Monitor says VIDEO MODE NOT SUPPORTED after changing display settings

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Level 1

8 points

Monitor says VIDEO MODE NOT SUPPORTED after changing display settings

HELP! I am about to have a nervous breakdown with my mac mini! I hooked up the mac to my Philips LCD via DVI. No problem at all. But because the screen is only 15" I wanted to play around with the display settings a bit. So I changed the resolution from it's original 1204x768 to the one higher (not sure of numbers) and to my HORROR, I now can't get any picture at all - it says "VIDEO MODE NOT SUPPORTED". I have tried everything I can think of. I have rest the P-RAM, I have unplugged all cables, plugged the back in again, I bought the mac into work and hooked it up to my monitor and changed the resolution back to 1024x768 which is what it was on originally and that STILL didn't work. I can see the Apple logo and then it goes black and comes up with the error message. HELP! What am I doing wrong - I can't believe one click of a mouse button has rendered my display useless!!!

Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Jun 20, 2008 4:49 AM

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Answer 1

AndyO

Level 6

17,064 points

Jun 20, 2008 7:43 AM in response to BellyKelly

I understand the frustration - I had a similar issue with one of mine when I hooked it up to a TV and picked the wrong resolution! It too started up perfectly and seemed to display correctly right up until the point where it automatically logged into the user account, then the screen went haywire. deleting the windowserver files got it back under control, but it took me a while to find that solution!

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Answer 2

AndyO

Level 6

17,064 points

Jun 20, 2008 6:40 AM in response to BellyKelly

Welcome to Apple Discussions!

Try booting the mini without the display connected, and then, once the system is running, connect the display. This will often force the system to default to a low resolution, and then correctly detect the display when it is connected.

If that doesn't help, with the display connected, boot into safe mode (hold the shift key down when starting up) and once the system is running, change the resolution to 1024x768, and ensure the correct refresh rate is selected. Rebooting normally ought then to give you a good display.

If all else fails, boot into safe mode with the display connected, and then in the Finder's file menu, use the 'find' option to search for 'windowserver' (no quotes). You should get 2 or 3 results, including one with a string of alphanumeric characters. Move all of them to the trash and restart normally.

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Answer 3

BellyKelly Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 21, 2008 2:42 AM in response to AndyO

Hi Andy

BIG THANK YOU!!! 🙂

Just to let you know that the monitor is now working again!! The first trick didn't work (although it nearly did).

I rebooted in safe mode, and went to change the display, but it was already on the correct one, so I chose a lower res then picked the correct one again and HEY PRESTO, it works fine now!

I also, out of interest, did a search for 'windowserver' (no quotes) but nothing came up.

Great thought. Thank you so much.

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Answer 4

AndyO

Level 6

17,064 points

Jun 23, 2008 8:17 AM in response to BellyKelly

Thanks for posting back to let us know it's working correctly again!

There certainly should be windowserver files on your system, though there's no need to go looking for them and remove them if it's running OK! If you're running MacOS 10.4.x as your sig suggests, these files are not hidden so they should be visible to the find command. However, if you're running Leopard, these files are system files which by default the Finder's find command won't look for!

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Answer 5

BellyKelly Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 20, 2008 6:48 AM in response to AndyO

Hi Andy

Thanks for that. Much appreciated. I will give all of that a go when I get home. Nightmare though! 😟

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