Hello, I am new to linux and new to message boards and it will take me a while to get up to speed with all this. I've only started with Linux this week.

My problem is trying to boot a live CD to my old Pavillion 8755C with 384 MB of RAM and 125MB PNY video card. Other distros have worked. Right now I have Xubuntu on it, but AntiX looks much nicer.
The boot stops at the point I am to enter the user and password. I hope I am explaining this right, It asks to enter control,ALT,7 or 8 for GUI. I have noticed that when I switch my monitor from a GATEWAY 2000 CRT to my ACER AL1717, everything seems to work fine.

I'm open to suggestions. Is there a quick fix for a Newbie like me? I must warn you. I'm pretty ignorant about all this.

Thanks

Hello Cuttlefish.

You could try setting the monitor resolution at the boot menu screen. Hit F3 and choose the suitable resolution for your screen.


You could also try, from the same menu, the others options and choose the vesa one.

Good luck.

I can't remember any more if this was with antiX or with some other system (but I think it may have been an issue with either an early internal build of antiX or one of the early beta tests of SimplyMEPIS 8.0). I ran into an issue with monitor resolution and the Live CD did not want to finish booting. Can't remember if it locked up or not, but the solution was an easy one: I simply started over and selected a boot option to boot in VESA mode. Once up and running, I went into the Control Center and adjusted the monitor resolution to a slightly higher value and it worked well.

I have never run into a situation where the basic video capabilities, albeit a lower than maximum resolution, would not work, and most of the time, the defaults work perfectly, but this bail out is nearly failsafe.

Thanks folks for responing so quickly.

I've tried the things you both have suggested. Unfortunately, I've had no luck. It still won't boot in vesa. I had a thought. Suppose I swap monitors and install with the new monitor, adjust the resolution and then replace with the old monitor. Sound dumb? I kind of have nothing to lose...except Xubuntu.

Thanks

You could try that, yes.

When you get to that bit where it asks for Crtl etc ie a terminal login screen try typing
"demo" for user and"demo" for password. (no quotes)

Alternatively, at the boot menu, choose the first option but before hitting Enter type:
drvr=fbdev

I will give those things a try. I'm not exactly sure where to type ...
drvr=fbdev
Would that be where is says demo@mepis1~$

Thanks for your help.

Cuttlefish wrote:I will give those things a try. I'm not exactly sure where to type ...
drvr=fbdev
Would that be where is says demo@mepis1~$

Thanks for your help.

In the boot manager, when you select the entry for antiX, just type in drvr=fbdev and it should go at the end of the selected line. You should see it add on to the end of the line as you type it in. Is that understandable?

Well, I got my monitor to work. My solution was not as gracefull as yours. As I said I'm Linux challenged. I did the old monitor swap and install with vesa and then plug in the old monitor trick.

I think I have a new problem though... When I try to access the internet the system freezes..........What to do?

Once again I appreciate any suggestions to point me in the right direction.

Thanks

Glad you got the monitor sorted out.

What version of antiX are you using?
How do you connect to the internet? Wired? ethernet? Modem?

I'm using antiX 7.5 and this pc is wired though a modem with another pc. I also have a Belkin wireless router on the other for a laptop.