I've recently bought two BenQ G2400W (DVI-HDMI 1900 x 1200 )monitors for use with two different Macbooks 2.2 (Santa Rosa chipset & Leopard).
The problem is this; Whilst I can get the monitors to work over the analogue connection it is impossible to get an image via the DVI or HDMI connectors.I have tried to use four different Mini DVI to DVI connectors as well as DVI cables. The Macbooks have no problem working via the DVI with some Formac displays I also have.
Can anyone help? Thanking you in advance for your time.
What happens if you try and lower the resolution to something like 1280 x 1024? I realize that is not an optimum format to be running on the BenQ but am curious to know if some lower resolution setting will at least light up the screen and whether the problem is only with the native (1920 x 1200) timing.
Thanks for the reply. I can't get them to work at any resolution. Funnily enough these monitors work fine on any other Mac or PC at the full 1900 x 1200 via DVI.
I'm thinking it must be something to do with the Macbooks graphics drivers.
Wow, that's a strange problem. There have been cases where if the pixel clock was too high, usually for formats above SXGA (1280 x 1024), then the DVI interface's TMDS transmitter and receiver wouldn't play nice together. But if you can't even get an image at this low resolution, or perhaps 1024 x 768, then I am stumped, especially given the thorough matrix of testing you have already completed with multiple other computers and other displays.
OK, maybe one more suggestion; are you sure the vertical refresh has been set to 60 Hz? That's really the last thing I can think of. Maybe the refresh is set too high.
I've just got two Mac Pro 8 cores delivered and I'm going to use the Benq monitors with these instead now, but thanks for all your time and effort it was really nice. If I do come up with an answer ,as I'm also hanging on to my Macbook, I'll post it here in case anyone else needs it. Thanks again and goodluck.
I have the same issue, "no signal detected" when using dvi or hdmi. The macbook (2,2 SR) detects g2400w properly only when it's connected to the monitor via dvi and the monitor is set to hdmi in, or vice versa. When I change to dvi in, macbook instantly drops the monitor, and "no signal detected" is displayed on the external monitor. No matter what resolution i choose.
I'm pretty sure it's an issue somehow related to EDID-signal sent by the monitor. And what is strange, there's one way I manage to get anything displayed on the monitor: first i shut down the computer, then plug it to the monitor with dvi, set the monitor to hdmi in, start the mac and close instantly the lid, and then change the monitor settings to dvi in. This way i can see the white startup screen with the gray apple displayed in the middle, which, however, disappears just before the logon screen and "no signal detected", again.
The strangest thing about this is that i somehow managed to get it work ONCE, when testing several times different versions of the routine i described above. I could get it working just as it should, log on and tested hd trailers and such but since the next time i turned the monitor off, it has been as dead as before. Any suggestions???
I found the problem lies in the "hot plug detect" feature of dvi. What I did I just cut the hot plug pin (see wikipedia:dvi) off the dvi adaptor, isn't it clever? Hah, I wouldn't call it "plug 'n play", but at least it works. Then I connect the dvi to the g2400w and set the monitor "hdmi in", then detect displays from display settings, it'll detect it, and then simply set the monitor to dvi in.
I have the same issue here.
If I connect it via HDMI and try to detect G2400W, Mac OS says that it is detected. However, when I switch to DVI input, the monitor gives "no signal detected".
I have a Dell 2407 at work, it has no problems with the same macbook +adaptor + dvi cable.
My girlfriend has an older macbook with GMA960 chipset (instead of X3100 - no santa rosa), it works fine with G2400W
Isn't there any solution to this, other than breaking the pin of the adaptor?
Since I got no suggestion/solution from Apple nor BenQ, I tried new appleuser's solution, and I can confirm that it works. You have to bend/cut pin number 16, connect the adapter, set G2400W to hdmi in (it will automatically detect at this point, detect it manually otherwise), and set G2400W to dvi in.
Note that this problem also occurs with Windows XP under boot camp. Since it does not happen with all monitors, it might be a BenQ + X3100 issue (just guessing).
I can confirm too that this 'fix' works. I removed pin 16 from both end, switched to HDMI and macbook detected it, and then switched back to DVI and there was the desktop. This method only allowed me spanned or mirrored mode (at the laptop screen resolution).
To get the monitor working as the sole primary I had to first close the lid so the macbook went to sleep, then switch the monitor to HDMI and connect it to the macbook. Click the external mouse to wake her up and then switch back to DVI and its all working.
I wish I had found this thread before I bought my monitor! So, I've removed the pins from both ends, but I'm not sure what you mean by "swithced to HDMI"? Connect to the monitor w/an HDMI cable or it there a physical switch someplace that I'm missing? Thanks for the help --- Dawn
I just encountered this problem with my new intel MacBook and new BenQ G2400W. I can confirm that removing pin 16 from the cable, switching the screen to HDMI, detecting it in Mac OS X and then switching the screen to HDMI works indeed.
Removing pin 16 from the cable takes a bit of messing about with a needle-nose plier or similar tool, but isn't too hard.
Switching to HDMI on the BenQ G2400W is done by pressing the ENTER button at the bottom of the screen. It's the farmost right button. It allows you to switch between D-SUB, HDMI and DVI.
Hi
I used this "fix" to get Benq g2400w work with my Macbook. It worked until today when I updated mu OS X to 10.5.5. After the update this HDMI/DVI switching does not work anymore.