xres param not working

dkaparis · posted: 2014-11-23 09:12

Greetings,

I'm trying out the antiX-13.2-full 64-bit distribution on my machine .
My display's native resolution is 1280x1024, but the system starts in 1280x800, causing low-quality and cut-off display.
With live boot, if I add xres=1280x1024 manually to the boot command, it gets applied and the live system starts with the correct resolution.
That option however, doesn't work anymore with the installed system - it always boots in 1024x800 even if I type the xres=.. command.
After boot, I can set the correct resolution from the Control Center or with the xrandr command, but I can not make the change persists between boots.
Same behaviour after clean install of the full system and after dist-upgrade. I'm using wheezy repo.

uname -a:
3.7.10-antix.5-amd64-smp #3 SMP Fri Oct 4 23:41:00 EEST 2013 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Any ideas?
Dimitri

thriftee · posted: 2014-11-23 10:21

Not sure if you don't have some typo's there on the resolutions. I am no expert, but I can probably help you get started in figuring it out...

Run inxi -Fxz in a terminal window immediately after you get the desktop up and paste the results here. If there are any / etc in the file you'll need to put a space after the slash like I did or you'll get an error when you try to post it. That will tell people more about your system. Things that would be especially important are the video card, how much memory it has, what modes it supports, what driver is being used, and what resolution is getting selected. You should also say whether the problem started after you did the dist-upgrade or whether its been doing it since the install.

inxi -Fxz

dkaparis · posted: 2014-11-23 10:52

Thanks for the response.

Regarding typos, this is exactly what I add to the boot command every time:

xres=1280x1024

It works with the live system, but has no effect on the installed.

Here is the inxi -Fxz output:

System: Host: dimitri-pc Kernel: 3.7.10-antix.5-amd64-smp x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.1)
Desktop: IceWM 1.3.7
Distro: antiX-13.2_x64-full Luddite 4 November 2013
Machine: Mobo: Intel model: D510MO v: AAE76523-401
Bios: Intel v: MOPNV10J.86A.0154.2009.1117.1624 date: 11/17/2009
CPU: Dual core Intel Atom D510 (-HT-MCP-) cache: 512 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 6650
clock speeds: max: 1662 MHz 1: 1662 MHz 2: 1662 MHz 3: 1662 MHz
4: 1662 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Atom Processor D4xx/D5xx/N4xx/N5xx Integrated Graphics Controller
bus-ID: 00:02.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.12.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1280x800@58.1hz, 1280x1024@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel IGD
GLX Version: 1.4 Mesa 8.0.5 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Sound: ALSA v: k3.7.10-antix.5-amd64-smp
Network: Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 1000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 322.1GB (1.6% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD3200BEKT size: 320.1GB
ID-2: USB /dev/sdb model: Storage_Media size: 2.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 292G used: 3.0G (2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
ID-2: swap-1 size: 2.17GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda2
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 102 Uptime: 11:27 Memory: 277.5/1990.8MB
Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 4.7.2
Client: Shell (bash 4.2.371) inxi: 2.2.16

This output was taken now, after dist-upgrade. But as I wrote in the first post, problem is the same both after clean install and after dist-upgrade.

Thanks,
Dimitri

thriftee · posted: 2014-11-23 17:28

Sorry, my antiX machines have nVidia cards

What looks odd to me is that its listing the 1200x800 resolution first, and that its unloaded the other video drivers

I would try being more specific, but don't know if that is a valid syntax

drvr=vesa xres=1280x1024

If it doesn't work, post again and maybe one of the gurus will help you.

PS: I did find one laptop I have with Intel video, but its not the same as yours. The xres= had no effect on it at all, and it comes up with intel as the driver even if I try to tell it to use vesa. Sorry, I can't be of more help.

dkaparis · posted: 2014-11-23 19:39

Adding the drvr param didn't help - still boots in low resolution.

One more observation - After booting, before I set the resolution manually to 1280x1024, inxi lists BOTH resolutions as 1280x800:

Display Server: X.Org 1.12.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1280x800@58.1hz, 1280x800@59.8hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel IGD GLX Version: 1.4 Mesa 8.0.5

After setting the resolution, the second one listed changes as I initially posted.

BitJam · posted: 2014-11-23 19:42

dkaparis wrote:With live boot, if I add xres=1280x1024 manually to the boot command, it gets applied and the live system starts with the correct resolution.
That option however, doesn't work anymore with the installed system - it always boots in 1024x800 even if I type the xres=.. command.

This highlights one of the main differences between live and installed. The myriad of customizing boot parameters on the live system don't exist on the installed system. The installed systems is pretty much stock Debian (with some special antiX packages added). The live system is highly customized to give you all of those boot options.

Most of the selections made on the live system (including xres) will carry over to the live system when you do an install. The idea is that you can keep booting the live system, selecting different options, until it is tweaked to what you want and then do an install and your choices will get carried over.

You should still be able to set the xres on an installed system even if you can't do it with a boot parameter. Try running this code:

Code: Select all

CMDLINE=xres=1280x1024 /usr/sbin/buildxconfig

Then look for a file called xorg.conf in the current directory. View that file. It should look something like:

Code: Select all

Section"Monitor"
    Identifier"Monitor0"
    Option"DPMS""true"
    HorizSync    30-75
    VertRefresh  55-70 
EndSection

Section"Device"
    Identifier"Device0"
EndSection

Section"Screen"
    Identifier"Screen0"
    Monitor"Monitor0"
    Device "Device0"

    SubSection"Display"
        Modes"1280x1024""1024x768""800x600"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Then as root, copy that file to /etc/X11/

Code: Select all

sudo cp xorg.conf  /*etc/X11

and restart the X server (log out and then log in again).

dkaparis · posted: 2014-11-24 08:01

Thanks BitJam - generating xorg.conf file solved the problem!

One observation though - the xres setting did NOT carry over from the live system to installed. I just went through this once more to make sure.
When booting live, specifying xres, it seems to generate an xorg.conf file, but after installing from that same session, the installed system does not have it and boots in low resolution again.

Thanks,
Dimitri

BitJam · posted: 2014-11-24 09:22

Thanks for double checking and reporting the bug Dimitri.