Trouble with external display on PowerBook using 10.4

Here's something funny...

I've tried three different dell monitors on my powerbook (Both using the DVI and VGA ports of the monitor with the apple converter) none of them worked.

So I took my powerbook into the apple store, and they plugged it into a 23" cinema display and the powerbook found the display with no problems...

Now the powerbook loves the dell monitors and works with all of them! This is absolutly crazy! Maybe it was just home sick. lol.

I also am having problems with my PB 1Ghz AL 1.5GB ram.

The flickering of white lines seems to have started when I upgraded to Tiger. I can't remember ever seeing it in the past. I hook my Powerbook up to a Dell 21inch lcd as an external monitor with lid closed. The flickering seems to be at its worst when I use graphic programs like Photoshop, imovie, Strata 3D etc... I also noticed that when you use the Rss screen saver it will just go wild. So I sent the PB to Apple and they said I needed to have the entire logic board replaced. They fixed it, or so I thought! When I got it back today the same problems were happening and even worse than before.

I don't know what to do except I will send the PB to apple once again.

I also have been having the same problem. I had an external monitor (cheap brand. Don't remember which one) and it was giving me the problems. I figured it was the monitor.

I eventually had to give it back to it's owner, and went out and bought a new 20" Cinema Display. To my surprise, it wasn't the monitor. It was my PB.

It doesn't seem to be effecting my computer adversely. No crashes, etc. It doesn't seem to be getting any worse either. But it is extremely annoying.

It seems to happen most frequently when I'm using Live 4.0 to produce music. I'm getting the little horizontal lines in random spacing at random intervals, and only for a second.

Anyone that has any information that doesn't pertain to me spending $310 to get my logic board replaced (again!) will be greatly rewarded! I'll send you a cookie!

Hi Chaps and Chapesses
Have been reading with great interest re external displays for the 15" PowerBook. Although a great machine i can't trust the screen for colour, so i bit the bullet and went for the Formac 2010 Raven.

It works great. Don't know if this helps anyone but this is all have done.

Plugged in, started the powerbook, wennt to displays, tuend off mirror, arranged them so that the PB screen was below the Formac then moved the menu bar (white stripe) to the Formac screen, once everything was on the Formac screen, Dock/HD/Icons etc i then put the systeme to sleep, closed the lib of the PB, couple of taps on the wireless mouse and the Formac was up and running. PB very quiet, pliugged into the mains of course, plugged a keyboard into the USB hub on the Formac, apart from that nothing else to do. I have a clear image, Photoshop files look great for retouching.

Hope this helps anyone out there.

Cheers for now, Ken

Hi.
Well, I have a 17" 1.5 Ghz PowerBook and I'm having a very similar problem!

I'm connecting mine to a 20" widescreen Dell monitor - which is the SAME innards as the 20" Apple - and it's discolored and flickering and staticy crazy. I know the monitor and cable is good because I can connect it to my PowerMac totally successfully. I'm wondering if it's the DVI port too or if there's some sort of firmware update needed.

Oddly enough, when I put the adapter that came with the PB into the DVI port to convert it to VGA and plug that into a VGA monitor, it seems to work too.

Any thoughts?
-jason.

I've just updated 10.3.9 to 10.4.2 and now not only do I get the display flicking on and off if I don't run at 75Hz, I also now get the random glitch problem mentioned here where every so often parts of the screen glitch out for a split second. This happens more often when a lot of graphics have to be output to the screen (eg World of Warcraft, Playing DVDs)

myUPDATE:
Jason Adair, "External Monitor Woes" #4, 02:08am Aug 17, 2005 CDT

Hello: I just got back from the apple store where I had taken my new 20 inch cinematic display. I took it to get checked since I was having a problem very similar to yours where random "noise like" streaks would flash across the screen when the screen saver, or DVD menu was playing. This only happened , we tried every possible combo to reproduce it in the store, when the PB ( 15 inch 1.25GHz 512Mb RAM) was operated with the lid closed and attached via the DVI cable to the external display. I am running OSX Tiger V. 10.4.2, since I just go this I do not know if it happens with earlier Tiger versions, what I can tell you is that running both displays ( PB and external) gets rid of this problem. The tech at the store said that he was reporting it to Apple and hopefully a software update will be issued to correct this. If anyone finds out how to solve this please post !! Thanks
THis issue aside it is by far the best display/laptop I have ever owned, I am NEVER EVER going back to the **** hole that is the PC /Windows world

Hi,

with my PB 15'' 1,25GHz and my external Sony TFT display I seem to have a similar problem. While I don't get flickering or noise, the screen remains completely black, though it seems to detect signal coming from the PB (there's a led that indicates so). If you wait for some time, a couple of minutes, and move the mouse up and down the image eventually appears and let you work without any other issue.

Have you guys tried waiting for some minutes? Maybe that'll do the trick for some of you.

Cheers

Maybe someone has some advice for me on my issue. I have my Powerbook, almost permanently hooked up to my External 19" Dell Monitor. Just recently after updating to 10.4 when I put it to sleep it won't wake back up. Instead of seeing the white light by the lid pulsating, it does nothing. The optical light on the mouse is still lit, indicating that it is still working, but the monitor doesn't come back on. It sits there. It doesn't say that there is no signal, it is just a solid black screen.

In the past if this happened it just meant that it was woken up from sleep and went back to sleep on it's own, by just turning off the monitor. I end up having to hard reset the thing and it gets frustrating. Anyone have any advice?

I have found that with 10.4.2 the detect display function and configuring the resolution of an external display takes at least four times longer than it did under 10.3. I am spending way too much time with "blue screen of waiting" while trying to get configured..

I am considering going back to 10.3 because of this issue.

will apple ever note that this is a common problem to all PB.
I also have an external display and I didn't had this problem when I was on 10.3.9!
I managed to connect it with the lid closed when I use the analogue DVi connector. But as all of you may know the image isn't as sharp as DIGITAL DVI.
does any one knows what to do?? (wait for an update from apple?)

Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: PowerBook G4 15"
Machine Model: PowerBook5,4
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.5 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1.5 GB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.8.6f0

ATI Mobility Radeon 9700:
Chipset Model: ATY,RV360M11
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
VRAM (Total): 64 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x4e50
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-xxxxx-134
Displays:
hp L2335:
Display Type: CRT
Resolution: 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported
Display:
Online: No
Status: No display connected

Dylan,
Have you found a solution to the glitch problem?

I am experiencing the same thing.

E-Rick, have you found a solution?

I have the exact same problem.

I've come to a conclusion that when the video card overheats the lines come.
Reason being, I opened the lid and the lines were still there and when I tested a dvd movie on full screen the lines were there. And watching a DVD movie on my display never used to cause lines. But I don't watch many movies on my powerbook.

Before plugging in my new external display I noticed that my powerbook was set on Better Perfomance and never hit sleep mode the whole time I was at work so when I came home the Powerbook was pretty hot.

As time went on with the lid open the lines began disappearing. So I decided to keep it open and not run anything too crazy and as the Powerbook cooled the lines started disappearing.

I ran a full screen movie like a half hour later and received no lines!

And here I am this morning using my lcd for the past hour and a half on internet and again, no lines.

Hope this helps.