GT120 DVI->HDMI not showing native resolution

ddubres79ddubres79
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Hello everyone,



I'm having a lot of trouble with my new Mac Pro and the GT120 card with a 24in LG L246WP LCD. It only has HDMI so I bought a DVI->HDMI and OSX only shows HDTV resolution choices and now Windows in bootcamp cuts off half of my desktop set to it's native 1920x1200.



To get around it I had to buy switchresX to force it to use something other than 1900x1080 etc. To make it even more confusing I had this very LCD hooked up to an iMac for two years in extended mode (using a 2600 ati card in the iMac) and never had one issue in OSX or bootcamp.



Any help much appreciated.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    futurepastnowfuturepastnow Posts: 1,772member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DdubRes79 View Post


    Hello everyone,



    I'm having a lot of trouble with my new Mac Pro and the GT120 card with a 24in LG L246WP LCD. It only has HDMI so I bought a DVI->HDMI and OSX only shows HDTV resolution choices and now Windows in bootcamp cuts off half of my desktop set to it's native 1920x1200.



    To get around it I had to buy switchresX to force it to use something other than 1900x1080 etc. To make it even more confusing I had this very LCD hooked up to an iMac for two years in extended mode (using a 2600 ati card in the iMac) and never had one issue in OSX or bootcamp.



    Any help much appreciated.



    I have the same monitor. Some drivers on some OSes just don't like it. It appears to be completely incompatible with Nvidia's Linux drivers, for example- as soon as the driver loads, it goes into power-save mode and won't wake up.



    VGA always works, of course. But it looks like crap at 1920x1200.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    ddubres79ddubres79 Posts: 101member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by FuturePastNow View Post


    I have the same monitor. Some drivers on some OSes just don't like it. It appears to be completely incompatible with Nvidia's Linux drivers, for example- as soon as the driver loads, it goes into power-save mode and won't wake up.



    VGA always works, of course. But it looks like crap at 1920x1200.



    Ugh I really don't want to shell out cash to replace a working LCD (and a nice 8bit MPVA display at that) JUST to get my crap gt 120 to play nice. A voice in my head told me 'don't buy an HDMI only LCD' but I didn't listen. \



    I guess another option is to shell out money for an ATI 3870/4870 and pray that works considering I never had an issue with this monitor with my iMac and its ATI 2600PRO card.



    Oh and yes VGA works fine in both OSX and Vista/Win7 but I agree it looks blurry and unusable.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    ddubres79ddubres79 Posts: 101member
    Spoke to Apple rep and apparently the GT 120 is crippled when it comes to HDMI support with an adapter. He didn't have any word on whether or not the 4870 works but it looks like I need to buy more equipment to get something that worked fine two weeks ago.



    Has anyone out there used the 4870 with a DVI to HDMI cable and had success??
  • Reply 4 of 13
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    I would love to be stuck with this problem. Text I could read without a struggle. I am curious. If I were to purchase a TV or HDMI compatible monitor, say 20 inch, could I actually get it to work natively at 720 or 768 vertical resolution? I have an iMac 20 and the difference between 1050 or something in the 700s would be huge!
  • Reply 5 of 13
    ddubres79ddubres79 Posts: 101member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WPLJ42 View Post


    I would love to be stuck with this problem. Text I could read without a struggle. I am curious. If I were to purchase a TV or HDMI compatible monitor, say 20 inch, could I actually get it to work natively at 720 or 768 vertical resolution? I have an iMac 20 and the difference between 1050 or something in the 700s would be huge!



    Trust me I'm not lucky =) I cannot get bootcamp to recognize any real resolution (the screen gets chopped in half) and in OSX it refused to show the native 1920x1200 so I had to pay $20 more dollars just to get it to work with my LCD.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DdubRes79 View Post


    Trust me I'm not lucky =) I cannot get bootcamp to recognize any real resolution (the screen gets chopped in half) and in OSX it refused to show the native 1920x1200 so I had to pay $20 more dollars just to get it to work with my LCD.



    I didn't mean to make light of your dilemma. The way things are going, I may have to pitch my 20 inch iMac and find another way. My right eye, the only one that really works, gets red and sore from the struggle I endure trying to deal with the tiny print on my screen. If I could purchase a cheap 19 inch TV and use the native 720 res, life would be much better. Maybe I can find an eMac with low miles on it.
  • Reply 7 of 13
    futurepastnowfuturepastnow Posts: 1,772member
    Are you using the Nvidia driver provided by Apple in Windows? I have no idea if it will work or not, but you could try the latest driver from Nvidia's site.



    I ask because I have the thing hooked up to a desktop PC using the "official" Nvidia driver and I've never had a problem in Windows, only other OSes.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    futurepastnowfuturepastnow Posts: 1,772member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WPLJ42 View Post


    I didn't mean to make light of your dilemma. The way things are going, I may have to pitch my 20 inch iMac and find another way. My right eye, the only one that really works, gets red and sore from the struggle I endure trying to deal with the tiny print on my screen. If I could purchase a cheap 19 inch TV and use the native 720 res, life would be much better. Maybe I can find an eMac with low miles on it.



    They're rare, but you might be able to find a TV with a DVI port.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    In doing a little snooping, it appears to be a problem with the monitor and the video card(s) made by Nvidia. If you go to:

    http://forums.anandtech.com/

    and search your monitor, there are posts about it. All Windows stuff, but the problem is similar. Seems the LG wants to pretend it is a HDTV monitor when associated with Nvidia, even with the DVI to HDMI adapter. In Windows, the official GeForce 8800 GTS driver has a checkbox labeled "Treat as HDTV" and it checked by default. Rather than insert the picture, here is the link:

    http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/112...nineboxma4.jpg

    Sadly, this is of no help, right? You may be right in your previous post, either a new monitor or new video card. You claim the Mac Pro is new. If Apple Care wanted to do the right thing, they could let you get a different video card, since Nvidia is the problem and they put it there.
  • Reply 10 of 13
    ddubres79ddubres79 Posts: 101member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by FuturePastNow View Post


    They're rare, but you might be able to find a TV with a DVI port.



    I actually followed a Hack for windows I found on HardCorp that has you start the install of NVIDIA's newest driver package, stop it once it unzips everything then you have to hack the inf file and tell it 'stop thinking it is a TV' and it worked.



    My issue is I have found no info for the Mac side. I'm using that switchresx software and I'm still getting flicker/refresh issues even when I input the factory settings.



    I did hear that 10.5.6 breaks the DDC-CI support and that .7 is supposed to put it back, I'm just hoping it comes out very soon!
  • Reply 11 of 13
    ddubres79ddubres79 Posts: 101member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WPLJ42 View Post


    Sadly, this is of no help, right? You may be right in your previous post, either a new monitor or new video card. You claim the Mac Pro is new. If Apple Care wanted to do the right thing, they could let you get a different video card, since Nvidia is the problem and they put it there.



    Thanks for the info. I did contact Apple twice and they just said "Unfortunately Apple doesn't support the use of non-apple adapters and the new GT120 doesn't support HDMI output even through an adapter" and without saying it told me to get a new LCD.
  • Reply 12 of 13
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    DdubRes79 ... So you want to keep loving Apple. Why? I would be very unhappy to spend that kind of money only to have Apple say, "sorry." Last time I looked, the Mac Pro costs as much as a Buick. And I suspect you dropped the price for Apple Care, maybe. Apple ... guys ... come on ... you can do better than that. People in this forum sing the praises of Apple like there is no other. What about now? Not one bit better than the rest when all they can say is, "sorry." You can buy this bad boy from the Apple Store: Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro HDMI card and it will only set you back $349.95. But shipping is free. Since the monitor is HDMI, it should hook up to all things TVish. Maybe it can retire to a room with a Blu Ray player, HD cable or satellite, or video game. This is the kind of thing that can make a consumer bitter till the end of time. The Dell Studio Hybrid (Mac mini look-a-like) is darned-able adorable. Say that three times fast. And it only comes with DVI and HDMI output. Take that Apple. While you're at it (Apple) make the guy a sweet deal on the 24 LED screen and keep a happy customer.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    futurepastnowfuturepastnow Posts: 1,772member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DdubRes79 View Post


    I actually followed a Hack for windows I found on HardCorp that has you start the install of NVIDIA's newest driver package, stop it once it unzips everything then you have to hack the inf file and tell it 'stop thinking it is a TV' and it worked.



    My issue is I have found no info for the Mac side. I'm using that switchresx software and I'm still getting flicker/refresh issues even when I input the factory settings.



    I did hear that 10.5.6 breaks the DDC-CI support and that .7 is supposed to put it back, I'm just hoping it comes out very soon!



    I found that, too. I'll have to use it as soon as I get a new graphics card and must update the driver on my PC. Damn this monitor (and it's a very nice monitor) for making computers think it is a television.
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