My ridiculous problem

cornfedcornfed
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have a multiscope series of problems that seem riddled with catch 22's.



I'm running a g4 powerbook, dual boot os9 and osx 10.0.2 (I think). My monitor hinge snapped a while back. Since the monitor snapped, I have been using an external monitor to view my stuff. I was editing a quark xpress file on Friday in OS9 and my machine crashed. When I tried to restart it, it didn't send the information to the second monitor so that I could see what it was doing. I assume that it didn't reach the point upon restart that it was even able to see the second monitor. So, I put in my software install and restore cd and have restarted with that by holding down the c key when it restarted. Now, it seems that I have a feed to the second monitor, but that's all. All that's showing on the second monitor is blue background and an arrow. I have toggled the f7 key and I get no changes. I was thinking that maybe it's not set on mirroring but on the continual display mode - which I've never used and only assume that I have. Since I still can't see anything, all of this is only based on assumptions as to what might be going on. Once I can see what's going on, the next set of problems to deal with is what happened that caused it to crash in the first place. My plan when I can see it is to set the system preferences to restart to OSX and then run drive genius on it. I don't even know where to begin with my questions! I guess a good place to start would be to seek advice on how to get this monitor to display what is going on. Any suggestions, advice or anything is very much appreciated.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    I would say try starting up in safe mode (hold shift key as soon as you hear the start-up tone, release as soon as you see the grey screen), but I'm not sure how that works with a second monitor as your only display. Couldn't hurt to try, though.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    cornfedcornfed Posts: 6member
    I tried that. I get nothing on the second monitor. I guess I need some form of command key or f-key sequence to toggle the monitor to the mirror mode. F7 isn't doing anything so I know that's not it. Also, if anyone knew of a command key sequence to force it to start back into OSX then I imagine that would help. I don't know of one that exist, though.



    I am fairly certain that the root cause of this problem lies in a funky font or something in the quark file. I was working on a reprint of a project that dates back to 2000. I think I first messed up when I saved the quark file and didn't tell it to save in a later version of quark or just had a funky font. I am fairly certain that I'm not having a huge hardware problem or anything like that.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    ricksbrainricksbrain Posts: 517member
    Just saw this, never tried:



    cmd-f2\tauto-detect a newly-connected display (works on Ti Powerbooks)
  • Reply 4 of 8
    cornfedcornfed Posts: 6member
    Thanks. It didn't work, but thanks for the suggestion. The point I'm at now is that the machine has managed to restart to the Norton disk, but the good monitor only shows the norton background and the cursor. I can't access any of the commands. Fortunately, I've been able to recreate some work on my imac that had to go to print today. But that only solves my immediate problem. I can't work on this imac for too long and be truly productive. I'm at a loss as to what to do next.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,326moderator
    If your computers both have firewire, you can boot the one whose display doesn't work in firewire target mode by holding the t-key. Then when they are hooked up together, it will mount on your imac like a normal drive.



    Go into /users/<name>/library/preferences and look at the folder called ByHost. In here, there is a com.apple.windowserver.<number>.plist. This is what stores if your display is mirrored or not and what resolution it's at. If you move that file out of there, it should create a new set but mirrored by default (I think mirrored is the default).



    If it's not set by default, you can set the mirrored property manually in the plist.



    If you had personal file sharing on already on the machine with the broken display, you could use an ethernet cable to modify the files too.



    There really ought to be a hotkey for turning on mirrored mode.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    g_warreng_warren Posts: 713member
    There is a mirror key on some PowerBooks / MacBook Pros. It doubles up as one of the F keys if I remember correctly. I'm guessing this isn't on the 12" then?
  • Reply 7 of 8
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by G_Warren View Post


    There is a mirror key on some PowerBooks / MacBook Pros. It doubles up as one of the F keys if I remember correctly. I'm guessing this isn't on the 12" then?



    F7. I think he said he tried that.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    cornfedcornfed Posts: 6member
    I haven't had time to try the firewire solution, but plan to this evening once I get this print job secured on the iMac. Nothing else has worked though.



    I did, however, get this piece of advice and wanted to go ahead and put it in here just in case it should work for other people with a similar issue.



    "to start up the computer in OSX if it's starting up in 9, restart and hold the X key, and that will boot into OS X"



    This did not work for me, but like I said, I wanted to file it in here so if someone else does a search it may end up working for them. Here's the apple support page that details how to do it.



    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106696
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