[CentOS] Dell Dimension 2400 W/Intel 845-G Video

Sat Nov 1 02:51:43 UTC 2014
Mark LaPierre <marklapier at gmail.com>

On 10/08/14 19:52, Mark LaPierre wrote:
> On 10/06/14 21:45, Peter wrote:
>> On 10/06/2014 03:47 PM, Mark LaPierre wrote:
>>> I've been Googeling and experimenting for two days trying to find a way
>>> to deal with the Intel 845-G video chipset in this Dell Dimension 2400.
>>>  First, it doesn't have a DVD drive so I have to install from a CD.
>>> When I try to boot into the Live CD I get a video error something like,
>>> Undefined video mode number: 317.  It hangs at the splash screen.
>>
>> Lots of solutions for this in google:
>> https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=%22Undefined+video+mode+number%3A+317%22
>>
>> The driver for that chipset is just the regular intel driver:
>> yum install xorg-x11-drv-intel
>>
>> You never mentioned which version of CentOS you're trying to install.
>>
>>
>> Peter
> 
> Hey Peter,
> 
> Thanks for the link.  I'm working with CentOS 6.5.
> 
> I changed the boot command from nomodeset to vga=normal
> 
> I changed the Xorg.config device from "VESA" to "Intel"
> 
> I rebooted the machine.
> 
> I now have a desktop at a usable resolution.  Thank you there!!
> 
> But, there's always a but, the text displayed on that screen is not
> usable.  The text on the top bar that should say:
> Applications   Places   System
> says:
> A              P        S    m
> 
> The icon that is supposed to say "Computer" says "C m"
> 
> There's a dialogue box in the middle of the screen with various and
> assorted consonants spread about.  I have no idea what it's supposed to say.
> 
> Any clue as to how I can fix this?
> 
> 

I've been pretty busy for a little while so I have not been able to
pursue this issue.  Tonight I fired it up and ran yum -update hoping
that the new 6.6 kernel and driver combination might yield better results.

I have tried booting the machine with no xorg.confg file and I've tried
booting it with one generated by Xorg -configure.

When I boot into the latter I get the spinning circle on the CentOS logo
screen, then it goes blank as expected, then the mouse cursor turns into
the little round spinner that you see just before the GDM screen
appears, then the cursor turns to the normal little arrow pointer on a
black screen.

The graphic mouse cursor indicates that the X server is running but
there's no login screen, just black.  Moving the arrow cursor against
the edge of the screen does not uncover and hidden virtual screen area.

<Ctrl Alt F2> - <Ctrl Alt F6> brings up a text login prompt.

<Ctrl Alt F7> brings up a black screen with no mouse pointer and what
looks like a text cursor blinking in the upper left corner of the
screen.  Keystrokes are not reflected on the screen.  There is no mouse
cursor.  On my regular machine this same <Ctrl Alt F7> screen looks and
behaves the same except that there I have a block cursor.

Google has not turned up any useful information.  Does anyone have and
ideas what more I can try?


-- 
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   ^ ^  Mark LaPierre
Registered Linux user No #267004
https://linuxcounter.net/
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