Older flat panel on briefly recognized

I received an older Sylvania flat panel display and hooked it into my iMac. The iMac very briefly sees it and send output to it and then the Sylvania goes blank. I am currently running an older NEC flat panel without any problems (the iMac sees it and configures for it appropriately). Can an monitor be TOO old for the iMac? I have tried various resolution adjustments on the iMac and each time it sees the Sylvania and displays to it for a brief moment and then it goes blank. I have not yet tried the Sylvania on a separate machine to test its functionality.

Hello, 
There is a MiniDVI output port on the Intel iMac. Simply purchase one of the following adaptors and configure the display in Apple menu > System Preferences... > Displays. (The options appear when you connect the display):
Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter
Apple Mini-DVI to VGA Adapter
Apple Mini-DVI to Video Adapter.
All available for $19 (USD) online.
To use an Apple Cinema display the mini DVI to DVI is require and will also certainly provide the best picture quality of those three. If the display has the Apple Display Connector (ADC) and not the DVI connection you'll need a further conversion cable.
<hr width="200">
BTW this forum is for the much older iMac (Flat Panel) models
G4 (aka Flat Panel): Intel:
Click image to go to correct forum.
You'll get better advice in the relevant forum as for example the iMac (Flat Panel) only supported VGA displays in mirror mode only.
cheers
mrtotes

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    Thanking you in advance.

    You don't need to buy an Apple display. Any brand LCD display can be used with a Mac, provided that the computer had adequate graphics support for it, with a suitable hardware interface. If you buy a used display, be sure that it can be returned if there are any problems (like dead pixels). When you consider the initial cost of shipping and possible cost to return a bad display, I'd be reluctant to buy a used one at eBay. Many sold there are high-mileage units pulled from corporate use. If there are any retailers in your area selling used computers, I'd check with them first. At least you'd get to try it out before buying and avoid shipping expenses. Otherwise, the prices of new displays have dropped so much that buying one for your 8500 isn't money wasted, since the display can be used with any newer computer that you might purchase.
    Have you ever added VRAM to your 8500? It shipped with (2) factory-installed 1 MB VRAM cards, and is maxed out at 4 MBs with an additional pair of 1 MB VRAM cards. You might want to consider installing a Mac-compatible PCI graphics card having onboard SGRAM or DDR-memory, to provide better performance for a newer display. If you go with an older graphics card, you'd be better off buying a display with the standard 4:3 aspect ratio - like your old Apple display. The optimal resolution setting for a widescreen display (16:9 aspect ratio) may not be supported by older graphics cards. Two old (but still good) graphics cards are the ATI Rage Pro (8 MBs of SGRAM) or the ATI Rage128 (16 MBs of SGRAM). Both of these cards have a VGA port, eliminating the need for an adapter. You could find these for very little at eBay - but they must be Mac-compatible versions. Cards pulled from PCs aren't compatible, unless they can be re-programmed with a Mac ROM. A newer graphics card, like the Radeon 9200, would be capable of supporting any modern display, but costs more than your 8500 is worth. That's when you should consider investing the $$ in a slightly newer, used Mac (like a G4 tower) with AGP graphics.

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