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yugocrazy

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Please help me configure my screen

I'm new to linux and have just loaded mandrake 9 on a brand new Dell. it has intel 845 graphics and a dell E151FP flat screen monitor. there are several problems when running the gnome desktop:

1. The monitor is saying that the signal is out of range. I presumed this was the frequencies so have tried adjusting the XF86Config-4 fil accordingly, but it still does not work.

2. The screen does not display well. text and pictures are sometimes blurred. I think this is due to the refresh rate not being right.

3. I cannot change the resolution to anything higher than 256. The error message appears at start of xwindows saying that it cannot find a screen.

Here is the config file:

# File generated by XFdrake.

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the XF86Config man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "Files"
    # Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
    # By default, Mandrake 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
    # the X server to render fonts.
    FontPath "unix/:-1"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    #DontZap # disable <Crtl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
    #DontZoom # disable <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
    AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse doesn't work
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
    Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
    Load "extmod"
    Load "type1"
    Load "freetype"
    Load "glx" # 3D layer
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Keyboard1"
    Driver "Keyboard"
    Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
    Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
    Option "XkbOptions" ""
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Mouse1"
    Driver "mouse"
    Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
    Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "monitor1"
    VendorName "Generic"
    ModelName "Flat Panel 1024x768"
    HorizSync 31-60
    VertRefresh 56-75
   
    # Sony Vaio C1(X,XS,VE,VN)?
    # 1024x480 @ 70.1 Hz, 56 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "1024x480"    75.00 1024 1048 1184 1328   768  771  777  806 -hsync -vsync
   
    # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
    # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
    #ModeLine "768x576"     50.00  768  832  846 1000   576  590  595  630
   
    # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
    #ModeLine "768x576"     63.07  768  800  960 1024   576  578  590  616
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "device1"
    VendorName "Intel Corporation"
    BoardName "Intel 845"
    Driver "i810"
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen1"
    Device "device1"
    Monitor "monitor1"
    DefaultColorDepth 8
   
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 8
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
   
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 15
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
   
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 16
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
   
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "layout1"
    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
    Screen "screen1"
EndSection

This is driving me mad. Thanks for your help
Avatar of Zakabog
Zakabog

Section "Files"
   FontPath "unix/:-1"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
   AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse doesn't work
EndSection

Section "Module"
   Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
   Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
   Load "extmod"
   Load "type1"
   Load "freetype"
   Load "glx" # 3D layer
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier "Keyboard1"
   Driver "Keyboard"
   Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
   Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
   Option "XkbOptions" ""
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier "Mouse1"
   Driver "mouse"
   Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
   Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
   Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier "monitor1"
   VendorName "Generic"
   ModelName "Flat Panel 1024x768"
   HorizSync 30-60
   VertRefresh 45-65
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier "device1"
   VendorName "Intel Corporation"
   BoardName "Intel 845"
   Driver "i810"
   Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "screen1"
   Device "device1"
   Monitor "monitor1"
   DefaultColorDepth 16
   
   Subsection "Display"
       Depth 16
       Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
   EndSubsection
   
   Subsection "Display"
       Depth 24
       Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
   EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
   Identifier "layout1"
   InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
   InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
   Screen "screen1"
EndSection






That should work just fine, if you need more help feel free to contact me through e-mail, <##e-mail address removed by majorwoo, EE Page Editor##> or AIM MyBumSmellsNice, I don't really care about the points I just love helping people setup X.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Gns
Gns

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Cause I've setup alot of X Configs, people can never seem to find anything when you ask them, so instead of asking him to find some line and change it I gave him a file to copy and paste, and I took out some pretty useless stuff.
I beg to differ. With a little help, in my experience most people are very ready to take valid instructions, enlarging their understanding of possible problems, tools to resolv them etc. Since you only change nonessential things, and recommended a set of erroneous (and also very probably irrelevantly so) refresh rates, you could have given them, and the tip to use XFDrake to set a "custom" entry in a short and easily read comment. But that is neither here nor there. It's a matter of personal style and preference, I'd imagine.

We'll see what results yougocrazy reaches.

-- Glenn
Avatar of yugocrazy

ASKER

Thanks both of you for your answers, but both unfortunately don't help as after large amounts of time playing around with the config, i've discovered this is not the main problem at all. The refresh rates are fine, it is the video buffer assigned to the graphics part of the board. This defaults at 1mb which is way too low to cope with anything. Unfortunately dell doesn't believe in letting you change this setting in the bios so now need to find another computer that can. Thanks both though for your help.
There's a way to change that with X, don't remember how but you can post that as a new question.
That doesn't sound right. 845 graphics should  be "low budget 3D", and you can hardly do 2D with 1Mib, with any sort of colour depth/relsolution worth mentioning.
There often is a BIOS switch to choose ... say 16 or 32 Mib, but since I'm unfamiliar with dells more recent offerings, I can't say if there is (I'm sure you are correct that there isn't, yougocrazy:-).
So where did you get the 1Mib from yougocrazy? It might be a case of "memory missdetection", in which case a VideoRam option in the Device section would help.... Ah yes, the VidoeRam entry is the method you were looking for Zakabog, at least according to the man-page (man i810).
So something like:

Section "Device"
   Identifier "device1"
   VendorName "Intel Corporation"
   BoardName "Intel 845"
   Driver "i810"
   VideoRam 8192
   Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Would yield 8 Mib RAM allocated as graphics memory.

-- Glenn
I had the same problem as yougocrazy. (Same MoBo&OS).
The problem was the size of the Video Frame Buffer.
By default is i845G/GL VFB size 1MB, but you can change
it in BIOS to 8MB. You don't have to change Video Mem
size.(default is 64MB. 32MB is also OK)
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