Help! resolution issue

massagemacguy · Jul 16, 2011

My roommate uses my G4, and up till now there have been no major issues. However, I havent taken the time to completely understand the critter either. That being said.....

Whats its doing now is having a "resolution" problem where the graphics look similar to when a PC goes into "safety mode". What do I look for, what could it be? Help! Im going to fuss with it eventually but I'd like some ideas on what it could be before I do. : )

schweb · Jul 16, 2011

I've moved your post to a more proper forum; please be sure to check the forum descriptions to find the best place to post.

By posting in the right forum you help people not only find your question faster, but it helps others looking for the same information in the future.

Thanks for understanding!

espi · Jul 16, 2011

On the menu bar, up in the top right hand side of your screen, you should have an icon that looks like this:

Click it. A drop-down menu will appear, listing the screen resolutions that are available for your monitor. Choose one from the list and see what it looks like.

If you have a CRT monitor, you can use a wide range of resolutions and they'll all look pretty good. If it's an LCD / TFT flat screen monitor you've got, there will be one "native" resolution that is correct for it and will look best. Any other resolution will look poor/blurry/stretched. If you don't know what the native resolution of your monitor is, google the make and model of your monitor and find out.

massagemacguy · Jul 17, 2011

espi said:
On the menu bar, up in the top right hand side of your screen, you should have an icon that looks like this:

Click it. A drop-down menu will appear, listing the screen resolutions that are available for your monitor. Choose one from the list and see what it looks like.

If you have a CRT monitor, you can use a wide range of resolutions and they'll all look pretty good. If it's an LCD / TFT flat screen monitor you've got, there will be one "native" resolution that is correct for it and will look best. Any other resolution will look poor/blurry/stretched. If you don't know what the native resolution of your monitor is, google the make and model of your monitor and find out.

The icon you speak of does not exist.... did i mention that this is a G4?

chas_m · Jul 17, 2011

Cat walked across the keyboard, turned on slight magnification. Go to system preferences, Universal Access, turn it off.

espi · Jul 17, 2011

massagemacguy said:
The icon you speak of does not exist.... did i mention that this is a G4?

That's odd. It does on my G4 under both Panther and Leopard.

Oh hang on - I've got it. That icon is optional. If you want it to show up in the menu bar, you do this:

1. Go to System Preferences
2. Choose "Displays"
3. Check the box that says "Show displays in menu bar".

You don't actually need the menu bar icon, though. Just go to System Preferences / Displays as above, and choose your screen resolution from there.

Help! resolution issue

massagemacguy

schweb

espi

massagemacguy

chas_m

Guest

espi

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