Help! Stuck in wrong resolution!

I have an old 9500 I use as my OS8/OS9 machine. It's upgraded with a G3 card and ATI graphics card that would drive my 17" monitor at 1600x1200.

That is, it did until the monitor literally melted down. (mmmm... toasted monitor...)

I was able to borrow two older replacement monitors. Neither is probably capable of 1600x1200, so I need to set a lower resolution. Simple, right?

Well, if I boot up with extentions on, it appears to try to kick into 1600x1200, making the display unreadable. I can boot with extentions off, which puts me into 640x480, but then I can't open the control panel to change the resolution.

How do I solve this catch-22?

I tried removing the Monitors preferences file, and the ATI Displays preferences file. But when I restart with extentions on, the display is okay (640x480) until the extentions icons start to appear, and then the display flips back into some unusable resolution. Strangely, when this happens, even rebooting extentions off gives an unusable resolution from the very start. Only zapping the PRAM lets me boot into 640x480 with extentions off.

I'd be happy to operate in 640x480, as long as I can do it with extentions on. But I can't get even that to work.

I'd try a high-res monitor, but I don't have one I can borrow. And I get the same results with either of the lo-res replacement monitors, so I don't think that they are the problem.

Can anybody PLEASE tell me what's going on???

Been a while since I had to troubleshoot an OS 9 problem, so I may not be of much help. But:

Try disabling the ATI driver extensions, but leaving the Monitors control panel (etc.) enabled. Retart, switch to a lower res, and then re-enable the ATI driver extensions.

technologist said:

Been a while since I had to troubleshoot an OS 9 problem, so I may not be of much help. But:

Try disabling the ATI driver extensions, but leaving the Monitors control panel (etc.) enabled. Retart, switch to a lower res, and then re-enable the ATI driver extensions.

Click to expand...

Good idea, but it doesn't work. I made an extentions set with EVERYTHING off but the Monitors panel. But I get the same thing I always get when I try booting with ANY extentions on:

It boots into 640x480, but when it's time for the extention icon(s) to appear, the monitor pops into the unusable resolution.

Were it on my desk I would: 1) zap the PRAM and trash the System preference and Finder preference files 2) run Norton's or another utility and 3) start from an OS 9 installer CD and install a clean system. Once you have a clean system you can install new versions of the various extensions.

Badger said:

Were it on my desk I would: 1) zap the PRAM and trash the System preference and Finder preference files 2) run Norton's or another utility and 3) start from an OS 9 installer CD and install a clean system. Once you have a clean system you can install new versions of the various extensions.

Click to expand...

Nuking the System preference and Finder preference files didn't help, but the clean install did the trick. Thanks.

rribaric said:

Nuking the System preference and Finder preference files didn't help, but the clean install did the trick. Thanks.

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Update: Nuking the MacOS prefs, Finder prefs, and Display prefs files (all 3) seems to work as well. This avoids the clean install.