Dual monitor issue. anybody?

[Altrack]

I'm upgrading to a G4 1.25 dual MDD from a G4 450 and bypassed some of the pci bus errors back in the day with the Jeronimo dual monitor card. Does the new ATI 9000 pro card use less pci power or can I still use my Jeronimo in OS9 on the G4 1.25? Are dual monitor issues on the new G4's still causing DAE, pci and mac errors and slowing down PT's like a fat bitch in heat? Waaaaassssssuppppppppp? Sorry, it's 5 AM!

[David Schober]

I have the DP 1.42 and have been running two 17" ViewSonic monitors. There's no problem with the monitors and the computer. It seems to run just as fast with one as two. HOWEVER.....after reading a post here about two days ago, I'm suspicious that they may be a cause of a real problem I do have intermittently. Some days there will be no problems and other days PT will suddenly freeze the computer and loop the last few seconds of audio, with the only solution being to reboot from the power switch.

So now I'm running a single monitor off the ACD port...but just to muddle the waters even further, I heard a rumor that 17" ViewSonic LCD monitors have a reputation of causing problems. I'll probably make a post about that one, but I thought I'd toss it in this in case. I hope it's not true as I really like them.

[sndgeek]

The AGP graphics bus is separated from the PCI bus, hence keeping it happy. As posted in other topics, I use the 9000 in my single 867 G4 powering dual 20" CRT's. It's been the most stable setup I've ever had in ProTools.

[Noiz2]

You don't need a second card in a MDD dual 1.25 G4. The AGP card that came with it is a duall monitor card. All you need is an adapter for the port you are not currently using. I've been running dual monitors for a couple of monthes now with no problems at all.

SK

The AGP graphics bus is separated from the PCI bus, hence keeping it happy. As posted in other topics, I use the 9000 in my single 867 G4 powering dual 20" CRT's. It's been the most stable setup I've ever had in ProTools.

[Tarmo Simola]

David: I don't know about other ViewSonics but ViewSonic VE175b is a bit funky. We had *major* problems with G4 MDDs, Gefen extenders and this model. After countless hours of troubleshooting, we found a solution with some help from local ViewSonic support:

Cut the VGA pin 15. It's used to communicate with the computer and it seems like this model has some weird firmware issues which makes it only partially compatible with G4. Problems: You can't shut down the Mac (it restarts immediately) and the Mac starts itself when you plug in the display. Gefen problems were even nastier and Gefen actually had to mod their extenders to get them to work with this model (thx Gefen!).

We used short M/F VGA cables because we didn't want to mess with client's hardware (original VGA cable). If the pin 15 is cut, the monitor can't "chat" with the graphic card but that's not a problem, the card just doesn't know the model of the display but everything works just dandy. Funnily enough the DVI output seems to be more problematic than ADC (as you have apparently noticed), we tested different ADC/DVI/VGA adapters to (no help) before learning about the famous pin 15.

Altrack: Jeronimo vs. ATI or Nvidia. The Apple bulit-in cards work *much* better, are faster and compatible. We installed lots of Jeronimos back when they were the only solution and had *muchos* problems with them. Just mentioning the name brings back nasty memories.

Hope this helps.

[David Schober]

Hey Tarmo,

Thanks for the reply. None of that is a problem for me. The duals apparently work great all the time....(none of the wierd issues you mentioned.) All is well until I have that nasty freeze out of nowhere. It's an outstide chance that's the problem, but as I've looked at everything else, everyone is under suspicion!

I've run it for few days with a single monitor without incident. Today I'm going back to two and see what happens.

[AdamF]

I just got a second monitor on my quicksilver 933 and use dual 19" NEC monitors. They work fine and my system is fine (i'm actually using digi001 LE here). I do have a glitch on my second monitor though. If I have a plugin open and I switch plugins, I have to close it and re-open it. Otherwise it only partly redraws... anyone seen this before??

[advid]

We have problems using two monitors :
Apple G4 1.25, DVD read/CD-R, OS 10.2.8, 2 x 20" Apple Cinemas, Apple DVI to ADC converter,
PT HD 3, Magma 7 x Extension, 2 x 192 I/O, Sync I/O, Procontrol.

Problems :
1. We'd replaced the third party DVI/ADC converter to an Apple one, two monitors then worked fine
but ...
2. Protools will freeze or quit without notice, not under the same/specified operation, it's
radomlized. Some times, some wheres...you'll never know.
3. Computer will be powered off automatically without notice.Monitors will be off, G4 seems still
running but no, you have to restart, either hard or soft way.
4. All energy saver's function were off. Problems still existed.
5. Can't install Waves Platinum boundle 4.0 at all.
6. Tried OS 10.2.3, 10.2.6, 10.2.8, same problems.

Results :
1. These problems still exists and we're going to return the G4 with other models available. It's been two months with us. No solutions since then.

2. This model do not support third party DVI/ADC converters, you must go with the apple made one. We already replaced two video cards from Apple, it will burn your video card - this is what the Apple center told us. We unplug the Magma Extension bay and installed all PT HD crads and ATTO cards within the this G4, the problems still exists. ( Not PCI Cards, the one that came with your computer. )

3. We then switch all the same settings to our old G4 dual 1G Hz, Super Drive, no problems at all.
G4 1G dual, running OS 10.2.6, 10.2.8, both fine with the same configurations.
4. Still wondering ...