topic title: Screen resolution blues....
Posts: 57
Subito Piano
Joined: 20 Oct 2007
#1
H-E-L-P again!
When changing screen resolutions on some units, nothing changes, even when logging out and back in. If i try to reconfigure X, the resolution is set lso low that i can't read the options or even grab the window to move it? Besides getting a new card, any ideas? This is true for RC2 and for release 7.01. (One of the computers is a Pentium II 350 Mhz, 320 RAM Tiger, but i have a similar problem running Mepis 7 on a Celron (Coppermine) 667Mhz Dell as well.) Grrr....

OH, yeah - i should mention that i am getting a screen res of 800x600 . I haven't tried to reduce the resolution, only increase it. It will apparently only let me go to 800x600 as the highest, but i know these machines are capable of at least 1024x768.

thanks for your help!
Posts: 1,081
OU812
Joined: 29 Sep 2007
#2
You could try editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Try finding a section that begins with something like

Code: Select all

  SubSection"Display"
  Depth 8
  Modes"1024x768""800x600"
Modify all of lines that begin with"Modes" as follows

Code: Select all

 Modes"1024x768"
thereby leaving only your desired resolution. Otherwise, if that doesn't work, report back. Maybe we need to get you out of graphic mode and into text mode (runlevel 3) and run xorgconf. Please post your results.

john
Posts: 57
Subito Piano
Joined: 20 Oct 2007
#3
I'll be back at school Monday and able to try your suggestion, then let you know. Thanks.
anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#4
You can also boot from the livecd, at grub hit F3 and choose the correct screen resolution. If it is ok, then use this xorg.conf instead of the one used in the installed antiX. Make a backup of both, just in case.
Posts: 57
Subito Piano
Joined: 20 Oct 2007
#5
Yeah i saw that but it didn't change anything. Maybe some unusual cards??
anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#6
Have you tried configuring the screen in Mepis Admin>Xconfig ?

Could be unusual cards, but still 800x600 is low.
Posts: 1,520
eriefisher
Joined: 07 Oct 2007
#7
It could be a driver/card compatability issue. I would try to use the vesa driver. It's capable of 1024x768 with just about any graphics card. You just wouldn't have 3d acceleration which on your machine specs doesn't look like an issue.

eriefisher
Posts: 57
Subito Piano
Joined: 20 Oct 2007
#8
yeah - i've pretty much tried all this. I'll go over it again Monday, tho...
Posts: 57
Subito Piano
Joined: 20 Oct 2007
#9
Yeah -- i tried booting into root and editing the /etc/x11/xorg.conf file as mentioned -- no go, still in 800x600, even after eliminating all references to it. Oh, this is on a machine with Mepis 7.0 installed, but the probelm also occurs in some machines with antiX.

This particular unit is a Dell. Going into infocenter, the onboard graphics adapter readout is:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82810E DC-133 GMCH [Graphics Memory Controller Hub] (rev 03)
Flags: Bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82810E DC-133 CGC [Chipset Graphics Controller] (rev 03) (prog-if )) [VGA])
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 4332
Flags: bus masterr, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
Memory at f8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable)
Memory at ffa8000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: <access denied>

You are now either nodding your head in understanding because you see what i've got -- or you are nodding your head in amazement at my ignorance because these numbers have nothing to do with my graphics adapter! __{{emoticon}}__ Anyway - there are a few machines with this problem, all older. What i am keeping i will probably just scare up some old pci video cards for and turn off the video card in the BIOS -- unless someone has an answer..!

Oh yeah - a strange tangent. I have Toshiba desktop donated. The only way i got Mepis to work was with a PCI video card. I disabled the onboard graphics adapter. The result? Even with the onboard GA disabled, Mepis only works when the monitor is plugged into the pci card, and Windows XP only works when the monitor is pluged into the onboard GA - even though it is"disabled."

?????????????
anticapitalista
Posts: 5,955
Site Admin
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
#10
Maybe you need to change to 16 bit rather than 24bit in the xorg.conf. Or some combination.
What about in the grub menu at boot trying to change the vga?
I have vga=791. Also here you can set the monitor resolution
xres=1024x768

Have a look at these sidux links:


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://manual.sidux.com/en/hw-dev-hw-dri-en.htm#mon-res"
linktext was:"http://manual.sidux.com/en/hw-dev-hw-dri-en.htm#mon-res"
====================================



========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://manual.sidux.com/en/cheatcodes-vga-en.htm#vga"
linktext was:"http://manual.sidux.com/en/cheatcodes-vga-en.htm#vga"
====================================
Posts: 57
Subito Piano
Joined: 20 Oct 2007
#11
More ammunition - thanks! __{{emoticon}}__

Of course, as you can probably figure, it took me all week before i could get to this problem (hey, i have computers that are virtually inoperable! __{{emoticon}}__ ) -- and i won't be back at school 'til Monday to try your suggestions...sigh.... __{{emoticon}}__
Posts: 57
Subito Piano
Joined: 20 Oct 2007
#12
Grrrrrr......! I am out of solutions - as well as time. IDK what the problem is but with the many hats i wear at the school, it was easier to just rustle up some old video cards and stick them in the pci slots...

I did try everything - except siduxcc and changing to 16bit. Siduxcc was not in the packages for the Mepis 3.4.3 install on one computer and i was installing Mepis 7 on some recalcitrant units - so i couldn't configure anything on those anyway. Basically i just ran out of time. Thanks for the help, tho... __{{emoticon}}__