Can I Snap the Four Pins Off My DVI-I Male to Plug It Into My DVI-D Female?
October 19, 2004 6:55 PM Subscribe
DVI connection types! (who knew there was more than one?)
The "Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter" that came with my 12" Powerbook (revC/1.33) won't connect to the DVI cable I bought. According to this chart (scroll down), the Apple adapter is a DVI-D Dual Link type (female) and my cable is a DVI-I Dual Link type (male). As you'll see from the diagrams, the 4 pins around the big flat pin are where the mismatch lies. The Apple adapter doesn't have 4 holes to accommodate them. Can I just snap the extra pins off the cable and use it?
The "Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter" that came with my 12" Powerbook (revC/1.33) won't connect to the DVI cable I bought. According to this chart (scroll down), the Apple adapter is a DVI-D Dual Link type (female) and my cable is a DVI-I Dual Link type (male). As you'll see from the diagrams, the 4 pins around the big flat pin are where the mismatch lies. The Apple adapter doesn't have 4 holes to accommodate them. Can I just snap the extra pins off the cable and use it?
The extra pins would carry the analog signal, so if your monitor can handle a digital signal that would theoretically be fine. I'm surprised the Apple adapter doensn't have the A ports, though, since that port does also put out an analog signal.
posted by j.edwards at 7:43 PM on October 19, 2004
posted by j.edwards at 7:43 PM on October 19, 2004
Response by poster: I think I'm going to try snapping them off. If I'm wrong, I'll have to buy a different cable, which would be no worse than buying a different cable or adapter now. I'll note the result here.
posted by scarabic at 9:36 PM on October 19, 2004
posted by scarabic at 9:36 PM on October 19, 2004
Response by poster: Well, that was harrowing, but it did work.
After I snapped the 4 pins off, I realized that the big, flat pin was too wide for the slot on the adapter. They still wouldn't mate. So, figuring I'd already ruined the cable, I took some narrow wire cutters and snipped down the big flat pin, peeling the shavings away with needlenose pliers. That took awhile, but eventually the damn thing fit, and it worked great.
The KVM switch I'm hooking everything up to worked great with the Mac after that, but unfortunately had all kinds of display artifacts with my PC (which didn't require any ugly hacks at all).
Go figure.
posted by scarabic at 9:02 AM on October 20, 2004
After I snapped the 4 pins off, I realized that the big, flat pin was too wide for the slot on the adapter. They still wouldn't mate. So, figuring I'd already ruined the cable, I took some narrow wire cutters and snipped down the big flat pin, peeling the shavings away with needlenose pliers. That took awhile, but eventually the damn thing fit, and it worked great.
The KVM switch I'm hooking everything up to worked great with the Mac after that, but unfortunately had all kinds of display artifacts with my PC (which didn't require any ugly hacks at all).
Go figure.
posted by scarabic at 9:02 AM on October 20, 2004
Carefull with that duct tape, professor. Wrap it in bailing wire and pass the brownies. You are one road warrior Apple user, holmes.
posted by squirrel at 10:09 AM on October 20, 2004
posted by squirrel at 10:09 AM on October 20, 2004
Response by poster: Admittedly, it was an ugly hack, but I thought to myself: what, do they use a different kind of copper for this pin between these cables types or something? Famous last words I guess - if something's keyed, I guess it's wise not to unkey it. But shit, in the old days, if it didn't work, we used to just cram a few paper clips in there and spit on it.
posted by scarabic at 11:39 AM on October 20, 2004
posted by scarabic at 11:39 AM on October 20, 2004
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by amberglow at 7:40 PM on October 19, 2004