.

See if you can find the specs and determine the max resolution and usable refresh frequencies for your screen, maybe they are available on the web somewhere? Then you might be able to borrow another monitor and manually configure your G5 (using the monitors icon in System Preferences) to these specs.

OTOH, CRT monitors have gotten really cheap and maybe it makes more sense to just get a new one...

Thanks for the quick replies, I can't tell you how old this monitor is, I bought it from some guy at work for practically nothing, And yes the error is coming from the monitor. It acts like it wants to display because the grey screen with the apple comes up then wham! I get the error. I got on my windows machine and was testing the refresh rate and 85hz was the highest I could get it, and I believe that is just out of range.

I'm considering just going into best buy and picking up some random $150 crt just to hold me over, because I'm losing alot of time production-wise as I reformatted my windows machine to get ready to sell, so now I'm on dead time and need something.

I realize you can't tell me a specific answer like "if you pick up a crt today it'll work" but, is it common that most current monitors you think would be able to handle the display.

Thanks again,
Steve

Don't know about the G5, but just about any VGA monitor will work on my PowerBook G4 or my two desktop G4's (if you have the needed adaptor cable, which I assume came with the computer).

Yes I have the dvi>vga and a adc>vga adapter. I'm assuming its just my monitor being semi-weird. I'm just going to try out a few more.

Two monitors is a good setup for editing. A LCD/TFT screen + any CRT that works is a good combination. You might want to look at a flat screen CRT to use as your second monitor. I like the Viewsonic E70f+ (something like that) since it seems bright, is nearly perfectly flat, and has an anti-glare coating but there are other good choices. NEC, Samsung make good aperture grille monitors.

newegg.com is one place to buy from. Most people report that they get their product in a few days as long as the website lists it's in stock. check resellerratings.com

2- Unfortunately, I cannot offer any really helpful suggestions on how to try to get your CRT to work. Just don't open the CRT to try to fix things yourself (dangerous).

Thanks, I'm just going to get a loaner crt for a few weeks till I can get the pretty apple 20' tft or dual 17's.

But I did drag my g5 to a friends house last night and tried it on his monitor and its so lovely, too bad my first mac experience was only about an hour long, but still enjoyable none the less.