You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Display Scale Issue on Late 2013 iMac with Mojave

Howdy,


I am running a Late 2013 iMac 27-inch with Mojave 10.14.6.


My entire screen is zoomed in to a degree that makes it almost impossible to do anything. I have tried changing display settings from "Scaled" to "Default for Display," but there is no change. Also, when I close out of system preferences and reopen it, my change does not seem to get saved – it reverts back to "Scaled." There are no options for "Scaled" resolution either, just an empty selection box where the different scales would normally be seen (see below).



I thought I could resolve this by updating to Mac OS Catalina, but when I tried that, I learned the installer window is too big (goes off the screen at the bottom) so that I am unable to push the "continue" button, which is somewhere offscreen.


  • Is there another way of changing the display scale that I'm not finding on forums?
  • Is there a way to resize the installer window so I can access the "continue" button and finish installing Catalina?
  • Would installing Catalina even fix this problem in the first place?


Thanks in advance to anyone who is able to help me with any of these questions.


Thanks,

Flynn


P.S. I have tried multiple system reboots as well as multiple NVRAM and PRAM reboots, to no avail. Swearing doesn't seem to help either.



[Re-Titled by Moderator]


iMac 27″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Nov 9, 2024 9:30 PM

Reply
4 replies

Nov 10, 2024 12:39 PM in response to flynn_mix

hmm…. Flynn_mix, swearing doesn’t work, you’ve tried many nvram/pram resets with no change… according to your post… have you tried either smc reset( since you have an Intel Mac ) just shut ‘er down, unplug ‘er ( eg disconnect power cord/cable from iMac) and leave ‘er for about 20 or 39 minutes , go off and do something else.. make a pot of coffee , make some popcorn and eat it, read a book, whatever… then come back to it, plug ‘er back in ( eg insert IEC end into iMac, not the end you plug into your outlet) and start ‘er up, then immediately hold down “ shift “ key on your keyboard until you see “ safe mode” on your screen… be patient it may take a while , only let go when you see”safe mode” and not before that… then see if you can do what you need to do… usually between smc resets , pram/nvram zaps/resets and occasional use of “ safe mode” and some swearing , that does it/works for me


John B

Display Scale Issue on Late 2013 iMac with Mojave

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.