Laptop with AppleCinema 14:9 monitor

[Mike Dawson]

I have a teacher that has a PowerBook with the big 14:9 monitor. She is having problems connecting to the board. When I use my 12" powerbook on her board I have no problems. Has this been an issue for others? Is there a fix or workaround? ????

[Mike Dawson]

UzMac, I got email notice of your reply but I can't see the post yet.
Her board displays the watermark. Her computer's pref pane does not display the firmware version. She had the driver installed and I updated the software from 2.0.16 to 2.1.31 and driver to 2.2.49 while I was there. The problem is intermittant but it is disconnected more than connected and sometimes it will vary during the day. I tried a different USB cable also.
She is not using 2 monitors. She has the upgraded monitor intgrated into her laptop. It senses the built in monitor and the projector. In Preferences, I have the monitors mirrored.

[UzMac]

Hi,

Probably her USB ports are faulty. Could she try that other USB devices work fine?

UzMac.
******

[Jos]

I can’t see any reason why the monitor size should cause any instability in the USB connection. I think it would be worth while running Apple’s 'Hardware Test' diagnostic application that comes on the CD/DVD supplied with each Mac. I have also listed below Apple’s recommended procedure for trouble shooting USB problems.


If your keyboard, mouse, printer, digital camera, or other USB device doesn't work as expected with your Mac (you may experience decreased or intermittent performance), or it doesn't work at all with it, try the following steps to troubleshoot the device.
Troubleshoot the device

1. Make sure that the USB cable is properly and securely connected to both the device and your computer's USB port.
2. If your device is powered, make sure that it's turned on and that it's plugged into a working electrical outlet.
3. If your device is USB bus-powered, plug the device directly into one of your computer's USB ports (don't connect the device to a low-powered USB port such as one on your keyboard).
4. Try unplugging the device and then plugging it back in again.
5. Try another USB port. If your device works as expected in the second port, you may want to get service for your other USB port. (Find out how to get service here).
6. If you have another USB cable that you know works, replace the original with the working one. If your device suddenly works as expected, you should replace the original cable.
7. Test another known working device in your computer's USB ports. If the device doesn't work in one or more USB ports, you may want to get service for your computer's affected USB ports.
8. Make sure that your computer is updated with the latest version of Mac OS X, and that each device has the most up-to-date firmware installed. (You can use Software Update to get the latest Apple updates—from the Apple menu, choose Software Update.)
9. If you have another computer, test the device on that machine to verify that it's working properly.
10. Try restarting your computer and testing your device.
11. Unplug all other devices from your computer, except for your mouse and the affected device, and test. If the device works, skip to "Troubleshoot device compatibility" to scope out the hardware conflict.
12. If after verifying that the ports and cables are good but the device still doesn't appear to be working as expected—or at all—you may need to replace that device.


Troubleshoot device compatibility

If the steps above don't resolve your USB issue, try the following steps to troubleshoot device compatibility:

1. Unplug all USB devices except for your Apple mouse and Apple keyboard—make sure that both of these devices work as expected.
2. Reconnect one of your USB devices to your computer and test it to make sure that it works as expected (for example, move your mouse, type on the keyboard, and print a test page with the printer if you connected a printer).
3. Repeat step 2, gradually adding one device at a time, until a device causes another to stop working as expected. At that point, you can pinpoint which device caused the issue (the most recent one you added). You may want to contact the manufacturer of that device for more information or assistance.

[Mike Dawson]

Thank you both.
I have gone through all of those steps with the computer in question and still no positve result. That is why I gave thought to the monitor size. When I plug my 12" powerbook I get the expected result whereas her 17" powerbook is erratic at best. We are in the process of getting her another laptop to use which I think will resolve the issue for her (the one she is currently using is her personal property). I was just wondering if anyone else had reported similar problems with that particular size/type of powerbook.