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Issues with monitor resolution choices under 9.2.2 on G4 quicksilver

C

cplum

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 13, 2025
8
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I have a of G4 Quicksilver with two partitions. One is dual boot OX 10.4.6 and macos 9.2.2 (this is a new clean install) and the other is OSX 10.5.8 and macos 9.2.2 (probably at least 10 years old and not really been in use since then). I'm using the VGA connector and am having issues with monitor resolution choices while under macos 9.2.2.

On the 9.2.2 paired with OSX 10.4.16, I'm not given the "wider" resolution choices as options. This would include 1360x768, 1600x900, and 1920x1080, all of which I see under OSX. On the 9.2.2 paired with OSX 10.5.8 (the very old installation), it always boots into whatever resolution was selected last (from any other OS boot), and that is the only choice that shows up in the list of monitor resolutions, so I can't change it. I'm not sure how/when it got into this mode. In some ways it is good because I can boot into OSX and choose the resolution I want (even 1920x1080), and then boot into this 9.2.2 and that's the resolution I'll get (even though the other 9.2.2 won't even list that resolution as an option).

Any idea how to fix these 9.2.2 monitor resolution issues?

BTW, I'd also like to use the ADC port instead of VGA, but getting a DVI adapter for it just doesn't seem feasible. They are very hard to track down, and the last one I tracked down on ebay sold last month for $120. Maybe I should just replace the graphics card, but the discussions I've seen so far make that far from a simple solution. Making sure I'm getting a mac version of the card, getting drivers, and even doing hardware mods are just not worth it to me. Plus most of the threads degrade into perfomance discussions, which I also don't care about.

thanks
 
A couple more things to add. For the newly installed system that won't list the wider resolutions choices, I noticed that if I boot into OSX, choose something wide like 1920x1080, and then boot into 9.2.2, during the entire boot process it is the proper resolution, but then just before the finder desktop appears it switches to resolution used when last booted into 9.2.2. So clearly it knows how to display the resolution properly while booted into 9.2.2, but it just doesn't let me select that resolution (and yes, I am selecting to show "all" resolutions, not just "recommended").

Then 2nd finding is with the 9.2.2 system that retains the resolution that was set last time it was booted into OSX. I realized that this system had been badly corrupted. I think at some pointed I disabled almost all extensions and control panels, and they have since disappeared from the "disabled' folders. I was getting no sound, could not open the optical drive tray with the keyboard, could not put the system to sleep, and could not choose a monitor resolution (probably there was more wrong with it than just this). I re-installed 9.2.2 over the existing system, and that fixed all these issues, but then that meant I lost the "feature" of being able to retain the resolution that was last used, because as explained in the first paragraph above, near the end of the boot it now switches to one of the narrower resolutions (it didn't do this before the re-install).
 
I found a workaround. The behavior of the corrupted 9.2.2 install (not allowing for selection of monitor resolution, but also not changing the resolution when booting) got me thinking that I probably just need to disable the right extension(s) in a working 9.2.2 install to get the same behavior. Sure enough, disabling the 5 Nvidia Geoforce extensions did the trick. Probably I don't need to disable all 5, but I'll worry about which ones matter later. I'm probably also losing all graphics acceleration, but I can live with that. Disabling extensions on boot with the shift key also works, but of course if I ever forget to do that, then 9.2.2 will change the resolutoin to something crappy, and I'll need to boot into OSX to fix the resolution, then back into 9.2.2.
 
Project Alice said:
What GPU is in it? This sounds like the type of behavior you'd get in OS 9 with no video drivers
Click to expand...
It's the Nvidia card. As mentioned above, when I disable the Nvidia extensions on the new/clean OS 9 installation, that also causes the behavior of not changing the resolution on startup, and also not allowing the monitors control panel to change the resolution. So the question then becomes why there are limited resolution choices when the extensions are enabled.
 
repairedCheese said:
This might help?
Click to expand...
This is of some help, although also a bit flaky. This does allow me to switch to 1920x1080. It also allows for 1600x1000, but it looks crappy. It does not allow 1360x768 or 1600x900, even though I can select these with OSX, and as mentioned above, if the Nvidia extensions are disabled I can boot into OS9 with either these resolutions and they work fine.
 
cplum said:
It's the Nvidia card. As mentioned above, when I disable the Nvidia extensions on the new/clean OS 9 installation, that also causes the behavior of not changing the resolution on startup, and also not allowing the monitors control panel to change the resolution. So the question then becomes why there are limited resolution choices when the extensions are enabled.
Click to expand...
There are a lot of nvidia cards. One of my G4s, much older than a quicksilver, has a Nvidia Geforce 6200 in it. Not even remotely compatible with Mac OS 9.

If its the original card, I would think its a Geforce 2mx or 4mx I don't remember. Those would be compatible. But its an old computer, and a previous owner could've upgraded it. Since it has an ADC port, I can't think of any newer nvidia cards that would work, but I could be wrong. Did you actually check system profiler in OS X and see what card it is? If you're just going off the sticker on the back that can only tell you what it had when it was purchased not necessarily whats in it now. Radeon 9600's can have ADC ports, can fit in G4's if pins 3 and 11 are disabled, and do not work in OS 9, for example.

It's just best to start at the easiest smallest thing first, like checking a car battery.
 
Project Alice said:
There are a lot of nvidia cards. One of my G4s, much older than a quicksilver, has a Nvidia Geforce 6200 in it. Not even remotely compatible with Mac OS 9.

If its the original card, I would think its a Geforce 2mx or 4mx I don't remember. Those would be compatible. But its an old computer, and a previous owner could've upgraded it. Since it has an ADC port, I can't think of any newer nvidia cards that would work, but I could be wrong. Did you actually check system profiler in OS X and see what card it is? If you're just going off the sticker on the back that can only tell you what it had when it was purchased not necessarily whats in it now. Radeon 9600's can have ADC ports, can fit in G4's if pins 3 and 11 are disabled, and do not work in OS 9, for example.

It's just best to start at the easiest smallest thing first, like checking a car battery.
Click to expand...
Geforce 2MX. It's the original card. I actually have two of these machines. One I bought new and the other used a couple years ago. They both exhibit the same behavior. And just to be clear, the wider resolutions work fine on OSX. It's OS9 that won't show the wider resolutions, but will work with them if setup from OSX and then boot into OS9 with the Nvidia extensions disabled. So the issue is not being able to choose these wider resolutions from OS9.
 
cplum said:
Geforce 2MX. It's the original card. I actually have two of these machines. One I bought new and the other used a couple years ago. They both exhibit the same behavior. And just to be clear, the wider resolutions work fine on OSX. It's OS9 that won't show the wider resolutions, but will work with them if setup from OSX and then boot into OS9 with the Nvidia extensions disabled. So the issue is not being able to choose these wider resolutions from OS9.
Click to expand...
You said this was a new, clean install correct?
Which OS 9 CD did you use? The macos9lives iso is what I use on everything.
The one I linked to is the “unsupported G4s” one, however, I have had better luck using that one than the regular macos9lives image, and contrary what one of the comments on there says, it also worked on my 1GHz TiBook.

I would try a fresh install using a known good OS 9 iso like this, and if you are still having issues, maybe run AHT to see if that GPU is having issues?
 
Project Alice said:
You said this was a new, clean install correct?
Which OS 9 CD did you use? The macos9lives iso is what I use on everything.
The one I linked to is the “unsupported G4s” one, however, I have had better luck using that one than the regular macos9lives image, and contrary what one of the comments on there says, it also worked on my 1GHz TiBook.

I would try a fresh install using a known good OS 9 iso like this, and if you are still having issues, maybe run AHT to see if that GPU is having issues?
Click to expand...
Clean new install of both OX 10.4.6 and 9.2.2. I used this iso:


But this also happens with another partition that has an ancient install of 9.2.2.

I doubt it is the GPU since it happens on both of my G4s.
 
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