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Older ATI on X (refresh rates)

Submitted by EagleSong3 on January 18, 2008 - 3:22am. PowerPC Macs

I have an older iMac 500 Mhz blue and white. I've installed 10.3 on it. System profiler says it has an ATI Rage 128 Pro 2 graphics card.

I have a problem. The power coming into my home has a fluctuation problem. As such my monitors (all of them in my house) have a "wobbling" image. The further I can get from 60 hertz or a multiple thereof the less apparent this problem is. Oh, and no I can't seem to get the power company to admit that it's their problem even though I've plugged into multiple outlets.

Here's the heart of my problem. The Displays app in my system preferences offers me 3 options:

640 x 480 at 117 Hertz (VERY close to 120 so BAD wobble)
800 x 600 at 95 Hertz (enough wobble to bother me)
1024 x 768 at 75 Hertz (Quite close to 60. It actually doesn't "wobble" here, it phases in and out)

Now, I assume that these are considered the "safe" settings for my iMac monitor. However, my monitor started dying a long time ago so I have a 19" monitor plugged into the video out port on the iMac. This external monitor is more than capable of handling (and even suggests using) 85 Hertz at multiple resolutions. Is there any way to make the Mac allow me to use "non recommended" resolution and refresh settings?

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Hawaii Cruiser's picture

Mirroring problem?

Submitted by Hawaii Cruiser on January 18, 2008 - 6:40am.

Interesting question. Only thing that came to my mind was trashing the monitor preferences, but shucks, when I go into my OS 10.3 I can't even figure out where the display preferences are. Or maybe transferring the display preferences from a desktop 10.3 to the iMac, but the truth is, I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm more curious to ask, since I've never tried the hooking a monitor up to an iMac thing, what does the displays preference pane show? Is there an Arrangement button? Can you set up the external monitor as an extended desktop? If there's no Arrangement button, then the computer video is only capable of display mirroring, so that would be the key to your quest, I would think: somehow disconnecting the iMac's display from the circuitry since in mirroring it's not going to be able to let go of the built-in display's restrictions.

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Yeah, it's just mirroring. S

Submitted by EagleSong3 on January 18, 2008 - 3:06pm.

Yeah, it's just mirroring. Some of the older iMac computers (desktops) had a video port that was "hidden" under a plastic pannel in the back. That pannel had to be removed by sticking a screwdriver into a slot and releasing a tab.

There are no additional options for the external monitor. The computer doesn't even seem to be aware that there IS an external monitor attached. I also don't think that disconnecting the internal monitor physically would help. X is still going to detect that you're on an iMac desktop and set it's default resolutions to the ones it deems "safe" for that machine.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it. "If they make it any easier I won't be able to use it" They take away functionality left and right in an attempt to make things idot proof. At the same time they're vastly limiting those of us who know what we're doing.

» 128k should be enough for anybody

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gobabushka's picture

you might want to contact you

Submitted by gobabushka on January 18, 2008 - 3:35pm.

you might want to contact your local power company

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Yeah, that's the next "restep

Submitted by EagleSong3 on January 19, 2008 - 3:43am.

Yeah, that's the next "restep" I've already contacted them and they didn't want to respond. I'm going to whine at them until they put in a trouble ticket and actually get someone out here. It's got to be a loose ground on their line somewhere.

» 128k should be enough for anybody

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Smiththers's picture

your imac wont boot without t

Submitted by Smiththers on January 19, 2008 - 8:17pm.

your imac wont boot without the internal display hooked up, ive tried before. Do other computers and monitors do the same thing in the same room?

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