I get a Blue screen every few minutes.

Houston, we have a problem.

Hi guys,
I am experiencing a problem with my G4 Mac Mini and I don't know where I am supposed to ask for help with it so I tossed a coin and you guys won.
This problem happens no matter what is on the screen. It can be a web page or the desktop or any of the Mac applications. It just started doing it half an hour ago. There are no external things plugged into the Mini and it has been restarted.

So what's the problem?

Maybe once every 3 minutes or so the screen goes blue. It is the same colour blue that you get as the Mac fires up. Then, after maybe 3 seconds or so, the screen changes back to how it was before it went Blue.

Any ideas?
Cheers,
5tevie

How old is the monitor?

Friendly advice: put a description of your question/issue in your thread title. It's more likely to draw people in with an interest in the topic, and thus perhaps some knowledge to share. Some will just skip over them, as I do when I'm pressed for time.

Hi there and thanks for the advice. I shall try to do that in future.

As for the age of the monitor, well, it isn't a monitor as such. It's a 52" plasma TV which is about 4 months old. This problem only shows itself when the computer side is running and not when the TV programmes are running.

Sounds like a syncing issue. I'd start by investigating the quality of the connection, and the connector.

And if you are using a mini VGA connector, start there.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=220394

Hi guys,
I tried to explain this one earlier but I was told that my title didn't really give a clue to the problem so here it is again.
I have a G4 Mac Mini hooked up to a 52" Plasma screen which has no problems showing excellent pictures via the Sky box which is also wired to the Plasma TV.
The cable from the TV to the Mac Mini is the same cable that ran from the same TV to a desktop Windows PC for two years with not a hint of a problem.
However, that cable does not plug directly into the back of the Mac Mini. It plugs into a little adapter jobbie about 2 inches square which, in turn, is plugged into the Mac Mini.
OK, that basically explains the system so here comes the problem .....

I keep getting a blue screen appearing on the TV that covers the whole screen. It is the same pale blue colour as this box that I am typing into right now (just in case the colour of the screen makes a difference)
This blue screen stays for anything from 3 seconds to 7 seconds and then it just goes away leaving the exact screen that I was on before it appeared. I have found that if I am typing when the blue screen appears my words appear when the screen goes back to normal. I found that out once when I was looking at the keyboard rather than the screen and didn't realise it had turned blue until I finished typing.
This blue screen appears at random times. Sometimes within seconds of starting the machine and sometimes it will stay a Blue screen free zone for 20 minutes before it starts. At other times it will be on-off-on-off for a minute and at other times it will do one blue screen and then be normal for half an hour.
My pet theory is that the little jobbie between the video cable and the Mac Mini is a low quality one. If you agree, could somebody please point me to an eBay auction for a GOOD quality one and not just a low quality one with an inflated price tag. I'm new at this stuff so I wouldn't know the difference myself.
Thanks very much.
Stevie

What you're describing in my experience is most often the cabling. However, it could also be the video card becoming flaky.

If it were me, I'd probably be looking to replace both the cable and the adapter jobbie and keep my fingers crossed that's the problem.

You haven't given us any clue what type of cable you're using to connect to the TV, so it makes it a little rough to make any recommendation though.

I'll go ahead and make a guess you're using either a HDMI or VGA cable.
Sorry, but I don't do ebay for anything like this.
Here in the US, I use monoprice and Amazon.
There in the UK, I'd probably use Amazon only because I don't know if ya'll have a company like monoprice.

Here's a DVI to HDMI for £4.99 and free super saver shipping. They've got two tons of them if you don't want that one.

Here's a whole slew of DVI to VGA adapter(s) and cable(s) starting at < £1.00

bobtomay said:

You haven't given us any clue what type of cable you're using to connect to the TV, so it makes it a little rough to make any recommendation though.

Click to expand...

I tried to. Honest injun, I did.
I said that it was the same cable that had connected my Windows PC to the screen. I know I didn't tell you the exact techie details of the cable but that's because I'm a complete thicko who just doesn't know the correct terminology. All I can say is take a look at the cable that runs between a Windows computer and a standard monitor. It is usually the lead that has lots of blue inside the plugs on the ends of the lead.

Anyway, I bought myself a HDMI to DVI lead(or is it the other way around?) so when it arrives chez moi we'll see what happens.

5tevie said:

...
All I can say is take a look at the cable that runs between a Windows computer and a standard monitor. ...

Click to expand...

That doesn't help whatsoever. I have used at least 5 diiferent cables for attaching my Windows machines to monitors / TVs. Three of them are still in common use today.

The blue gives a good hint, but I have not used a VGA cable to connect any of my computers in probably 10 years.

You should check here in post #4 and you should be able to figure out what connections you're using.

If you went with the DVI to HDMI cable, you'll put your existing adapter and cable in the cable drawer and you'll be attaching it to one of the HDMI ports instead of the PC port on the TV.

You may want to read post #1 &/or #3 in that link after you get the cable if you can't figure out how to get the sound on your TV with it.

Merged threads.

Is that 2" square thing as you call it a the DVI to VGA adapter that apple ships with the Mini? If so it should have 2 recessed Thumb nuts to unscrew it from the mini.

If so, I had one older 1.25 G4 mini where the pins got dirty and the video to my TV would cut off and back on and the TV would display a blue screen. Cleaning the pins and the jack with electronic cleaner took care of it. Not sure if that is your issue, but worth a try.

Try when it turns blue jiggling the adapter up and down a bit and see if the blue screen comes and goes. Can't hurt to try.

Thanks for the link, bob. I'll save that at read up when the cable gets here.

Thanks also to dtravis. I'll try that. It certainly won't do any harm although now that I have threatened it by buying a new lead the incidences of the blue screen have virtually stopped today.
Oh, and Yes, that 2" thing is the part that came with the Mac Mini to connect my old VGA cable to the port on the back of the Mini and Yes, it has two half submerged thumb wheels.
Thanks for all the help and suggestions.
5teve

Hi again,
The DVD to HDMI lead arrived today and I just found time to fit it.
It all seemed to go well except that I can't seem to find a way to make the Firefox Screen fit the TV screen properly. With the old cables I had the resolution set at 1280 x 768 and it was almost perfect.
The same resolution here looks like the image below.
It wouldn't be so bad but there is no option to scroll over to the right, not even using the Magic Mouse.
Any help or suggestions appreciated

Try other resolutions - I'd start out at 1920 x 1080.

Hi Bob.
I have tried all the other resolutions on the list, even 800 x 600 to no avail.
I have managed to get one screen just perfect (eBay chat forum) and wondered if there was a way to make all other pages look like that one.

You need to back up to the desktop and get the resolution set properly for the desktop.
You have not said what is wrong with the display when you're looking only at the desktop.
What is wrong with the desktop when it's set to 1920 x 1080?

Once the desktop is set to the proper resolution, your apps all open in individual windows. If the window is too large, then you need to resize the window. I'd forget about windows at this point and concentrate on getting the resolution set properly for the desktop.

Are you using mirrored mode or extended desktop mode?

Have you turned overscan on and off in Display preferences to see what difference that makes?

Have you checked the owners manual of the TV to see if it has the option for turning off overscan?

What is the make and model of the TV?

Ahh, I have my desktop set to show a view of Earth from space which is probably not the best to test the set-up. It looks OK with about a half inch of blackness before the bottom of the planet shows and the top of the planet just nudges the toolbar.
I'll try some other desktop images and see what they look like.

OK, I tried a few and the image called "Earth Horizon" seems to offer the best way of judging.
With that image set as my Desktop, the top / right edge of the Earth reaches the edge of the desktop maybe an inch sooner than it does in the image. The bottom / left edge of the Earth is just about right.

Bob wrote earlier ...
You have not said what is wrong with the display when you're looking only at the desktop.

I don't think that there is a problem with the resolution on the actual desktop as such. It could maybe be "fettled" by a tiny amount but I'm happy to leave it as it is unless it needs to be changed to get the resolution / font size etc correct. (I have tried the Firefox >> Prefs >> fonts route)

Bob asked ... What is wrong with the desktop when it's set to 1920 x 1080?
The actual image size is the same as it is with the resolution set at 1280 x 768 but the area of the image where the clouds are a bit faint seems to be out of focus at 1920 x 1080 but looks a lot better at 1280 x 768.

Are you using mirrored mode or extended desktop mode?
I have no idea what that means but I shall Google it in a minute.

Have you turned overscan on and off in Display preferences to see what difference that makes?
With overscan turned off the desktop image stays the same but the icons for the hard drive and a couple of other things are smaller. I turned it back on to get the icons back to a reasonable size. When turning overscan either On or Off, the screen went black for maybe 5 seconds before coming back with the desktop image.

What is the make and model of the TV?
It is an LG

Have you checked the owners manual of the TV to see if it has the option for turning off overscan?
No, I have not.

What is the make and model of the TV?
OK, I have been away searching for the manual but I can't find it. It is made by LG and it is a Plasma. I have just measured the diagonal screen size and it seems to be 51 inches. I can't check round the back 'cos it is fastened to the wall and it is way to heavy for me to lift it off.

**Off to Google what Mirrored and extended mean**

I am only using one monitor (a TV) with just the single desktop image covering it all.