I recently got a display adaptor for my G4 iMac. You know those things that you plug into the display plug on your computer which lets you plug you TV in? It's one of these: http://store.apple.com/133-622/WebO...Ff7KR3fCIMS11Un9Yr0r/5.0.19.1.0.8.25.7.11.0.3
Anyway, when you plug it in it adjusts all your display settings to match what can be displayed on the television. Obviously my little video card can't cope with having different settings for the internal display and an external television.
I set it up so my iMac display would show 800x600 in a little window in the middle of the screen, rather than stretch out. Obviously I couldn't expect my crappy tv to show 1440x900, and nor would Preferences let me.
Usually what happens is when you plug it in everything automatically changes; then when you unplug it it all goes back to normal. Well, almost inevitably, today things didn't go back to normal.
I've been pressing detect displays millions of times, and unplugged and re-plugged in the adaptor a similar number of times. In the mean time I've had to fiddle around with display settings so I'm not having to do everything through a tiny little window of a display. Now I've ended up with an odd little situation:
When the adaptor is plugged in, settings are as per normal when the adaptor is plugged in. My internal display changes to window 800x600 and if the TV is on it shows the picture.
System Preferences acknowledges the presence of a PAL/NTSC Display, as well as the internal display.
When the adaptor is unplugged, however, System Preferences acknowledges the presence of the internal display, plus some mysterious 'VGA Display'. For some reason, I think, the adaptor changed the settings to VGA last time I used it properly - even when usually it would change the settings to PAL. Now I'm left to my internal display 'mirroring' a VGA display that doesn't exist, with some odd resolution of 1440x1050. 1440x1050 is fitted within my display's 1440x900 resolution, so I have black bars down the sides of my screen.
How do I stop System Preferences from being too automatic and configuring a display which doesn't exist? I just need to clear everything and have it just use the internal display.
System Profiler shows this when the adaptor is unplugged:
and
when the adaptor is plugged in.
Furthermore, I have to click Detect Displays when I plug in/unplug the adaptor, where before it would detect its presence automatically.
What do I do? How do I get it to just forget the bloody adaptor and this imaginary VGA Display and just display a 1440x900 resolution normally on the iMac's internal display? The resolution now isn't native and looks crap, not to mention the black bars are less than desirable. Even if I could just set this mysterious VGA Display to 1440x900, then at least it things would be practically/cosmetically back to normal.
System Preferences looks like this when the adaptor is not plugged in, and like this when it is plugged in.
Also, I should note that I have restarted - many, many times. I did a hardware test using the hardware test CD and the display check passed flawlessly.
I just installed 10.4.7 in an attempt to snap my computer out of it. It didn't really do much, except perhaps cement the problem =P. Anything else anyone can think of? Other than a format, I guess... It is due for one; it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to.
Anyway, when you plug it in it adjusts all your display settings to match what can be displayed on the television. Obviously my little video card can't cope with having different settings for the internal display and an external television.
I set it up so my iMac display would show 800x600 in a little window in the middle of the screen, rather than stretch out. Obviously I couldn't expect my crappy tv to show 1440x900, and nor would Preferences let me.
Usually what happens is when you plug it in everything automatically changes; then when you unplug it it all goes back to normal. Well, almost inevitably, today things didn't go back to normal.
I've been pressing detect displays millions of times, and unplugged and re-plugged in the adaptor a similar number of times. In the mean time I've had to fiddle around with display settings so I'm not having to do everything through a tiny little window of a display. Now I've ended up with an odd little situation:
When the adaptor is plugged in, settings are as per normal when the adaptor is plugged in. My internal display changes to window 800x600 and if the TV is on it shows the picture.
System Preferences acknowledges the presence of a PAL/NTSC Display, as well as the internal display.
When the adaptor is unplugged, however, System Preferences acknowledges the presence of the internal display, plus some mysterious 'VGA Display'. For some reason, I think, the adaptor changed the settings to VGA last time I used it properly - even when usually it would change the settings to PAL. Now I'm left to my internal display 'mirroring' a VGA display that doesn't exist, with some odd resolution of 1440x1050. 1440x1050 is fitted within my display's 1440x900 resolution, so I have black bars down the sides of my screen.
How do I stop System Preferences from being too automatic and configuring a display which doesn't exist? I just need to clear everything and have it just use the internal display.
System Profiler shows this when the adaptor is unplugged:
and
when the adaptor is plugged in.
Furthermore, I have to click Detect Displays when I plug in/unplug the adaptor, where before it would detect its presence automatically.
What do I do? How do I get it to just forget the bloody adaptor and this imaginary VGA Display and just display a 1440x900 resolution normally on the iMac's internal display? The resolution now isn't native and looks crap, not to mention the black bars are less than desirable. Even if I could just set this mysterious VGA Display to 1440x900, then at least it things would be practically/cosmetically back to normal.
System Preferences looks like this when the adaptor is not plugged in, and like this when it is plugged in.
Also, I should note that I have restarted - many, many times. I did a hardware test using the hardware test CD and the display check passed flawlessly.
I just installed 10.4.7 in an attempt to snap my computer out of it. It didn't really do much, except perhaps cement the problem =P. Anything else anyone can think of? Other than a format, I guess... It is due for one; it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to.
