Does Snow Leopard fix DVI to HDMI problem that plagued OS 10.5.8?

Hi everyone,

I’ve got a family pack of Snow Leopard and plan to install it on my MacBook Pro 13” which is the family floating notebook computer, my Mac Pro and, if all goes well, my home theater mini. Yups. The office doesn’t need the mini for now, so it’s pretty much mine! Yahoo!

I'm starting with the family floating notebook as it isn't a critical machine. If Snow Leopard causes agita, it's the easiest of the machines to restore to OS 10.5.8. The next machine is likely to be the home theater mini. It's not a mission critical machine and easily restored to an older version of the OS, too. But, I remember reading somewhere that the OS 10.5.8 breaks DVI to HDMI connections.

Anyone know if Snow Leopard resolves the 10.5.8 DVI to HDMI issue that plagued OS 10.5.8? The Home Theater Mini has Os 10.5.7 on it right now.

Thanks,

Robert

It would help me if you know of a link to this problem or have a better description of it. I have a 2009 mac mini hooked up to my TV via the mini display port (mini DP to DVI). I use a DVI to HDMI cable for that. That is a 2nd display from the main display, which is currently mini dvi to VGA.

At times, when I would switch on the TV, the mini would get lost resetting the resolution of the displays, would be essentially greyed out on both, and I could never get it to respond in that state, other than shutting it down. When this was happening to me, I remember reading various similar sounding complaints on the apple support forums, but could never tell if they had the same issue as me. Is that what you are referring to?

I don't know if this has gone away though, since I upgraded 10.5 up through .11 or whatever the latest was, and at some point, this may have stopped happening (since it hasn't happened in months and I have sort of forgotten about it.

I should test and play around with 10.6, to see if this makes any difference.

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Robert M
I remember reading somewhere that the OS 10.5.8 breaks DVI to HDMI connections.

I didn't know they were broken--works fine here.

Michael,

Correction. It started with 10.5.7 and continues through 10.5.8. Silvarios pointed out the problem.

<[forums.macresource.com];

Robert

Yep, 10.5.7 broke it on both my Mini C2D & Quadhack w/ nVidia 9400GT. Display is a Hanns-G 22 {HDMI & VGA}. Works fine via VGA, but loses definition with any DVI to HDMI cable.
Got the Quadhack now connected to a 19" eMachines LCD {stop laughing, it was only $75 @ Staples} via DVI; 1440X900, crisp & sharp all the way!

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Pan,

Glad to the issue wasn't just my imagination. Have you tried either machine with snow leopard?

Robert

I still not sure what this problem is, since I was driving my HDTV at its native resolution (1368x960 something) through multiple versions of 10.5, including most likely 10.5.7 and .8 using mini display port to HDMI. So can't say HDMI doesn't work in 10.5.

My memory is that there were many more reported problems using the mini display port then the mini dvi port, but that both worked for some people some of the time. Which port are you referring to? I just wonder if you are worrying about a phantom problem you may never have.

HDMI was broken for all Macs as far as Apple and everyone else could tell with the 10.5.7 update. You were not getting the correct resolution unless you were already using a third party utility to set the resolution. At least it broke 1920x1080 and 1600x1050 on both my displays. 10.5.8 seems to have resolved the problem. I did not have the problem with DVI or VGA. Only HDMI.

For more info, try this search on google. First three hits for me were theAppleBlog, MacMedics, and salon.com. I found the MacMedics link especially helpful when I was first researching the problem. It also provides a link to the correct Apple discussions thread.


Nathan

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Robert M
Pan,

Glad to the issue wasn't just my imagination. Have you tried either machine with snow leopard?

Robert

I'm going to try on the Quad this weekend. I have a spare WD SATA Raptor I can swap in the trayless rack for my 10.5.8 main drive. No risk to my daily 'work disk'!
Hopefully, SL's nVidia drivers are even more compatible...
I'll post results later!

Some people seem to have problems with some TVs. However, you can't possibly say that all macs running an os after 10.5.7 can't run higher resolutions over HDMI, because 1) I am doing it, and 2) there are absolutely tons of reports of people using minis and other macs as home theater PCs hooked up via HDMI. Here is an example from 123macmini on people's set ups:

[www.123macmini.com]

I also use plex and there are lots of posts on the plex forums about people doing this just fine as well. Now, some people do have problems, and many use switch resolution x, and the apple discussions are always full of people complaining about various problems, but this is not system wide on every mac using HDMI.

I should say though I appreciate the discussion, since I do plan to upgrade my desktop to a DVI monitor soon, and then I would have a choice as to whether to drive the TV using HDMI or VGA (and wonder if that matters somehow).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2009 06:53AM by michaelb.

I'm pretty sure 10.5.8 fixed the problem, which is what I stated. Why are you busting my balls? ;)

I have two panels. Connecting to either did not work with 10.5.7. 10.5.6 was fine. I updated to 10.5.7 and immediately there is a problem. You really think this is a coincidence?

10.5.8 seems to work fine. I didn't say it never worked, didn't say it doesn't work now. 10.5.7 was a known problem. Apple confirmed it. I showed you 244,000 hits on google. Specifically, two separate websites diagnosing the problem. Not sure what to tell you. Apple admitted they changed the code for HDMI detection with 10.5.7. They did something to fix the problem with 10.5.8.

Full disclosure, I have mini-DVI on my MacBook. Maybe the mini Display port computers didn't have the problem, but the DVI one's sure did. I will amend the complaint to say all Macs making DVI to HDMI connections.

Oh, I should have added I tested clean installs of 10.5.6, 10.5.7 and 10.5.8 on the MacBook. No problem, problem, no problem. Seems pretty clear to me. Again, Apple confirmed the problem. Not sure why you don't believe them either.


Nathan



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2009 07:32AM by silvarios.

Hey Nathan, I was not busting your balls.

Maybe this thread title is misleading if the problem was fixed in 10.5.8, since it suggests that .8 is "plagued" with this problem? Why are we worry about 10.6 if this was fixed previously?

I do agree that I had a problem with HDMI detection at some point this year, and if that was fixed in 10.5.8 and after, that may be why my problem went away.

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michaelb
Hey Nathan, I was not busting your balls.

I kid, I kid. I don't know that I've ever used the phrase before. Seemed like as good a time as any.

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michaelb
Maybe this thread title is misleading if the problem was fixed in 10.5.8, since it suggests that .8 is "plagued" with this problem? Why are we worry about 10.6 if this was fixed previously?

The original poster was just a little confused. I don't know if Robert realized that whatever the problem, Apple seems to have fixed it with 10.5.8.

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michaelb
I do agree that I had a problem with HDMI detection at some point this year, and if that was fixed in 10.5.8 and after, that may be why my problem went away.

The problem started back in late June for me because I waited a month after 10.5.7's release to install the update. Big mistake. I switched to DVI and the problem disappeared. When I installed 10.5.8 the bug was corrected (yes, I did test the HDMI port again, I didn't just leave the MacBook connected to DVI).


Nathan

Nathan,

You are correct. I caught my mistake and corrected it in a later post, though I thought the problem persisted through 10.5.8.

Robert

Robert M,
I am not having the problem in 10.5.8. I'll test Snow Leopard in five minutes.


Nathan

MacBook booted from Snow Leopard external drive works fine on the 1680x1050 display (I erroneously typed 1600x1050 before) when connected via HDMI. I have not tested the other display (1920x1080) and I probably won't at this time. Sorry. Being lazy.


I would imagine the problem is fixed with Snow Leopard as well.


Nathan