G4 Mini video problems
Larry Moss
I have a very early G4 Mac Mini. I got it in Jan 2005 and it's been
running 24 hours a day since I bought it. It controls my home automation
stuff, so shutting down isn't an option. It is also the home theater
machine. It's been working reliably until now.
Suddenly a couple days ago the video went out. It's connected, via a DVI to
HDMI cable, to a large plasma TV. If I connect to the Mini via VLC, I can
see that all is working well. I've tested the cable and TV input by
connecting my laptop to it and watching a DVD from it. It works well in
this setup. The problem is definitely the Mini.
The cable is plugged in fully. In fact, when I first turn on the TV, I can
get a minute or so of good video from the mini before it blanks out
completely. I don't know anything about how these connections work, so I'm
not sure why turning off the TV seems to give the Mac a rest that lets it
produce video again briefly.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Anything simple that I may have missed?
Are there any workarounds that I haven't thought of? I haven't tested to
see if I can get a reliable VGA signal out of the Mini. I'm guessing that
repairing an almost 4 year old entry level Mac isn't going to be
worthwhile. But I'd rather not run out and replace the machine immediately
if I can help it.
Thanks for any advice.
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Larry Moss, http://www.airigami.com
PO Box 23523, Rochester, NY 14692, (585) 359-8695
Airigami: The fine art of folding air.