[CentOS] Video driver questions

Wed Oct 8 22:23:38 UTC 2008
William L. Maltby <CentOS4Bill at triad.rr.com>

On Wed, 2008-10-08 at 16:22 -0400, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
> <snip>

> >> Section "Monitor"
> >>         Identifier   "Monitor0"
> >>         ModelName    "LCD Panel 1024x768"
> >>  ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
> >>         HorizSync    31.5 - 48.0
> >>         VertRefresh  56.0 - 65.0
> >>         Option      "dpms"
> >> EndSection

I would try eliminating the sync/refresh/dpms as a starting point to
just see if things will work at a basic level.

> >> <snip>

> >
> > Regardless, even if needed, try what I show below.
> > <snip>

> >
> > My "Screen" section looks like this. Watch out for the line wrap on
> > "Modes".
> >
> > Section "Screen"
> >         Identifier "Screen0"
> >         Device     "Videocard0"
> >         DefaultDepth     24
> >         SubSection "Display"
> >                 Viewport   0 0
> >                 Depth     24
> >                 Modes    "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
> > "640x480" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1152x768"
> >         EndSubSection
> > EndSection
> >   
> Something is really not working....
> 
> I have changed inittab to: id:3:initdefault:
> 
> I am logged in as root, and run:  system-config-display --reconfig
> 
> I go into the Hardware tab.  There I see it lists my video card; when I 
> go into configure the video card, it shows VESA (my video card is not a 
> listed card).  For the monitor type, I select LCD Monitor 1280x1024.  
> Back to the Settings tab, I select 1024x768.  I click on OK to save all 
> this, and system-config-display ends.

I've not used the GUI setup stuff, so I have no thoughts on it. When you
get done futzing around with that, does your xorg.conf have multiple
resolutions in it?

> 
> I then run:  init 5
> 
> It comes up in 640x480 mode (according to Preferences>Screen 
> Resolution), and no other mode is listed.

Again, GUI me no help to you. You might want to try manually editing the
xorg.conf to look similar to what I showed as a starting point. Get rid
of the sync lines in the monitor section and see if it still works at a
basic level, at least.

> 
> I go to Administration>Display, where it lists the current mode as 
> 640x480, I select 1024x768 and click on OK (can barely see the OK 
> button).  I open a terminal window and run init 3 to get me out of X.  I 
> run init 5 again.  The login screen is at a higher resolution than 
> before, but once I log in as root, it is back to 640x480!
> 
> The display subsection in /etc/X11/xorg.conf lists only the modes:  
> "1024x768" "800x600" "600x480".

OK. Now if you hit <CTL><ALT><NUM+ or NUM->  does it change resolutions?

> 
> In the standard XP that comes with the units, the default resolution is 
> 800x480 and you can increase that and use the capacitor scroll bars to 
> scroll the screen.
> 
> help....

I really know only a little about this stuff. My normal procedure is to
*manually* set stuff up (after running the normal kudzu/system-config*
stuff) to get what I want installed.

For me, debugging is much easier when the details are not hidden. So
manually setting things up, and changing them, helps provide
transparency.

> <snip sig stuff>

ISTR that there are some config files under $HOME that have settings
that are used when X is started up (but last time I looked, it was
X11R6). Maybe there is something under some of those dirs?

Sorry I can't help more.

-- 
Bill