SGI: Video

Hey... I've got an octane w/an extra graphics card so I can have the whole dual-headed destkop. I've had it for a few years now and it works great.

But twice now, one of the monitors just gets 'fuzzy', like it's waaaay out of focus. It's not the monitor, since switching to the extra input on the monitor (it's one of those dual-vga input ones) didn't change anything.

I haven't swapped out the monitor cable yet because I need to find a 13w3 - vga cable (I think I've got one laying around somewhere... ) so that's still a possiblilty for the culprit.

When this happened a few weeks ago, rebooting the octane seemed to do the trick. But today it's still fuzzy after a reboot.

Anybody ever have this happen to them? Also, the two graphics cards are ESI, and the octane is 300MHz R12k.

Thanks,

-chris

If this is an LCD you're having problems with, then you might want to check if it has some sort of "Auto adjust" button or menu option.
Something similar to what you described seems to be quite common with LCDs connected via the analog port and the auto adjust fixes it almost always (use it more than once if it doesn't do the job the first time).

I have to do this once in a while with my LCD which is also connected to an Octane (MXE) and after that everything works fine.

ShadeOfBlue wrote: If this is an LCD you're having problems with, then you might want to check if it has some sort of "Auto adjust" button or menu option.
Something similar to what you described seems to be quite common with LCDs connected via the analog port and the auto adjust fixes it almost always (use it more than once if it doesn't do the job the first time).

I have to do this once in a while with my LCD which is also connected to an Octane (MXE) and after that everything works fine.

Nope... it's a good ol' CRT monitor. I guess I should have said that. But also oddly enough, it's just started working fine again. Could it be some kind of 'warming up' kind of thing?

-chris

Yes, it sounds like a thermal problem. The Mardigras line of cards are real stoves, compared to the later VPro's. And if I understand your post correctly, the fuzziness starts a while after bootup (in other words, as the machine heats up).

More modern gfx-cards are a single-chip design, so the digital and analog parts are on the same chip. This is why modern cards tend to produce digital artifacts, when heat problems occur.

With the Mardigras cards, the analog part is a seperate chip and, when too hot, fuzziness sounds like a typical 'analog' mailfunction.

Ofcourse, it won't hurt to check your cables. Also take care not to route 'analog' cables next to powerlines and other inductive sources (speakers, transformers,...).

And the Octane is a vacuum cleaner, so take care of any dust that may impede the airflow. A can of compressed air is an essential for every SGI owner

Just a wild speculation here, but could it still be a monitor problem?
Magnetic fields nearby (the other monitor?) that disturb the screen?