New Mac Mini - Old monitor

[Andy G]

I have just received my new Mini 1.42 with 512 Ram - lovely!

Problem is I have two old monitors, one an Applevision 1710 AV with built-in speakers (c 1995)- ugly as sin, but hey ho, it is here. The other is a Macintosh 16" Colour Display (c 1993!)

I have several connectors which do actually seem to fit, allowing me to connect to the Mini, but when starting it up I only get interference on the screens.

The Mini works beautifully when connected to my Formac 19" LCD, but really was intended for the kids as a replacement for their recently deceased G3 beige and also recently deceased iMac.

Is this marriage possible?

Yes, I know the monitors are ancient and I really should buy a new one, but they are sitting here, eager and willing!

Any advice?

Andy G

 

[Andy G]

Hey, me again.

To my great joy (and surprise!), the AppleVision has decided to work, and the big ugly speakers don't half produce a better din than the Mini's built in one. There's life in the old dog yet!!!

Ressurection!!!!!

Andy

 

[Andy G]

Latest update - when the Mini goes into sleep mode, the AppleVision display goes blank and then won't re-awake. The solutions so far are never to let it sleep, or to press and hold the off button on the back of the Mini to force a quit, then restart again by pressing the on button - this seems to kick-start the monitor, but I am worried that it is very crude and potentially may harm the Mini doing this . . .

Anyone got any ideas / advice?

P.S. What a great thing the Mini is, and amazing value, GarageBand is worth the price alone!!!

 

[beige matchbox]

Your right, forcing the mini to power off like that is not a very good plan

I dont know how to fix the problem with the screen, but...


Open up you system pref's, click on energy saver, and move the top slider "Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive for:" all the way to the right to never, and if that alone doesn't work do the same with the second slider.

 

[shadowmoses]

I wouldnt resort to reseting your mini manually it is not good for the HD and may cause some damage in the long run, Maybe you should look into investing in a cheap 15" LCD or a cheap but newer CRT as you wont have these problems and it will be worth the extra cash....

ShadOW

 

[zakatov]

I had a monitor that did this sometimes. I found 2 solutions:
1. unplug/replug the monitor's VGA connection (with the mac mini it should be easy to reach the back)
2. remember the key sequence to reboot (control-eject, then r, i believe)

Also see if logging out also forces the monitor to turn on. (don't remember the key sequence for that one).

 

[Andy G]

That seems better - I have set the display and hard disk to never sleep, and now the groovy screensaver kicks in after a while and then clears when the mouse / keyboard is used, so no need to use force anymore. I will probably get a new monitor at some point, but at the moment just happy that the Mini is usable, and the kids are loving it!

What a great piece of kit!

Andy G

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

If you don't mind, I'd love to see a picture of this setup!

I just last month set up someone new Mac Mini, and we attached it to an old, old CRT display. Other then the display being gross looking, everything worked just fine.

 

[JeffreyHornman]

Mac Mini and Formac with dual DVI

I have a mac mini that does not seem to see my Formac monitor. The mini works fine with all other montiors, but when I connect my 17 in Formac Gallery I get no screen image. I can also connect my Formac to my Powerbook and it works great...Soooo, the mac mini works....the Formac works...but NOT TOGETHER!!! Any suggestions?? THANKS!!!