Hi Folks, I was wondering if anybody has any advice on my monitor problem:
I recently got a new 2018 MacBook Pro 15". Because I was given a new desk at work, I remembered that I had a very old (2006) Viewsonic VX2035WM monitor (max 1680X1050 resolution) that had been sitting in my closet for 8 years (I had only used it for 3 years before that with a PowerMac G5 I owned at the time). So I thought I'd set it up as an external display.
So I ordered a USB-C–to–DVI converter from Amazon and hooked up the two, but it didn't work. The monitor gives me a "no signal - digital" and then turns off. Here are the facts:
1- The converter itself works, as I tested it with more recent DVI monitors on my MacBook Pro and it's fine.
2- The monitor also works. I hooked it up to my old PowerMac G5 (which I still have for some reason), and it worked as normal.
3- The monitor does *not* work with more recent Windows PCs that I hooked up directly (no converter needed) using the DVI port (again, I get a momentary "no signal" before turning off). These same Windows PCs have their own (more recent) DVI monitors hooked up and work fine with them.
4- When I hook up my MacBook Pro through the DVI port with my new converter, as I wrote above, I get "no signal" and the Mac doesn't know there's a monitor there. However, when I hook up the same MacBook Pro to the same monitor using the latter's VGA port (using double dongles), the Mac *does* detect the monitor and acts like it is there (I can set up the "external display" in system preferences and point the cursor off the laptop's built-in screen onto the next screen") but the monitor itself still detects no signal and stays off.
All these pieces of evidence point to there being an inherent incompatibility between older monitors and newer computers. Perhaps this is already well-known and I'm just waking up to it now. Is this correct or could I be missing something?
Thanks a lot!
I recently got a new 2018 MacBook Pro 15". Because I was given a new desk at work, I remembered that I had a very old (2006) Viewsonic VX2035WM monitor (max 1680X1050 resolution) that had been sitting in my closet for 8 years (I had only used it for 3 years before that with a PowerMac G5 I owned at the time). So I thought I'd set it up as an external display.
So I ordered a USB-C–to–DVI converter from Amazon and hooked up the two, but it didn't work. The monitor gives me a "no signal - digital" and then turns off. Here are the facts:
1- The converter itself works, as I tested it with more recent DVI monitors on my MacBook Pro and it's fine.
2- The monitor also works. I hooked it up to my old PowerMac G5 (which I still have for some reason), and it worked as normal.
3- The monitor does *not* work with more recent Windows PCs that I hooked up directly (no converter needed) using the DVI port (again, I get a momentary "no signal" before turning off). These same Windows PCs have their own (more recent) DVI monitors hooked up and work fine with them.
4- When I hook up my MacBook Pro through the DVI port with my new converter, as I wrote above, I get "no signal" and the Mac doesn't know there's a monitor there. However, when I hook up the same MacBook Pro to the same monitor using the latter's VGA port (using double dongles), the Mac *does* detect the monitor and acts like it is there (I can set up the "external display" in system preferences and point the cursor off the laptop's built-in screen onto the next screen") but the monitor itself still detects no signal and stays off.
All these pieces of evidence point to there being an inherent incompatibility between older monitors and newer computers. Perhaps this is already well-known and I'm just waking up to it now. Is this correct or could I be missing something?
Thanks a lot!