NEC monitor + Nvidia graphics incompatible with 10.8?

Cheers DavidMo,

I have been in touch with NEC UK tecnical support and they say that their engineers are talking to Apple but as Apple make their own monitors I fail to see Apple going all out to help NEC. so I did a bit more research.

quote wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort

The DisplayPort signal is not compatible with DVI or HDMI.

However, dual-mode DisplayPorts (marked with a ++DP logo) are designed to transmit a single-link DVI or HDMI protocol across the interface through the use of an external passive adapter that selects the desired signal and converts the electrical signalling from LVDS to TMDS. VGA and dual-link DVI, on the other hand, require active adapters to convert the protocol and signal to the desired output and do not require dual-mode DisplayPorts. VGA adapters are powered by the DisplayPort connector, while dual-link DVI adapters may rely on an external power source (see compatibility with HDMI, DVI and VGA).^[11]

Unquote.

I think we have been doing just that - using a video card mini Display Port to drive a DVI monitor when we should have been connected to a DisplayPort on a monitor. The NEC 2690wuxi is DVI at best and doesn't have a DisplayPort - hence the problem and the need to use other methods to make it work and calibrate.

I am now looking for a new monitor with a DisplayPort connection. I have already ordered a mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable in preparation as Apples offering is expensive and others have reccommended

"StarTech.com Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort Adapter Cable - Video/Audio Cable - Mini-DisplayPort (M) - 20 pin DisplayPort (M) - 1.8 m - Latched"

which is much cheaper.

Hi All,

I have just updated to Mountain Lion 10.8.2 and the NEC Monitor came up with a message in RED but I didn't catch what it said so I disconnected the NEC monitor.

Thinking that something may have been sorted between Apple and NEC I DISCONNECTED the Genfen DVI Detective Plus and connected a new DUAL DVI-D. (NOT the one supplied by NEC SINGLE DVI-D) and restarted the Mac Pro (3,1) and both screens started up correctly. NO BLANK SCREENS !

I think the problem has been solved.

I am directly connected to the NEC 2690wuxi without the Gefen Detective Plus in line. The Dell U2711 and the NEC 2690wuxi are both working fine after the upgrade to 10.8.2 (Mountain Lion)

I have the NEC 2690 WUXI monitor - I have been unable to use the SpectraView calibration since I updated my Mac Pro to Mountain Lion - OS10.8 (now 10.8.2). The calibration software does not find the monitor.

I am using a 2009 Mac Pro.

At the direction of NEC staff, I updated my video card - it was a NVDIA GeForce GT120 - I upgraded to an ATI RadeonHD 5770 (Apple Upgrade Kit). It was about $250 to upgrade.

The SpectraView program now recognizes my monitor and I just did a calibration.

That makes me happy !

Dick

http://www.wilderness-studio.com

As of 10.8.2, none of ML updates helped. Lion 10.7.4 worked fine, but 10.7.5 update was a disaster. Now NEC warns you not to update...

We decided to give the Gefen DVI Detective a shot -- it didn't help.

Spent a few of hours on the phone with NEC support. Although they were very nice, they had no clue as to how to solve this problem -- their suggestions didn't help. And they couldn't guarantee that switching the graphics card would make it work either.

So we took another risk and bought a used Apple Radeon HD 5770 -- fortunately everything works now.

For such expensive pieces of equipment, I was shocked at the lack of effort on the part of both companies to address this issue.

And thank you to everyone here -- all these posts helped us a lot along this process.

I can not understand that this is still not solved. It seems NEC does not care enough about Screens with EOL and Apple has no interest in fixing this either. How on earth can something be rendered broken when it worked before.

Gladly I have a Lion 10.7.4 install which I can fire up to do the necessary task. Frustrating at last but I wont change my card only because of some ignorant people.

I agree months after Mountain Lion's release and now I can't calibrate my monitor. But hey at least I can seamlessly complain about it on facebook and twitter - Great update Apple!!! thanks

Is there any work around that doesn't involve buying something?

Thanks Paul for the reply and suggestion, I tried that but my problem is getting the NEC's SpectraView's software to communicate with the display and after trying your suggestion I still get the error message "Unable to communicate with any supported display monitors. Please verify that your system is supported…"

Would a different graphics card guarantee the ability to use the SpectraView's software with Mountain Lion, and if so any suggestions?

Or is there calibrating software that can use the SpectaView's Calibrating puck and work with Mountain Lion and the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB graphics card?

Thanks again for any suggestions

As I indicated earlier (above):

>I am using a 2009 Mac Pro.

>At the direction of NEC staff, I updated my video card - it was a NVDIA GeForce GT120 - I upgraded to >an ATI RadeonHD 5770 (Apple Upgrade Kit). It was about $250 to upgrade.

>The SpectraView program now recognizes my monitor and I just did a calibration.

Unfortunately, although I can do a calibration, my MacPro has problems using the resultant profile ... the Photoshop/Printing colors are horrible ...

In the end I used my i1 from Xrite to do the NEC monitor calibration ... and I have now wasted about $500 on the original NEC software/colorimeter and, now, a new video card .....

Dick

I can't wait to see what surprises we will find in OS 10.9 that is right around the corner.

http://www.wilderness-studio.com

Hi ArchFotos,

As I mentioned in a previous post, we bought a used Apple Radeon HD 5770 video card through Craigslist ($70) and haven't had any problems for the past 4 months, Spectraview works fine.

Gefen Detective and dual DVI cables did nothing for us. Nor all suggestions during a long talk to a very nice NEC tech person. They are as lost as we are. And we never heard anything here or anywhere from Nvidia.

Good luck!

PS: Mac Pro 8-Core, 2.66 Ghz, Early 2009, NEC LCD2690wuxi

Hi Monka, This is going to sound crazy but 'The Gremlin' came back and blank screens reappeared at start up causing me to reboot again, so I just accepted it and wait for someone to sort out the problem. However (and this is the crazy bit) I had a memory failure which caused the computer to shutdown and restart when I was in the middle of some work. After a bit of changing RAM around I eventually identified the the defective pair of DIMMS as the original ones that came with the machine when I bought it. This took several days to identify the DIMMS because I had to wait for the next crash when the DIMMS got hot. "About This Mac" wasn't a lot of use as the diagram doesn't reflect the memory DIMMS as they are fitted.

On the Memmory Top Riser, slots1 and 2. The DIMMS did not have any large Heat Sinks on them like the ones of today and on them is written "2008-09-08A 1963693-1". They are 4GB each and the original (Crucial USA) memory DIMMS. (I live in the UK).

Since replacing the defective DIMMS my start-up have been fine without any Blank screens. This might be why Apple, ATI and Nvidia have not been able to identify the problem. It maybe that it is nothing to do with the graphics card.

Checking the Top Memory Riser is not hard. Shut down the machine, open the side panel (lever at the back to release) and the Risers are at the bottom right. Just pull out the top one and look for the DIMMs mentioned above.

Regards

Processor 2 x 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon

Memory 26 GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM

Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB

Software OS X 10.8.2 (12C60)

Hi George. I checked all memory and DIMMs are OK.

For me the new video card made everything go back to behaving normally.

Thank you!

I am happy to say that the new 10.8.3 update finally fixed the Nvidia glitches and the Spectraview works again and my Displays are recognized.

Hi Flexigem, I agree with the 10.8.3 update. I have just calibrated my two monitors (NEC 2690 WUXi and Dell U2711) with Spectraview 5.0.3 on my Mac Pro using a X-Rite i1Pro. The graphics card is a ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB running both monitors. Both monitors passed. Regards