Monitor Out of Scan Range after Install

Jitter · Feb 28, 2006, 09:08 PM

Well this was my first attempt at installing Linux. I bought Linux Mag and it a full version of SUSE 10 and Gnome Desktop. I put it on the same HD as my XP pro and I managed not to screw that part up, but when I goto boot into Linux I get an out of scan range on my monitor. When the hardware config came up I changed the monitor from 1280x960 to 1280x1024 (what I use in windows) and for some reason its not working. I can boot into a console version (failsafe version) so I was wondering if there was anyway to change the monitor resolution from there. I am totally new to linux and dont really have a clue what im doing. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Kevin

Edit: I saw this on the net but I couldnt get it to work either. I started in failsafe mode, then it said to type su......Then Login and I typed in sax2......it said it was loading up, but when it finished my monitor was out of range again. Supposedly that was supposed to load some settings I could edit.

big_D · Mar 1, 2006, 08:47 PM

Is this the Sony in your Sig? ATi are dreadful at providing support for their video cards under Linux

My laptop with X700 has a similar problem. The OSS radeon driver does not support the chipset and the screen just goes to sleep.

It sounds like Sax has detected the wrong monitor, or you specified too high a frequency for it. The older 9000 series should work ok with the OSS driver though...

Try running sax2 from the command line with either:

sax2 -l (that is lower case L... This forces it to run at 640x480 and you should then be able to select a monitor and resolution combination that work with your monitor.)

sax2 -r (this should do a reset and make Sax2 re-read the hardware and come up with a suggested configuration)

sax2 --vesa 0:1280x1024@60 (forces Sax2 to use the Vesa mode you specify, change the resolution or the scan rage (@60) to suit your monitor specifications, you should then again, as with the -l above, be able to select a valid monitor combination.)

If sax2 goes into a blank screen or "frequency out of range", do alt+ctrl+backspace to reset the X server, if you are starting Sax2 it should drop you back to the command prompt and if you doing a test after configuring which doesn't seem to work, it should drop you back to the main Sax window.

more on Sax2

I hope that helps you. If you want to look at installing the official ATi drivers, I have written a howto guide on the official openSUSE wiki for the Acer laptop, but the instructions are the same for most ATi cards... Clicky

BTW, if you plan to use Linux on a regular basis, think about swapping an nVidia card, nVidia support all GeForce cards up to and including 7800's in SLI format. ATi support 3D upto the 9000 series, the Xn00 series can, eventually be made to use 2D, but ATi believes their Mobility Xn00 series are incapable of 3D acceleration for some reason, and I think you'll be incredibly lucky if you can find a X1n00 card which even supports 2D

EcPercy · Mar 1, 2006, 08:49 PM

You may want to break out the user manual for the laptop and see what the monitor range is. If you are installing linux on the laptop, it may not be detecting the screen correctly. Once you know the range that the screen supports. Navigate to the following:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

You may want to specify a secondary resolution for Xserver to use if 1280x1024 is not working. In this section you can specify the horizontal and vertical ranges. I am sure that you will need to enter the ranges for your screen, as linux never detects my monitor properly either. Look for this section in the config file:

Code:

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier "monitor1"
	VendorName "Samsung"
	ModelName "Samsung SyncMaster 955DF"
	HorizSync 30-85
	VertRefresh 50-160
	
	# 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"
	Driver "nvidia"
	Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "screen1"
	Device "device1"
	Monitor "monitor1"
	DefaultColorDepth 24
	
	Subsection "Display"
		Depth 8
		Virtual 1024 768
	EndSubsection
	
	Subsection "Display"
		Depth 15
		Virtual 1024 768
	EndSubsection
	
	Subsection "Display"
		Depth 16
		Virtual 1024 768
	EndSubsection
	
	Subsection "Display"
		Depth 24
		Virtual 1024 768
	EndSubsection
EndSection

My xorg.conf file only has one resolution listed, but you can make it look like the following:

Code:

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "screen1"
	Device "device1"
	Monitor "monitor1"
	DefaultColorDepth 24
	
	Subsection "Display"
		Depth 8
		Virtual 1024 768
	EndSubsection
	
	Subsection "Display"
		Depth 15
		Virtual 1024 768
	EndSubsection
	
	Subsection "Display"
		Depth 16
		Virtual 1024 768
	EndSubsection
	
	Subsection "Display"
		Depth 24
		Virtual 1024 768
	EndSubsection

	Subsection "Display"
 		Depth 8
 		Virtual 1280 1024
	EndSubsection

	Subsection "Display"
  		Depth 15
  		Virtual 1280 1024
	EndSubsection

	Subsection "Display"
  		Depth 16
  		Virtual 1280 1024
	EndSubsection

	Subsection "Display"
  		Depth 24
  		Virtual 1280 1024
	EndSubsection
EndSection

Jitter · Mar 2, 2006, 05:25 AM

Thanks, I had gotten it to work before you guys replied. I manually edited the xorg.conf file. The horizontalsync and vetricalrefresh ranges were too high. After I changed that I was able to get my graphical desktop working and decided to try install the ATI linux driver which introduced a new problem. The driver and CP seemed to install correctly, but I had no 3D Acceleration and... In Gnome, I can run the Yast configuration program, and it works except when it comes to the monitor and graphic card. When i click on that section nothing happens. Also I used to have Sax2 listed under one of the drop down menus and it magically dissapeared. Also when i try to run Sax2 from the terminal or if I do a run level 3 boot Sax never opens or does anything, the icon just spins and thats it nothing comes up. I tried uninstalling the ATI driver and that didnt do anything to solve my problem.

I am going to try your suggested Sax commands along w/ checking out the driver install guide. I do not know what my plans for linux are exactly. Right now i just want to tinker w/ it and see how i like it.

Thanks for the help

Kevin

big_D · Mar 2, 2006, 05:37 AM

If the xorg.conf is not configured "correctly" i.e. it works, but the options aren't 100% correctly phrased, then Sax2 will refuse to work - and the video and monitor icon in YaST just kicks off Sax2.

As to the 3D problem, it might be that ATi's drivers just don't support 3D with your model, they don't with mine, I can get 2D, but that's it.

Basically, don't buy ATi for Linux use at the moment until they change their attitude and start supporting their cards properly...

One thing to double check with the xorg.conf is to check that it is using the 'Driver "fglrx"' and not 'Driver "radeon"', the latter is the open source version and doesn't support 3D on most cards AFAIK...