Projector Compatability

[Wadds]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I speak at a lot of conferences and, after several Vista nightmares, now run everything from a MacBook Pro. While disappointed by its graphic speed, it has been solid, reliable and robust - until today when it refuses to project onto screen. The projector needs a refresh rate of 60hz and yet when I go to DISPLAY options in system preferences, it is only possible to change resolution not refresh rate. The drop down menu is always greyed out and reads n/a. Is this a Leopard issue or a problem with the mac NVidia graphics cards? I can find no help at Mac or NVidia web sites.

Yours in desperation!

 

[JonBoy]

I speak at a lot of conferences and, after several Vista nightmares, now run everything from a MacBook Pro.

Mee too - although I decided not to even go Vista and switched to Mac before
I was forced to go that way

The projector needs a refresh rate of 60hz and yet when I go to DISPLAY options in system preferences, it is only possible to change resolution not refresh rate.

I originally had a lot of problems connecting to projectors, but what has
worked for me is is to select the option to "Show displays in menu bar" - not
essential but much easier to access.

I found I had to connect the VGA adapter and wait for the system to "see" it
(the screen blinks).
Then I connect the VGA cable - doing the two at the same time often caused
my Mac to hang completely.

If that projector has been seen before by the Mac it will normally switch
straight in. If it doesn't - or for a new projector - I simply select
"Detect displays" from the display icon in the menu bar. That will normally
give me some kind of connection. At this point I can then go back to the
Display menu icon and all of the available resolutions and sync rates will
appear in the pull down list. Select the ones you want individually for the
Mac screen and projector and voila! all is well.

Note that many modern projectors support so many "flavors" that it is often
not until after I have picked one that is close to what I want that all of
the actual options are shown. I have no idea how the Mac determines which
and what to show but ...

This has worked almost flawlessly for me now for about 6 months and about 30
different projectors.

Hope it helps.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

I speak at a lot of conferences and, after several Vista nightmares,
now run everything from a MacBook Pro. While disappointed by its
graphic speed, it has been solid, reliable and robust - until today
when it refuses to project onto screen. The projector needs a refresh
rate of 60hz and yet when I go to DISPLAY options in system
preferences, it is only possible to change resolution not refresh
rate. The drop down menu is always greyed out and reads n/a. Is this
a Leopard issue or a problem with the mac NVidia graphics cards? I
can find no help at Mac or NVidia web sites.

I've personally had no problems with projectors from my MacBook Pro.
What model of projectors have you been using?

Be sure that you connect the projector to your MacBook Pro *prior* to
turning on your laptop. Turn on the projector first and let it come up
completely before you turn on the laptop. All peripheral devices will be
detected at startup.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[Wadds]

Many thanks jonboy and bill for your replies.

I always boot up after the projector - though not as the two satge process you suggest JB.

Normally, I agree - all is well but not this time. The projector was 'found' but the display was awful because the refresh rate was too fast and the options for differenct refresh rates never appeared in the display options.

Can I ask:

* what is your graphics card? (mine is an NVIDIA and I think the drivers are on the board itself and therefore under Apple's control - who have no information and Geforce wash their hands and say it is not their fault)

* are you running Leopard? (a laptop running tiger could find the projector - so could one running Leopard as an upgrade).

Once again, many thanks for your help.

 

[JonBoy]

* what is your graphics card? (mine is an NVIDIA and I think the drivers are on the board itself and therefore under Apple's control - who have no information and Geforce wash their hands and say it is not their fault)

Yes - NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT

* are you running Leopard? (a laptop running tiger could find the projector - so could one running Leopard as an upgrade).

Leopard as an upgrade - I had many more problems with projectors before I
upgraded from Tiger.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

I always boot up after the projector - though not as the two satge
process you suggest JB.

Normally, I agree - all is well but not this time. The projector was
'found' but the display was awful because the refresh rate was too
fast and the options for differenct refresh rates never appeared in
the display options.

I'm assuming you're using the Apple brand DVI to VGA adapter with this
projector as well as a standard VGA to VGA cable, correct? Have you
tried a different adapter? Possibly some of the pins have been damaged.
Also, check the video ports on your MacBook Pro as well as the projector.

* what is your graphics card? (mine is an NVIDIA and I think the
drivers are on the board itself and therefore under Apple's control -
who have no information and Geforce wash their hands and say it is
not their fault)

The video card is "NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB of GDDR3 SDRAM and
dual-link DVI". The specifications of my specific MacBook Pro are here:

* are you running Leopard? (a laptop running tiger could find the
projector - so could one running Leopard as an upgrade).

Yes, I'm running a fully patched Leopard system.

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[JonBoy]

Just remembered one more thing. I have had problems with some projectors
when they used a long cable. At one event the AV guy mentioned something
about the signal levels on the Mac's DVI VGA output not being as strong as on
most PCs.

In all cases switching to a shorter cable cured the problem.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Just remembered one more thing. I have had problems with some projectors
when they used a long cable. At one event the AV guy mentioned something
about the signal levels on the Mac's DVI VGA output not being as strong as on
most PCs.

In all cases switching to a shorter cable cured the problem.

Good one. Say, would you mind if this and a few of your other suggestions
showed up in the PPT FAQ eventually?


================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[JonBoy]

Good one. Say, would you mind if this and a few of your other suggestions
showed up in the PPT FAQ eventually?

No - by all means be my guest.

Talking to other Mac users I have found wide variance in the amount of
difficulty (or lack thereof) that people experience with projectors. I seem
to have had more trouble than most which would suggest that hardware with a
borderline spec may be a part of the problem.

One other thing I didn't mention - in those cases where the Mac hung
completely requiring power off to reset - once I powered up the machine again
it connected perfectly and continue to work though multiple
disconnect/reconnect for the remainder of the conference.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

No - by all means be my guest.

Thanks ... collecting some of these posts into one or two focused web pages
(that we can all easily send people to) can be very helpful.

Talking to other Mac users I have found wide variance in the amount of
difficulty (or lack thereof) that people experience with projectors. I seem
to have had more trouble than most which would suggest that hardware with a
borderline spec may be a part of the problem.

One other thing I didn't mention - in those cases where the Mac hung
completely requiring power off to reset - once I powered up the machine again
it connected perfectly and continue to work though multiple
disconnect/reconnect for the remainder of the conference.

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[Wadds]

Thanks to all for the useful dialogue. The cable length - signal strength comment is particularly helpful.

The issue remains problematical for me, however. If the automatic detection works, naturally, there is no problem. When it does not there is no way of rectifying the issue - particularly on refressh rates.

It seems upgrades still have the original Tiger options. It seems that other graphics cards have refresh rate options but for some reason Leopard with NVidia is an issue. You simply are not offered the luxury of altering refresh rates.

Does anyone have a contact at Apple or GeForce who might be able to help? It still feels like I shgould be able to somehow unlock this option as it can make compatability changes automatically - just not from display options.

Again many thanks to all for your help.