Composit/S-video output adapter Will not work

And now to get technical:

The following is an excerpt from the Apple developers page for the iBook G4 External Display Port:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/DeveloperNotes/Macintosh_CPUs-G4/iBookG4/3_Input-Output/chapter_4_section14.html

"The cable detect function on pin 13 is implemented by connecting pin 13 to ground in the display cable. The computer detects the video adapter by reading its EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) via DDC (pins 10 and 11)."

So, when either the VGA or Video adaptor is connected, pin 13 is shorted to ground on the port, telling the iBook that something is connected. We know that this bit works and lets face it it always should (it's just a straight link from one pin to another).

It then uses the EDID pins (data and clock) to read the identification of the adaptor (the iBook will presumably send a pulse on the clock line, and wait to receive a serial identification stream on the data line, telling it if a VGA or Video adaptor is present). This is the bit that would appear to be faulty, and as it will be controlled by an IC this is the bit I think is fried when we connect displays while they're powered. So in the absense of an ID stream, the iBook assumes the default: that it is a VGA adaptor.

Something else I thought of: TVs are grounded (earthed); iBooks are not. So the laptop and TV could be sitting at two very different levels with respect to ground. Connect them while on and you could be applying a sudden voltage change to the adaptor (even though video is only a low voltage signal). The only reason I mention this is that we have experienced similar grounding problems at work.

Out of curiosity where is the Apple store in Edinburgh? Might pop in next time i'm down that way. It's high time we had one in Aberdeen!

Ok, this seems to make more sense. Not being an electrical engineer, I'm traditionally ignorant of this aspect of computing. That's made me feel better, however, knowing that it's not my iBook that's fried!
The apple store in edinburgh is on nicholson st, due south from the east end of princes st, opposite tesco. It's actually called scotsys (www.scotsys.co.uk - website's a bit rubbish though); that's where i'll be going tomorrow for my 3rd and (hopefully) last adapter.

OK, here's some rather significant news:

I went down to the apple store, to change the adapter for a new one, when the sales assistant decided it was probably a good idea to test it first, since he had a monitor with composite input capabilities, and the store wasn't too busy. So we hooked up the adapter to a store 12" G4 iBook (everything was on when we did this) and it displayed correctly on the monitor, and the iBook recognised it as a PAL / NTSC output!

So we are left with two possibilities:
1) the in-store iBook was running 10.3.2, mine runs 10.3.3, so maybe the update 'broke' the ibook. What version do you guys run?

2) the ibooks are faulty. i rather doubt this is the case since we are all having the same problem, and it seems much more likely to be a software bodge rather than hardware (as i originially suspected).

so i left my adapter at the store, and the guy said he'd update the iBook to 10.3.3 this evening when the store empties, and he'd give me a call on monday probably to let me know how it went. he also said he'd contact apple directly to see if it's a "known issue" (a concept that makes me giggle)

i'll post again when i hear back from the apple store, but i wouldn't go sending your adapters back just yet...

That is interesting - guess I was wrong about the hardware then (sorry Apple, I'll never doubt you again!). I'm currently running 10.3.3, and you've reminded me that I did update sometime last week. So it's possible that the night it worked was the night before I ran the update. Hmmm, I really should have thought of that! Oh well, my replacement adaptor should be winging it's way from Holland soon, I'll let you know how I get on with it.

In the meantime I'm interested to hear how the test went (and what version other people are running). If we both come up with the same thing (i.e. the update causing external display problems) then we should probably send an email to Apple with this info.

The only thing I can see that goes against this is that squeeb originally posted on the 5th of March, and Samuel on the 6th, however the update was released on the 15th March, and the combined update on the 16th. Could it even be one of the older updates? (I updated a few things at once last week).

It seems I'm having a similar problem, but I'm only running 10.2.? (I'll check when I get home again).

As I understand, I have to pay to upgrade to 10.3 (Panther) don't I?

I would love this problem fixed without having to pay Apple for anything extra, because it theoretically should work! I sound like such a newbie! 😉

aye, if you want 10.3, you will indeed have to pay, but by the sound of it that won't work anyway! have you tried taking it back to where you bought it? could just be a faulty adapter like some people have had...

ok, so now we have (as far as i can tell) 2 possibilities:

1) the 10.3.3 update broke the tv-out and some people did indeed have faulty adapters (eg: Samuel Lindeman above...)

2) some other update that applies to some other software (don't know how) broke the tv-out, and again, some people may just have genuinely faulty adapters.

i've not heard back from my apple store yet, but it was a local holiday yesterday. i'll let you know if we get anywhere

Latest news:

I received my replacement adaptor yesterday (sealed packet so definitely new). I shut down my iBook, connected the adaptor (with nothing else connected) and booted up. Same problem as before: the adaptor was detected as a vga device. So, the adaptors are definately not at fault (in my case anyway).

This left the iBook port or software as the source of the fault.

This morning I checked the port by connecting it to a monitor using the VGA adaptor: it still works correctly.

So I agree, it must be related to one of the software updates. Question is: is it 10.3.3? Hopefully the test done by Scotsys will help us there.

I have a couple of thoughts (if it is 10.3.3). I have read a couple of posts saying that manually installing the 10.3.3 Combination update seemed to fix problems caused by the 10.3.2 -> 10.3.3 automatic update (such as some USB devices no longer working correctly). I have no idea if this is true but I might try it. Alternatively we may have to revert to using 10.3.2 for video out, or just inform Apple and wait for this to be addressed in a future update (that does of course require a certain degree of faith and optimism...)

Hello,
I was one of those who installed the combo update on top of the auto update to fix usb problems. it fixed some of them, but not the main problem i'm having with a usb 2 external hdd. i'm sad to say that this did nothing to help the video problem. might be worth trying, but it didn't help me.

I've not heard back from scotsys yet, so i'm probably going to pop in there this afternoon...

I just retested my adapter. I'm running 10.3.3 on a 14" G4 iBook and the TV output works perfectly with both the S-video and standard video cable.

I'm an ibook g4 user with 10.3.3, vga out works well, but video doesn't.

so, it's quite a long list of people.... didn't experienced any other problems with my ibook besides one white spot on the screen.

let's hope this can be fixed.

I am having exactly the same problem. The Composite/S-Video adapter worked perfectly until just recently. The only thing I can think of is that something changed from 10.3.2 to 10.3.3 which has disrupted the detection of the device.

Hopefully Apple will get on top of this issue soon because now I have a AUS$50 white plastic paper weight.

after 2 weeks of waiting for scotsys to get back to me, i decided that i'd go in and accost the chap who offered to help me. it turns out that he hadn't contacted my simply because there was nothing to report: apple never got back to him! marvellous!

so i took back my adapter on the understanding that he'd call me if he ever did hear from apple, but i'm none the wiser, and i too have a £15 paper weight.

i'm getting pretty tired of this now, and i only hope that the reason we've not heard from apple is because they're too busy writing the fix to be included in 10.3.4 (yeah, right).

I have an iBook Dual USB G3 800 MHz that recently had "the logic board problem". I had my logic board replaced along with the combo drive, and now I too cannot get my TV Adapter to work since the repair. Perhaps I now have the same logic board as the iBook G4. I am running 10.3.3.

I need to understand what pieces of equipment I need to make my computer screen in my G4 “project” onto my TV screen. I thought it would be the apple AV cable, but now I am thinking that I need the adapter (the S cable?). I am so unsure how to do this. I want a DVD on my computer to be displayed on my TV. Do I have to change my computer settings or the settings on the TV? What is the best way I can use my computer as a DVD player? Will the picture be messed up or low quality?

I am having the same trouble here on the proper way to get my tv to mirror my ibook G4. I want to be able to watch DVDs on the tv and other stuff. If someone can walk us through this, I'm listening. thanx later steveb