I seem to be having some problems with the screen resolution. I believe everything has been entered correctly but when I try to use any resolution other than 800x600 the resolution displays, but then also displays a copy towards the right of the screen.

To better explain: When I'm running KDE I will see the trashcan on the upper left of the screen and then again at the upper right.

This seems to happen with every resolution I choose.

Any help with this problem would be appreciated.

Using an ATI card on a Aluminum 1.5GHz Powerbook 15"

Thanks

okay, come on... not one Debian user has encountered this before? I have to imagine it's a pretty common problem.

Does it do this if you use a smaller resolution 640x480 or only larger such as 1024x768 i'm asking becouse I have two old notebooks one with a Neomagic graphics card and one with a trident cyberblade card neather cards will do more than 800x600 if I try to do higher resolution the picture gets like what you described the Neomagic has a reason to have limitations it's a old graphics card but the cyberblade is just a crappy made card. I Would Google for ability of your card and see what its capabilities are. I would think a newer ati card would be able to handle a greater resolution but dont know your modle.
Might also help if you give the modle of your card in your post such as Ati Radeon 8500, Ati Rage, Ati Rage Pro, Etc...
Just my two cents hope it helps.

Card is listed as ATI Mobility Radeon 9700.

It seems to screw up in any resolution other than 800x600

Bonj. are u running Debian Sarge? If so have a look at /etc/X11/XF86Conf-4 if Etch/Sid then at /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Check what display driver-vesa,vga,ati or whatever is used. U cd post the files here and get better help.
If u cd get a hold of Kanotix or Mepis live-cd u cd check that /etc/X11/xorg.x file and use it as reference.

I would post the file up but I can't seem to figure out how to get my thumbdrive to be recognized, but that's a problem for another time. I would just copy+paste but the laptop with Linux on it currently has no internet connection and won't for about another week.

First, yes I'm using Sarge.

And here is the info from XF86Conf-4

Section "Device"
Driver "ati"
Option "UseFBDev" "true"

Section "Monitor"
HorizSync 30-68
VertRefresh 50-85
Option "DPMS"

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

Subsection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

Subsection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"


Left out some things like the identifiers...
Wow, would be nice if I could just use my thumbdrive

Bonj. Thanx for the XF86Conf-4. Googling ATI Mobility 9700 on debian Sarge got many leads. 1st suggestion is to redo install with linux26 kernel and w/o framebuffer, then try radeon(instead of ati) driver for decent 2D display;after install search this forum for fglrx(for 3D) setup. (Alternatively u can apt-get install kernel-image-2.6.8-686 if using 2.4.x kernel.)
In addition lookup that powerbk 15" display Hz and VRefresh capacity to fine tune XF86Conf-4.
Good luck.

Hi there,

I'm also having problems with screen resolution.

I installed Debian sarge on a box with an ATI Rage Pro MX440 card (I think... don't have my notes in front of me - but it's definitely an ATI card). I have a DELL 15" LCD; the specs say the max physical resolution is 1024x768.

I installed Debian twice and got different results. Both times I selected the "Advanced" monitor setup. I correctly entered the horiz. and vert. refresh according to the LCD manual specs.

During both installs I selected "ati" from the X-window server selection menu. The first time I elected to run at 1024x768 resolution. But I never got prompted for the screen resolution during the second install. And, I ended up with a 800x600 resolution!!!

I don't know if this problem is peculiar to the X server selection process or something else. But I'm having similar problems with inconsistent installation menus in other parts of the base-config specification. For example, during my second install, I never saw the keyboard selection menu either.

Oh, yeah, I tried a third time and selected "autodetect". This did not correctly detect either my DELL LCD monitor, my Microsoft wheel mouse (PS/2 compatible) or my keyboad.

Any help is appreciated....

I used to have that ati rage pro card and just got lcd monitor. U have safety of 800x600 desktop with ati driver. U can try radeon driver and make sure dri module is uncommented in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4. Look up that card because if recent enuf u can use fglrx module for 3D. ati or radeon driver--one will work better for u if u have correct Hz and Vert Refresh rates. Also Adding VideoRam in kb line under ati driver line may help. Good luck.
Also if u get kanotix live-cd u can use its XF86Config-4 settings.

Well, I just did a re-install and still get only 800x600 resolution on my 1024x768 LCD.

I checked my notes at home. My video card is a ATI Rage Pro Turbo AGP RGPRO 49802 with Intel 440BX PII 4e chip set.

I selected "ati" during the install per the specs I looked up the video card specs table on linux.com (see this URL):
http://www.linux.com/howtos/Hardware-HOWTO/video.shtml

My XF86Config-4 file shows "dri" is uncommented in the "Modules" section.

Here is the part that really puzzles me. When I run base-config as part of a brand new install from scratch, I am prompted to choose either "Medium" or "Advanced" mode for video specification.

If I select "Medium" I am prompted for screen resolution. But if I select "Advanced" I am not prompted for resolution.... I'm only prompted for horizontal and vertical refresh rates. But no resolution! Why?

How can I play with this base-config program so I can try different configurations?

I posted another thread tonight asking how to rerun the base-config installation program to let me get access to the screens that prompt for video card information. I can't figure out how to get to that point once the base system is installed.

Any ideas on how to do this or how to get around it by editing the XF86Config-4 file? What other video card types should I try? My card is not a Radeon but is it "safe" to try that without hosing any hardware?

I ask only because running xvidtune gives all kinds of warnings about possibly ruining hardware with the wrong settings.

Many thanks.

rhimbo I saw u got dpkg reconfig...command.Use that or pick medium if u run base-config(type base-config at cli-no re-install)) again. Ati driver and dri uncommented are good (at bottom of /etc/X11/XF86config-4 shd see "DRI"-Mode 0666 too) .
Review post-install config at top of LQ debian forum. There are many tips there. Sorry for the irritations.