Strange video problem when disconnecting a monitor from my iBook

lucaluca
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Twice now, after disconnecting an external monitor from my iBook, it's screwed up the iBook's built in display. It makes windows leave little trails, and scrolling on web pages gets all weird. It's like it leaves lots of pixels behind and doesn't update them when I move things around. Closing and reopening the window helps, but it always gets screwed up when I resize, scroll, or move a window. Any idea what the problem is? It's an 800 MHz 12" iBook, and both times I was working with a blue Apple 17" CRT. The OS is 10.2.3 and although I've applied the spanning hack, it's done this once before the hack and once afterwards, and it displayed identical behavior both times, so it MUST be some other issue. Also, logging out didn't fix the problem, but restarting did. I don't want to have to restart every time I disconnect a monitor, now that I have spanning I want to use one!



[ 12-31-2002: Message edited by: Luca Rescigno ]</p>

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    do you know why it's called a hack ?



    sorry, I have to be a little bit picky about that when people implement hacks (read: unsupported thing) and wonder why afterwards things screw up.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Ugh. This is like the third time you HAVEN'T READ MY POST! Did you pay attention? I said I had the same problem before and after. Also, all the spanning hack does is change a property in the firmware that allows spanning. It doesn't do anything else. In every single user report of the results of the hack, it either did nothing or it enabled spanning (it did make some Rage iBooks die, but mine is a Radeon iBook).



    Think before you post.
  • Reply 3 of 11
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    I had that exact problem when I had my 700 iBook, and it was hit and miss, sometimes it was fine, other times it did the strange display problems. I haven't tried the external monitor with my 800 iBook too much, so I don't know if it'll exhibit the same behavior. Can't think of anything right now to suggest... if I do I'll post it.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    have you tried downloading the latest ATI drivers?



    i know they have some new ones (read a month or so ago), it might fix the problem.



    otherwise i'm not sure what would do it.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Hmm... Well, I know they released some in October, but I'm guessing they would be pre-installed on my iBook. When was the 10.2.2 update released? Mine came with 10.2.1, so it was somewhere in there that mine had software installed on it.
  • Reply 6 of 11
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    Luca, I've read your post, but as MCQ says it, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't.



    I'll try that thinky-thingy, yes.



    <a href="http://mirror.ati.com/support/drivers/mac/macos-october-2002-update.html"; target="_blank">October 2002 ATI Retail Update for Mac OS</a> for Mac OS X version 10.1.3 to 10.2.1



    10.2.3 came out on 11-11-02. see <a href="http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75150"; target="_blank">here</a> for a complete list.



    Luca, forgive me if I was a jerk.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I installed the ATI Driver update tonight, after determining that my iBook had its software installed sometime between September 18th and November 11th. The ATI update was released in October so there's about a 50/50 chance it wasn't part of this 'book's standard installation.



    I tried connecting just the adapter again, so it thinks there's an external monitor connected. Then I disconnected the adapter. And there were no problems. So hopefully that fixed it for good.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    let me know if it doesn't.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Hmm... it seemed fine but now for some reason, my screensaver has slowed to a crawl. I usually use my screensaver instead of logging out to password protect my computer, but it was super slow. I got an app that checks to see if Quartz Extreme is working and it said that this display is not accelerated. This all started when I installed the ATI Driver update... maybe it's not intended for the Mobility 7500 (which wasn't on their list of products) and therefore hurts performance.



    I think I'll do an archive install so I get my original system back. I wouldn't blame the spanning hack but it seems likely that the driver update is what caused this. After checking the Read Me file it says that only the Radeon, Radeon 7000, Radeon 8500, and some Rage 128s are the ones being updated. So perhaps that was a mistake



    Hopefully there's some way to uninstall it other than reinstalling the system.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Wait... before I do an archive install, will it erase everything? It says it can copy your users over... does that mean your home folder will be saved? What about my applications? Or does it just replace the system folder?
  • Reply 11 of 11
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    it archives the complete old system including your apps and makes a completely new system with new apps. your home folder will be transferred over.



    sorry that I didn't see your question.
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