Macbook - dual monitor wont work?

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So I got myself a Dell lcd monitor the other day from a friend. I intended to use it as a dual monitor for my Macbook. I bought the appropriate adapter to run the DVI and went through the set up to make it work. The new monitor however wont stop "restarting" itself. It just keeps refreshing after 3 seconds or so. I dont know what to do, as I have messed with all sorts of settings in the Display Preferences. Any and all help would be much appreciated. Thank you.
 
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I'm having the same problem. I just bought and returned a DELL monitor (E228FP 22") and it kept doing the same thing as refreshing every 3 seconds. I set it at 1280x1024 and it stopped but everything was bulky, since it doesn't have the regular resolution set.

I was getting cheesed off as I thought it was plug n play. Then I called Tech Support and spoke to some guy in India and didn't help me out. Said I needed a new video card and thought I was running Windows when I had told him I was running a PowerBook.

After some snooping around I found a site of which resolution is supported (I'm not sure if this applies to the MacBook, bu this is the overview for the PowerBook):
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25292

I've seen people on flickr posting their images of the DELL Ultrasharp monitor to the PowerBook and they run fine.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
macbook/iphone/ipod nano/ipod shuffle
are you using the vga or the dvi input? when i hooked up my 22" monitor with vga input i had the same thing happen. when i went with the dvi input i had no problems everything worked fine
 
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I actually tried both hook ups, with the DVi and VGA with the adapter for DVI to my Powerbook. I had better stability with the VGA in this case. Then I downloaded SwitchRes X to extend capabilities and got the monitor to at least stay at at a higher resolution but not the max.

So I returned the monitor although the spec sheet states that my Powerbook can handle the following display: Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports up to 1440 by 900 pixels on the built-in display and up to 2048 by 1536 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors.

I do have a dinosaur PC and I hooked up the monitor to that and it was gorgeous, but my Powerbook just didn't run it. So the monitor went back today and I'm going to keep looking.

Any thoughts?
 
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what is the price range you are looking at? you can always try an apple cinema display. i personally use a view sonic 22" monitor. i have had no problems with it when i use the dvi connection
 
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Sanity,

The monitor I ordered was about $289 out the door, so anywhere in that price range is good. I saw the one you recommended and I've been looking at those along with the Samsung and the Acer (which was recommended on another thread).

I'm on a Powerbook, is that what you run, or do you have a Macbook? Do you use the external at it's highest resolution or less?
 
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i use a mb and run both the monitor an mb screen at highest res.
 
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christm: do you know what the equivalent monitor would be in the US for the one you showed me on the UK site. I looked up Acer's site but didn't find that monitor. It looks really nice, I like it.

@ sanity: Do you think the video card is different on my Powerbook than your MB? I'm wondering if the Powerbook can only push a certain resolution for dual monitor, although the spec sheet states that is supports 2048 by 1536 pixels on an external display. So I wonder why the DELL I ordered wasn't supported on my PB but it was well supported on a very old PC.
 

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