" Mike, Quick heads up for your readers -

Issue:
When booting with option (startup manager) or command-option OF (open firmware) using the Samsung 172w as your only monitor, screen remains black. Otherwise, normal booting or booting from the optical drive (C key) works fine when using the supplied DVI-D cable.

Background:
When I got my G5 Dual (“off the Shelf” plus ATI 9800 Pro Retail & 3 GB RAM in 512 pairs), I also had purchased separately two Samsung 172w Flat Panels. One was for my G5, the other for a friends CTO G4 Dual 1.25GHz (512/80/Combo/Nvidia Ti). As I previously mentioned (earlier e-mail) I had helped him setup his computer first. The Samsung works fantastic with his G4. In fact, during the course of setting up his G4 we has several occasions boot using startup manager (firmware boot) without a problem.

On Monday, when I finally had time and space to setup my G5, the first thing I was confronted with was the fact that DVI-D cable that was supposed to be included with the Samsung (I know this for sure by what came with Samsung 172w we used for my friends G4) was missing from the boxed unit I had kept for myself. A quick call to Samsung with some ranting yielded an overnite of the missing cable. Meanwhile, I had waited long enough to setup my Dual G5 (one week plus), so I decided to use Apple’s supplied DVI to VGA adapter cable. Additionally, since I needed to do some preliminaries with the stock (i.e. “off the self”) configuration, such as running AHT (Apple Hardware Test), reformatting the drive (with zeros) [Note – An Apple Tech recommended this as an added insurance that no disk corruption crept in during shipping.] and re-installing / updating the MacOS & stock applications, this temporary setup would be ok, or so I thought.

First boot out of the box yielded a stretched screen (i.e. it was not seeing the correct resolution for the wide screen). After completing the setup assist and going into system preferences I realized it would not see the correct resolution for that monitor using the DVI-D to VGA cable. After my fingers had done extensive walking (i.e. Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples et al.), I was able to find a small local [Wintel] computer store that had that cable (DVI-D/M to DVI-D/M) in stock.

After a quick trip to pickup the cable, installing the cable and trying repeatedly to boot into startup manager, I realized I had a problem. I then called Apple.

Identifying The Problem
During my initial call with Apple we tried Zapping P-RAM, resetting the PMU and trying booting into open firmware. Both booting into open firmware and startup manager yielded black screen with the green power on neon light on the monitor flashing. The Apple Tech, David, concluded the call by telling me I could either box the G5 and bring to the Apple Store (where I had purchased it) and they would exchange it for another (if they had one in stock) or I could get onsite service call, as they (the Apple Tech and Product Specialist) believed it was in the G5. A quick call to the Apple Store revealed that they did have one in stock and they agreed to hold until tomorrow as I live over an hour and a half away and it was after 7:30pm.

After hanging up with the Apple Store, it hit me - - I would have to box up this beautiful G5 like new to take it back up to the Apple Store, only to bring another home to reverse the process again! Plus I was not entirely convinced that I had a bad box. It was at that point I decided to try one more thing. I would replace the DVI-D cable with the DVI-D to VGA Apple Adapter cable using the VGA cable that is also included plugged into the VGA port on the monitor (as I had it initially set it up). While I knew I would have a stretched screen, I wonder if I’d be able to boot into open firmware or start manager. Low and behold both work perfectly, albeit stretched.

I then call Apple Tech back to share with them the new information I had found. We both concluded that it probably was not in the G5 but rather the cable or the monitor. As it was after 9:00 pm I had to wait until the morning to call the Apple Store back to take the unit off hold.

The next morning after calling the Apple Store and receiving the cable that was suppose to ship with the monitor, I tried the new cable. Same problem - - with Apple Tech now on the phone again we tried a Cornea CT1702T (w/ DVI-D using the the cable I had purchased the day before) and an Apple Studio 15” FP Display (via ADC) both worked perfectly. I concluded the call with Apple Tech by agreeing that there is some compatibility issue between the G5 and The Samsung 172w monitor. Since then, just to remove all doubt, I’ve hooked the Samsung Monitor to my Mirror Door without a problem.

My Interim Solution
I’ve hooked up the Samsung 172w and the Apple Studio 15” Display (FP) to the G5 which works great. When I need to boot into startup manager it shows up on the Apple display. My final solution will be to replace the Apple Display with a Samsung 171mp using a ADC to VGA adapter.

Bottom Line
Either Apple has changed something in their firmware booting between G4 and the G5 or there is something in the differences between Nvidia Ti and the ATI 9600. In either case the Samsung 172w is not the monitor you want to hookup to your new G5 if it is to be your only display.

Final Thoughts
I’m wondering if I will see this same issue after I install the ATI 9800 Pro (Retail) card. BTW, this G5 is whisper quiet.
Lawrence M. "

If any G5 owners with a 9800 Pro (retail or OEM) see any problems with this display (or any other brand) let me know. I don't own this model but have used my G5 with 9600 OEM and 9800 Pro retail card with an IBM 14" LCD (had to disable the displays DPMS feature to prevent it turning the display off in OS X - even w/the OS X Energy Saver set to never sleep the display - odd, but it's an old model) and a Sony F400 19" CRT display (no problems).