Screen and sound issues in Etch

Dutch Master · 03-22-2007, 09:05 PM

Well, I finally bit the bullet and upgraded my desktop to Etch. Simply change all references in the sources.list file from Sarge to Etch and away we go! Well, not far... The upgrade went relatively easy, but it's aftermath was a mess. I ended up re-installing cleanly from a cdrom.

However, now I have issues I didn't have on Sarge.

a) When installing the nVidia driver the screen is shaky. If I run the nvidia-settings command (as root!) I can change the refresh frequency from auto to 70 Hz (I'm on a LCD monitor) and the screen is stable. Then I save that config to the Xorg config file and all looks fine. At the next reboot, the shaking starts again... For some reason Xorg doesn't parse it's config file properly. How do I solve this? Currently I'm using the nv driver after running "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg", but I want Google Earth to run and that requires 3D stuff the open nVidia driver doesn't have.

b) After some time the screen is turned off by some 'energy saving' stuff. It does so after a while of inactivity, but that includes watching a dvd! I removed all ACPI and APM packages, except cpufreqd and powermgmt-base, the latter requiring the removal of all things Gnome! Yes, I know there are several tools regarding powermanagement, but they don't work...

c) When I close an KDE app, it launches Knotify but it never pops up. It keeps the cursor spinning for a while then disappears. Well, I don't want it launched in the first place! Where can I find that? Note that I'm using Gnome, not KDE.

Xorg.conf:

Code:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder3)  Mon Feb 26 23:39:38 PST 2007

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath         "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "NEC LCD1501"
    HorizSync       31.0 - 60.0
    VertRefresh     55.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce FX 5200"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Videocard0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "metamodes" "1024x768_70 +0+0; 1024x768 +0+0; 800x600 +0+0; 640x480 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Any suggestions?

o2bfishn · 03-23-2007, 12:34 AM

cant help with 2 and 3 but for the first one when i installed etch i also installed the nvidia-glx-legacy package (i have an older nvidia card). it installed some other packages, one being a kernel package. i changed my xorg.conf file and rebooted (remembering to choose the new kernel that was installed) and everything worked fine. if you have a newer one (video card) install nvidia-glx package. it will add what it needs. i am pretty sure i did not install anything else, but im not at that box right now so cant say for sure. i know i did not run dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg. thats because i used the gui debian installer with kde.

rickh · 03-23-2007, 12:55 AM

I've never had to mess with Nvidia, but I've got a new motherboard waiting, so I soon will.

Did you use the Nvidia installer. I've always heard that's a disaster. Here's the Debian way. Maybe there'll be something to help you out.

I think you want the acpi and apm stuff. You may be able to tweak powersave settings in the Screensaver settings.

I can't believe your're having so much trouble with Etch. It's always just worked for me; although I certainly don't recommend an upgrade rather than a fresh install. Somehow tho, all my experience so far is with ATI video.

Dutch Master · 03-23-2007, 08:38 AM

@o2bfishn: I tried the nVidia packages before I re-installed but I can't remember booting into that kernel.

@rickh: thx for the link, I'll look into the Debian method. I must say that I've used the nVidia installer before and after some tweaking with the nvidia-settings app it usually works. But somehow it fails this time.. Anyway, I'm going to trace down the powersave config files and edit them by hand.

BillyGalbreath · 03-23-2007, 04:52 PM

I didnt erad everything, but problem B is probably a BIOS issue. My notebook's screen would always blank out after 10 minutes, no matter what settings I used. Turned out it was a BIOS setting - I turned it off and now Debian takes full control over it.

Dutch Master · 03-23-2007, 07:02 PM

If it was a BIOS setting I would have the same problems when I had Sarge running on the same machine. It didn't... :P But thx for your interest!

Dutch Master · 03-31-2007, 10:14 AM

Update:

I re-installed Etch and managed to get a 2.6.20.4 kernel working. After that I installed the nVidia driver, started a GUI and ran the nvidia-settings command. That took care of the shaking screen and now GoogleEarth is running as it did under Sarge.

Unfortunately the issues with Knotify and the powersaving stuff shutting down my screen aren't solved yet, but that will come (hopefully...)

Dutch Master · 05-12-2007, 06:39 PM

Well, 6 weeks on and still no luck on the powersave stuff, nor KNotify

Kerneldrivers in abundance, but no config-files...

*&%#@#$%@@$#$# Why couldn't they keep that acpi garbage out of the dependencies of Gnome

Removing the remaining libs (libapm1 and powermngr-base) also removes, by inherited dependency of a dependent dependency the gnome-core package...

DAMNED I just want to watch a DVD in full screen w/o the need for moving the cursor every 3 mins, is that to much to ask?

acerimusdux · 05-13-2007, 08:56 AM

I think the power management is controlled by xscreensaver. You can adjust the settings there.

Dutch Master · 05-13-2007, 09:18 AM

xscreensaver is not installed on my system... Neither is any other screensaver-related package.

farslayer · 05-13-2007, 09:38 PM

A. Are the screen refresh rates in your xorg.conf correct ?
the values are really low and a very small range..

Unfortunately NEC seems to think these values should be kept secret as they aren't in the manual or on their website.. grrrrr.

B.) Screen power saving features

Code:

Option         "DPMS"

http://linuxreviews.org/howtos/power/xorg_dpms/

http://www.linuxcommand.org/man_pages/xset1.html
xset -dpms The -dpms option disables DPMS (Energy Star) features.

See section 2.4
http://elibrary.fultus.com/technical.../powersav.html

c.) dunno

Dutch Master · 05-14-2007, 03:47 PM

@farslayer: thx, I'll look into it. The screen is an LCD device and works fine now.