Mac-mini "detect displays" where is the individual model's DDC info stored?

I have a dilemna- I just bought a new 20" NEC LCD screen that has all sorts of bells and whistles. It's 1600 x 1050 native, and has DVI, analog VGA, YUV, compostie, and RF inputs. It is supposed to have a scalar that supports a multitude of resolutions including 1920 x 1080i.
I bought it for a system of which has (2) mini-macs through a DVI KVM. I had one mini-mac successfully read the DDC info from the montior, and it provides a wide range of supported resolutions (including 1600 x 1050). All resolutions listed are progressive (no interlaced options)
When I switched my KVM to the 2nd mini-mac it was stuck in 1024 x 768, and that was the highest res that the display preferences gave me (probably because that's what it read off the DDC of the KVM switch?). When I hit the "detect displays" button, it proceeded to update the list of supported resolutions, but a very bizzarre thing happened: It did the opposite of the first mini-mac, and only listed "interlaced" video resolutions (with the exception of 1280 x 720p and 640 x 480p). The list was all 'broadcast-style" resolutions.
The profile for this montior on this mini-mac is now stuck in this mode, and I cannot get the desired 1600 x 1050 resolution that is native to the monitor. I've tried everything I could think of including ditching plists, clearing the PRAM, tricking the mini-mac, etc....
It's almost as if a mini-mac stores a registry of the monitor's DDC information onto the video card 'permanently' the first time, and never allows to re-read the DDC info again???
Does anyone know how to clear this registry?
The other clue to this whole thing is that the monitor has an option where you can set the DVI IN to either "DVI-PC" or "DVI-HD". The fussy mini-mac displays nothing in "DVI-PC" mode, and the behaving mini-mac displays in both modes. It's possible that the monitor was in "DVI-HD" when I hit the "detect displays" button on the fussy mini-mac.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Wow, I wish I had your set up to play with. I could probably learn a lot from it
When DDC is read by the Mac, and when users make resolution settings based on it, the resultant settings are stored in a file called com.apple.windowserver.plist. There is one such file in /Library/Preferences but there may also be occurances of it for each user account on machines set up for multiple users AFAIK. They are plain text files so you can actually read them with TextEdit or other text editors.
The simplest thing to do might be to copy the file from the mini giving the desired behavior and use it to replace the file on the mini with the bad behavior. I don't think there is any machine specific info in the file, so I believe the file should be portable in this manner. On the other hand, this may not work because when you restart the misbehaving mini it might regenerate a "bad" windowserver.plist file again and replace the one you just copied over. Although I don't think that will be the case. Can't hurt to try. You might want to keep the older pref file around and rename it to "preferences.old". There is a procedure outlined here that is similar although it is based on doing everyting from starting into console mode:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106464
As for why one mini is reading EDID one way and the other reads altogether something else, that's a really good question and one that I hope you are able to track down the answer to and report your findings back here. It could provide a lot of insight into other types of problems people have reported on this forum. Perhaps it relates to the DVI-PC or DVI-HD setting you refered to, but I have never known any other display that actively changed its EDID. EDID is always fixed I thought. Good luck and let us know how things turn out.

Similar Messages

Just got a new Mac Mini with Lion - where is the downloads folder in the Window tab that is at the top of the page in Safari? I used this a lot and really miss it!

I just got a new Mac Mini with Lion - the Window tab at the top of the Safari Browser used to ahve a downloads folder in it along with Activity etc - but it is not there anymore. Any way to get it back or is there another location it sits in? I used it when I'd copy video info from the activity folder and then paste into the download folder and presto - I downloaded the video onto my computer. I really miss this capability!

Download activity is found by clicking on the gadget on the right:

I have a mid 2011 27 inch iMac and a late 2012 mac mini. I am using the 27 inch iMac as the display for the mac mini. I was trying to use bootcamp on the mini but after I started downloading windows I can't get it to display on the iMac.

I have a mid 2011 27 inch iMac and a late 2012 mac mini. I am using the 27 inch iMac as the display for the mac mini with a thunderbolt cable. I was trying to use bootcamp on the mini but after I started downloading windows I can't get it to display on the iMac.

Hi there,
The simplest way is to drag it across wirelessly using the 'Airdrop' application once both computers are near one another. 'Airdrop' can be found near the top, on the left hand side menu, within 'Finder'.
AJ

Mac mini keeps displaying shut down message every 10 minutes help?

My mac mini 320 gb machine with the cd drive in it from the 2010 model keeps displaying the shut down message every time minutes and I don't have enough time to check everything and i need some help. Thanks

Here is a link to a system preference you can check.http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4014?viewlocale=en_US
It is a security feature.
You did not mention it but are you using a movie player other than the provide DVD player or iTunes. For example VLC. If you are, for some reason OS X does not know what is going on, i.e. watching a movie, so it thinks you left. So, after 10mins it trys to log off. The annoying part is that it will not do a force log off if there are programs running. Well atleast it is annoying to me.
Good Luck,
C.

I am set up mac mini and when I test the mail server by sending a mail from administrator to administrator I get the error message 'Diagnostic-Code: X-Postfix; connect to 127.0.0.1[127.0.0.1]:10024: Connection refused'. Can any one suggest a solution

I set up mac mini and when I test the mail server by sending a mail from administrator to administrator I get the error message 'Diagnostic-Code: X-Postfix; connect to 127.0.0.1[127.0.0.1]:10024: Connection refused'. Can any one suggest a solution

Thanks. Where could I possibly look for a firewall rule. I knowingly did not creat any. My system has internet coming to a Modem which then is connected to a wireless router. I have computers connecting to the router through cable as well as wireless. One of these computers has been our mailserver using Mercury and Pegasus and that computer has a static IP address. The Mac Mini also has been assigned a different srtatic IP address. I have only set up user account, none of them an email account as I initially expect them to receive only internal mails. Is it necessary that I must set up an email id for each user while setting up the user account. My server id is server.local. So would the email id for local users be [email protected]?

MAC MINI BLOCKED AND PASS OUT THE OPENING SESSION SCREEN

Hi, i hope someone can help me.
(i'm a french user, so i'll try to write a good english)
I've a mac MINI (2006) Intel Core Solo
Mac OSX 10.4.11 Tiger
I've no problem since some days.
I'm not the usual user.
Is the problem description :
• I start my Mac mini by pressing the button.
• "dong"
• I see the apple on the screen with spiral progression, all right.
• after around 15 sec. normally, at this moment, the opening session screen must appear… (there are 2 users, one administrator [with password] and one guest without password) but it don't.
• After a brief flash between two different screens (blue-gray),
the gray screen with the apple and the spiral progression re-appear but BLOCKED.
• There are some pixels lost in disorder at the top-left of the screen (the place of the starting mouse-arrow).
• After some minutes, or when i click away (i really don't now exactly when…)
The session of the guest starting normally (with some slownesses)
• I've a AirPort connexion with an iMac (Leopard 10.5.5).
• I've noted that someday, my usual network connexion have been changed (on the mac mini only), and my Mini tryed to connect with the connection of a neighbor.
As if this connexion have been selected by default.
•• I've tryed to restart, close the session etc.
•• I've lunched the disc utility to verify the HD…
•• And finally, I've passed out the problem with changing the account parameters :
Open the session automaticaly as a guest. Passed out but not resolved !!
••• THE PROBLEM STILL HERE, but for a few seconds only
(blocking lasts only two seconds).
So, can someone help me ?
What type of problem can it be ?
I hope someone has allready resolved it !
Thanks for reading.

Hi you, i love your post…
So, i suggest you :
- In the account parameters (in préf. sys.)
- Delete the guest account created.
- Specify start automatically as "your Admin. name"
- Restart your computer.
- Go one more time in the Account param. pane
- Create a new guest account and modify some settings (such as display of the file for users in opening session screen etc.)
- Specify automatic start with guest
- Restart you Mac Mini.
Of course you have note that i've solved (for the moment only ?) the problem.
But i must say it for others, if someone has the same pb.
When my Mac Mini was Blocked, in fact, the computer seems all right but the display not. As the opening session screen was behind this static grey-apple-screen.
In addition, i've forgotten that there is an other screen with
"Démarrage de Mac OS X en cours…"
So, when i've unplugged my screen during the blocked screen,
and re-plugged it, all returns right : i can see my opening session screen…
So, if some one can tell me what is the problem exactly…
I'm curious.
So, at this moment, i've started my Mini once time only.
I hope all stay right in future…
Thanks so munch to me for my response.
:]

My Mac Mini won't get past the initial startup screen with the Apple logo. What can I do?

After a long distance move, my Mac Mini won't startup past the logo screen. What can I do?

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a startup failure is to secure the data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since the last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to start. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
     a. Start up from the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.” The article refers to starting up from a DVD, but the procedure in Recovery mode is the same. You don't need a DVD if you're running OS X 10.7 or later.
b. If Step 1a fails because of disk errors, and no other Mac is available, then you may be able to salvage some of your files by copying them in the Finder. If you already have an external drive with OS X installed, boot from it. Otherwise, if you have Internet access, follow the instructions on this page to prepare the external drive and install OS X on it. You'll use the Recovery installer, rather than downloading it from the App Store.
c. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, start the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
d. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. You might be able to start up in safe mode even though you can't start up normally. Otherwise, start up from an external drive, or else use the technique in Step 1b, 1c, or 1d to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
Step 3
Sometimes a startup failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 5
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 6
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to start up, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can start up now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
Step 7
If you've started from an external storage device, make sure that the internal startup volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Start up in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know the login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you start up in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, the startup volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 10. If you ever have another problem with the drive, replace it immediately.
If you can start and log in in safe mode, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on the startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then restart as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the startup process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 8
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select the startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then restart as usual.
Step 9
If the startup device is an aftermarket SSD, it may need a firmware update and/or a forced "garbage collection." Instructions for doing this with a Crucial-branded SSD were posted here. Some of those instructions may apply to other brands of SSD, but you should check with the vendor's tech support.
Step 10
Reinstall the OS. If the Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 11
Do as in Step 9, but this time erase the startup volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically restart into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer the data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 12
This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a startup failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 13
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

Can i use my mac mini for some users at the same time?

can i use my mac mini for some users at the same time? i mean with their own screen, mouse, and keyboard

If you're asking whether more than one user can use the computer at the same time with multiple displays, the answer is no. Other users can log in over a network with Screen Sharing, but each one will need his own computer (not necessarily a Mac.)

Why does my mac mini server keep dropping off the network?

I have Verizon FiOS and use its router/wireless to connect all macbooks, macbook pros, etc. connect to each other and the snow leopard server, which runs the printers and time machine for one of the laptops. I'm not using any other heavy duty server apps. I just want the mac mini to stay on the network and do its job. Invariably when I go down stairs to the mac mini and ethernet to the router to share screen, I find some update that needs to be installed, which apparently is why the mac mini has gone on strike. I usually can see the problem when I go to connect to server and see the other macbooks, but not the mac mini. Then after much coaxing, I'm able to get the server back on line for a few days, until the next software update. The server is set to auto restart, but why is it balking at rejoining the network?
mac mini is running snow leopard, as are three of the four macbooks. router is an actiontec model. wireless network is WPA2 and mac mini is ethernet connected to the router.

I've just experienced this problem when using a Marantz SR4001 receiver between my Mac Mini and HD TV. I noticed that the problem didn't happen all the time and I have found a workaround solution.
The problem is not a fault, but seems to be caused by the receiver defaulting the HDMI video properties. It's an old unit so I'm thinking that 720p is a default resolution for the receiver.
I can make the problem happen if the receiver is turned on before the TV. Seems that without an output connection the receiver is telling the mac that it expects 720p.
If I turn on the TV before the receiver, the TV seems to tell the receiver that it is expecting 1080p 25fps and the receiver obliges and the Mac retains those display properties.
So it appears that the video output device dictates the output properties back to the receiver and the receiver in turn back to the Mac. In absence of an output device the receiver defaults to 720p.
Solution: Turn on the TV before the receiver.

What do I need to connect my Mac Mini to a TV using the S-video jack?

Radio Shack didn't have anything in the store and suggested
that what I needed (something with an S-video connector
at the adapter end and a co-ax/F-connector at the TV end)
would cost $100.
What should I be looking for? I'd like the option to connect
my Mac Mini to a TV (with enough resolution to read text,
which isn't the case with a video-RCA cable), especially in
a hotel room (using the Mac Mini as a laptop!).

The DVI to video adapter
<http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/6454000/wo/jP1F dznaaoNs2dPRALa1K0FqrB2/3.0.21.1.0.8.25.7.11.2.3>
will give best results using the S-Video. Next best is composite video. If your TV set does not have either of these, you will need a RF modulator to connect to the TV antenna connector. For best results get a modulator that takes S-video. It should cost a lot less than $100.00 Radio Shack has one for $25
<http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103095&cp=&origkw=rfmodulator&kw=rfmodulator&parentPage=search>
No matter what connection you use, a standard TV will not give you better than 640 x 480 resolution, so it will always be hard to read small text.

Mac mini and displays problems

I cannot get my mac mini to display properly on either my old NEC 30" mulitSync, (using a new HDMI/DVI cable) or with a new ASUS monitor. I have tried a multitude of resolution settings but none work

Hi, what resolution are these Monitors, HDMI port only supports 1920*1200 max.
Higher would require an MDP/TB to Duallink DVI adapter.

Hello, I just bought a 2013 Mac mini and I cannot get the sound to output to my Dell U2713HM monitor. I went to sound output but even though my Dell shows up there when I select it there is no sound output to it. I am using a mini DP to DP cable...

Hello, I just bought a 2013 Mac mini and I cannot get the sound to output to my Dell U2713HM monitor. I went to sound output but even though my Dell shows up there when I select it there is no sound output to it. I am using a mini DP to DP cable...Any ideas? Thanks

Hi Alxx911, and John Hammer1. After reading John's reply - " You can plug something into it's headphone jack. though" . I thought i'd try out of curiosity. I plugged in some headphones. I didn't expect anything to happen and nothing happened. The audio jack is for the Dell soundbar which is optional.
Here's a direct copy and paste from the users manual: Section About Your Monitor.
Attaching the Soundbar AX510 / AX510PA (Optional) CAUTION: Do not use with any device other than the Dell Soundbar. NOTE: The Soundbar power connector (+12 V DC output) is for the optional Dell Soundbar AX510/AX510PAonly. To attach the Soundbar: 1. Working from the back of the monitor, attach the Soundbar by aligning the two slots with the two tabs along the bottom of the monitor. 2. Slide the Soundbar to the left until it snaps into place. 3. Connectthe Soundbar with the DC power connector. 4. Insert the mini stereo plug from the back of the Soundbar into the computerís audio output jack. For HDMI/DP, you can insert the mini stereo plug into the monitorís audio output port. If there is no sound, check your PC if the Audio output is configured to HDMI/DP output.
This monitor has no speakers. (Like John Hammer1 mentioned). The no speakers feature was one of the reasons I chose this monitor.
Good Luck !

Apple TV mirroring issues even with Mac mini,airport extreme bought at the end of last year,and an iPad 2

Apple TV mirroring issues even with Mac mini,airport extreme bought at the end of last year,and an iPad 2

I have the same issue with ATV3 and iPhone 4S. Everything works properly, no buffering issues when watching netflix, vimeo, youtube BUT when I try mirroring even a small 15sec iPhone movie it stutters and buffers and results to a choppy playback..same with larger mp4 files such as 1-1.5GB, buffers forever and never plays, I just re-encoded the same movie to 700MB and plays perfectly..
Why Apple, why?..so close..I can accept the bigger movie files issue, but not being able to playback properly an iPhone movie is funny..I recorded a movie with lower bitrate through Filmic Pro (Economy mode, up to 16Mbps)
and plays properly.
Is there an upcoming software update going to solve the problem or is it hardware related and therefore not fixable.
Please don't reply with a network related answer, by 2012 we know how to set up our networks and everything else runs flawlessly.
I'll apreciate a fast answer, we love Apple, but if it can't play an iphone movie (or a high quality movie from iTunes) it's just not up to my standards.
Thanks again.
JP

Mac Mini Extremely Slow out of the box

So I just got a brand new Mac Mini yesterday. It is the 4GB with the 1TB 5400 rpm HDD... It takes 15+ seconds to open system pref sometimes. Mail is empty and I can see 5-6 bounces before it opens.
My 2010 iMac dual core is faster than this, email opens instantly and I may have 3000+ emails.
I did a SMC reset, and I want to make sure I have a good grasp on this before I call it in to AppleCare. Is a 5400rpm HDD really this slow? Activity monitor shows nothing wrong, but then again there isn't anything installed on here. I don't have a problem if I need to upgrade the RAM but don't want to bandaid anything if I can fix it instead
Any suggestions before I call this in would be appreciated.

It shouldn't be that slow, unless maybe Spotlight is Indexing, TimeMachine is doing a full backup or another Process is using alot of CPU.
Go to the Activity Monitor, select All Processes, click on the %CPU tab and check to see if you have a Process that has Failed or is using a high % of CPU.

HT3986 Where are the individual files located in iphoto

Where are the individual files located in iphoto, thanks for your help

They are all stored in the iPhoto Library. You would need to examine its contents to see them separately (outside of iPhoto).

Mac-mini "detect displays" where is the individual model's DDC info stored?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for