Hello, I've been searching the forums trying to find a solution for my problem but got none so far.

First, I need to tell you that my native language is not english, so my syntax might be weird or funny to you, at least I hope you understand me.

Well, the problem, In my new job, they just got all the hardware including some HP 2200 workstation computers, so far so good, the software we work with needs Debian Lenny as the main Operating system (some dependencies they need to fix), we already have debian lenny installed in every computer but there is an issue with the monitors or the video adapter, the computers come with no normal blue VGA port, instead they use a DVI port, the monitors have both VGA and DVI port, the cable comes with VGA in one end, and DVI in the other, we connect to the monitor using the VGA side and to the computer using the DVI side, but when the O.S. (operating system) is starting and is about to show the graphical environment the monitor led goes orange and says Input signal out of range.

The weird thing, what we do to "solve" this and be able to work so far is use a normal video cable with VGA port in both ends and use a converter VGA to DVI to connect to the computer restart the machine wait until login screen shows up and then and only when you have image in the monitor, we switch back to the original cable and everything works perfect. But if we restart the computer that cable wont work again and need to use the other restart, and then switch back.

It is a pain, I mean, the original cable that comes with the monitor obviously work because after computer is restarted using a normal VGA with VGA to DVI converter plugged it shows the login screen and after that we can continue to use the old cable.

The error Input signal out of range I know its telling me that the video card is sending a frequency that monitor cannot handle and ask for a change, but again, why it works after the computer is restarted with another cable?

The xorg.cong under monitor section has nothing defined, I tried forcing frequency using HorizSync and VertRefresh values 40-60 but no luck.

What can i do here?

I hope at least that you understand the problem, and please, go ahead and correct my spelling too if needed

Thank you so much in advanced.

Well it apppears as a "converter" cable from either DVI to VGA or VGA to DVI. Normal cables will have VGA at both ends or DVI at both ends. Maybe the "converter" cable works only in one direction & thats why it is not working in your scenario. You can try a normal VGA-VGA cable or a DVI-DVI cable. That will help you troubleshoot the problem. Try swapping a cable from another system. See if this works.

Usually now-a-days there is no xorg.conf. It is autoconfigured in the X. you can put your .conf files in the /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ directory and they will be configured by X server at startup. You can also disable kernel modsetting (KMS) in boot parameters as "nomodeset" appending in the boot options.

Hi, thanks for your reply.

The cable came with the monitor, one end is DVI and the other is VGA, as i say, it works! but only if you restart the PC using another cable with a converter, after you get to the login screen, I can then switch to the original cable and work normaly.

That's the problem, it works also while booting, but when it reaches the login screen it says input out of range.

You will have to manually enter the HorizSync and VertRefresh - I know you tried that but obviously not in the right place or you didn't get the syntax completely right.
As jedi_sith_fears says, "Usually now-a-days there is no xorg.conf"
This means that if you are lucky everything is configured correctly for you automatically.
Sounds good, doesn't it? The downside is, if it isn't configured correctly (as is the case for you and also was for me with almost all monitors I've used) it is really really hard to fix it. You simply have to write a correct xorg.conf (or the likes in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/).
Sorry, it's called "automation" and it's a gift from the devil himself...

You don't get it, with a normal VGA-VGA using a VGA to DVI converter conected to the computer you restart the computer and works like a charm, in that same session without rebooting or shutting down the pc you switch cables to the original DVI-VGA and still works great, the problem comes when you restart the computer using the DVI-VGA cable as soon as it is about to show the login screen the monitor goes with the input out of range error.

There's gotta be a solution without buying new cables, because as i said it the cable that came with the monitor works, only if you restart using a normal VGA-VGA first.

Something in the original cable tells the operating system to use a non supported refresh rate.

Try booting one of the computers with a live CD like Knoppix (Knoppix seems to excel at getting hardware discovery right). If you are able to use X in Knoppix, find what parameters it uses and copy those to your Debian configuration.
--- rod.

Hi, thanks for your reply, I will try that tomorrow when i get there.

If I manage to get the X file from knoppix I should put it in the folder jedi_sith_fears recommends? (/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/) and name it xorg.conf as usual?

Or do I need to do something else to tell the system to use that config file?

For Debian, that sounds right to me. You still might need to do some tweaking to get the Knoppix config to agree with the existing Debian config.

--- rod.

I`m running knoppix 6.4 right now and sadly I can`t find any xorg.conf file anywhere.

I would be very tempted to just rename the X11 file in Debian to something like X11.def and just transplant the X11 file from knopix and see what happens.

Not very scientific but a lot of FUN and you can always change it back the way it was.

Sorry for much much late reply, I was away a while.

You can find the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ and check whether any *.conf files exists there. They are hardoding the configuration. Everything else is automaticallly handled by X, so there is no xorg.conf file.

Try typing xrandr in console & check whether it is same for both the cables.

Try this:
1] Boot using a cable that allows the monitor to work.

2] Generate an xorg.conf. One way to do this is here Note that if you are running Debian, you'll probably need to use /etc/init.d/gdm stop | start instead of ubuntu's service gdm stop | start

3] Install the "bad" cable and re-start X

4] Let us know if this works.

I think the problem is that with the "bad" cable, the EDID information of the monitor is not being read / cannot be read when X starts. So if the above doesn't work, we'll have to copy your monitor's EDID information to a file, and then tell X to read the information from the file, instead of from the monitor. Then, either cable will work.