mini + dvi to hdmi = no booting windows

[esoteric0]

so i got my mini all installed with windows mce, and everything is rockin'. then i disconnect from my 20" display and hook it up to my tv with a dvi to hdmi cable, and windows won't boot. try booting os x, works like a charm. try booting plugged into the 20" display and then switching over to the tv, works great. tried setting the resolution to 640x480, still won't boot into windows.

tried a dvi to svideo adapter,and it boots, but it looks like crap.

anyone know of a workaround to let windows boot when i'm hooked up to the tv? i'd hate to have to get in there and change how it's hooked up every time i want to reboot.

it's a 42" panasonic EDTV, so max resolution of 852x480, but it'll accept 1080i input, it just scales it down. not sure if that makes a difference.

[JayMac]

I'm able to boot into both without issue using a similar cable and a Panasonic HD set.

If you have a DVI PC monitor, you might try setting the resolution to match what you want to use on the HD set try 1280x720@60Hz.
Turn off Plug and Play as the monitor type.

You could try rebooting with the HD set now or I'd probably risk just swaping the cable to the HD set while the mini is running.
That should produce an image then try rebooting and see if it holds.

If not take a look at PowerStrip to force your mini to use a certain resolution on boot up.

I suspect the Panny set is not reporting a mode to the mini in XP.

[sjwk]

The problem does sound similar to the one that a friend posted a couple of days ago here.

Mac Mini, DVI-HDMI cable, Panasonic HDTV, OSX boots fine but XP hangs unless there's a different monitor plugged in first..

Originally Posted by JayMac

If you have a DVI PC monitor, you might try setting the resolution to match what you want to use on the HD set try 1280x720@60Hz.
Turn off Plug and Play as the monitor type.
...
If not take a look at PowerStrip to force your mini to use a certain resolution on boot up.

If it is the same problem, then these probably won't work. Our testing showed that the Mac was hanging immediately before coming up with the 'Starting XP' screen. It wasn't booting but the display settings were wrong so nothing was visible, it was crashing before XP was started so before any graphics drivers were loaded. It also does the same if no monitor was plugged in. Booting with a monitor, then unplugging it and plugging in the TV before it got to the login screen worked though.

I suspect the Panny set is not reporting a mode to the mini in XP.

I wonder... On this TV (Panasonic 32" LCD) it only seemed to be reporting the 720 and 1080 resolutions to XP (we booted with another monitor, then switched it over and used VNC to get it to talk to the right monitor which at that time still wasn't showing up). It also had 50Hz as the only refresh rate - changing to that made the screen work, changing back to 60 didn't make any difference, it kept working.

Anyway, I wonder whether if the monitor only returns the 720 and 1080 resolutions when probed, the bootcamp loader is crashing because it can't find a 640x480 resolution to initialise the screen to before it starts to boot XP.

I don't (yet) have an Intel Mac but I do have the same screen hooked up to a linux box - I just checked and linux is only getting those two resolutions via DDC too.

Maybe on other makes/models of screen, the DDC results include other resolutions? Or it could be something that only affects certain Mac minis.

JayMac> if it works on your screen, could you try booting your Mac (is it a mini?) with no monitor at all connected and see whether it hangs as soon as it's supposed to boot windows?

Steve.

[esoteric0]

i haven't tried any of the solutions listed yet, but when i try to boot the mini also boots with no monitor attached at all. kind of frustrating.