How do i connect powerbook & ibook g4 laptops to a dell pc monitor?

Question

The screens have gone black on both of these computers and I would like to download my personal information before sending them out for repair. The only way I can think of is connecting the laptops to a desktop monitor. Please advise as to how I can do this. If this is not possible can you offer any other suggestions? thanx!

Answer 1

could be a video driver issue......you can try to start in safe mode....keep hitting F5 when you turn pc on with dell pcs..if this works you can get the data you want and try fixing here

Answer 2

Hello bnell,

First off, I'm sorry to hear that you're having problems with your PowerBook and iBook. That is too bad. I'm not sure how you would attach your laptops to the PC monitor. There's a video attachment, at least on many of the PowerBooks, but I don't know if it's compatible or not. You may need to buy some kind of converter cables.

Perhaps the Mac dealer or repair place you are planning on taking your laptops to can give you some suggestions.

Normally, if you have a friend who has a Macintosh, you can attach them with a firewire cable, you can boot the laptop while holding down the "T" key to put your laptop in "Target Mode", then the Mac it is connected to reads it like an external hard drive, and you can move the files that you want that way.

I don't know if you can use target mode using Windows. I kind of doubt it. If you don't have any other Mac friends who can help you then you will have to count of the help of the repair guy to move those files for you. The laptop displays might be able to be repaired so that you don't have to worry about the files. The repair person could help you with that. Best of luck, bnell.

--Rick