01-28-2008, 02:31 AM
[quote C(-)ris]The fact that your video card was swapped out was something that all the posters needed to know to figure out your issue. IF you had the stock card, their advice was all correct because it should work. If you had said, I can't get this stock Rage128 card to work with my cinema display and then described the issue everyone would have told you that card doesn't support the resolutions you need. Everyone's advice was spot on, you just left out the important info. So don't go complaining about the advice you got.
I do appreciate the suggestions here, sorry if that wasn't communicated. My last post reflected my frustration with the "System Reinstall" advice, perhaps some arrived late, and had suggestions that had been addressed already.
I take exception to your finger wagging lecture, c(-)ris, because I stated early on that the graphics card was the primary suspect. Because there was no display image, there was no practical way to reinstall System Software. It's not an easy thing to do on a blind computer. With no system discs to begin with, it's even harder. And it's questionable to do a complete System reinstall until other methods had been tried first. The graphics card was always the most likely concern, all evidence pointed in that direction.
The graphics card-swap theory is new, it came to light after I plugged in a VGA monitor, finally was able to view at least some working image, and could see the System Profile. Yesterday, when I'd inspected the machine internally (I've had it for only 24 hours) seeing an ATI card in there, with both a VGA and DVI port, there wasn't a compelling reason to suspect the G4 wouldn't eventually see a DVI display it's plugged into, even if it's been out of use for several months and the settings weren't adjusted for a DVI display. Then when I looked up the original three cards the Quicksilver shipped with, earlier today, I discovered that they were different than the one currently installed. That may be the answer to the mystery, but it may not be. That alone is still not a reason to exclude this card from being able to display reliably on an Apple DV display.
It's interesting that even with the ATI Rage card--which as both a VGA and a DVI ports--isn't displaying a stable image, more puzzling is that it actually does display on the Apple Cinema 20" quite well, but under certain special conditions. (when booted from the optical drive instead of the boot drive) So, it was an unexpected irregularity, and still not quite clear. It's been a while since I've had hands-on experience with G4 Towers and 5-10 year-old graphics cards.
I notice in the System Profiler that the Rage128 Pro installed doesn't support Core Image, or Quartz. Not sure if that's a factor.... Also curious if it's capable running two displays at once. And what DVI displays does a Rage128 Pro work with, if not an Apple one?
I do appreciate the suggestions here, sorry if that wasn't communicated. My last post reflected my frustration with the "System Reinstall" advice, perhaps some arrived late, and had suggestions that had been addressed already.
I take exception to your finger wagging lecture, c(-)ris, because I stated early on that the graphics card was the primary suspect. Because there was no display image, there was no practical way to reinstall System Software. It's not an easy thing to do on a blind computer. With no system discs to begin with, it's even harder. And it's questionable to do a complete System reinstall until other methods had been tried first. The graphics card was always the most likely concern, all evidence pointed in that direction.
The graphics card-swap theory is new, it came to light after I plugged in a VGA monitor, finally was able to view at least some working image, and could see the System Profile. Yesterday, when I'd inspected the machine internally (I've had it for only 24 hours) seeing an ATI card in there, with both a VGA and DVI port, there wasn't a compelling reason to suspect the G4 wouldn't eventually see a DVI display it's plugged into, even if it's been out of use for several months and the settings weren't adjusted for a DVI display. Then when I looked up the original three cards the Quicksilver shipped with, earlier today, I discovered that they were different than the one currently installed. That may be the answer to the mystery, but it may not be. That alone is still not a reason to exclude this card from being able to display reliably on an Apple DV display.
It's interesting that even with the ATI Rage card--which as both a VGA and a DVI ports--isn't displaying a stable image, more puzzling is that it actually does display on the Apple Cinema 20" quite well, but under certain special conditions. (when booted from the optical drive instead of the boot drive) So, it was an unexpected irregularity, and still not quite clear. It's been a while since I've had hands-on experience with G4 Towers and 5-10 year-old graphics cards.
I notice in the System Profiler that the Rage128 Pro installed doesn't support Core Image, or Quartz. Not sure if that's a factor.... Also curious if it's capable running two displays at once. And what DVI displays does a Rage128 Pro work with, if not an Apple one?