Hi All,

Hope someone can help. I am trying to solve an issue with a user who is trying to instal Fedora 6 on a Dell Optiplex 745, when they do so they get no GUI at all, only a command prompt.

I have advised the user to try manually installing the ATi drivers to see if this resolves the issue but if not, is there some way that we can tell Fedora to ignore the ATi card and use the built in video card? Fedora runs fine when using the onboard video.

The user is dual booting between Fedora 6 and Windows XP, they want to use the card in XP but are happy to use the built in video for Fedora if its an option that is open to us.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Just a set of clarifications to assist with what exactly is the error


1) can you get the user to run level 3 without any issues (have them change their /etc/inittab file to reflect runlevel 3)

id:3:initdefault:


2) If they can get into runlevel three and login then are you asking for Linux assistance in getting the ATI card to work vs the onboard. If so post the errors you get when you run 'startx' (also anything of note in /var/log/messages)


3) ATI lists the adapter as supported
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/l...ux-radeon.html
I would set a baseline that the adapter is working in basic mode and use a generic VESA frame buffer driver and see if you can get it to get low rez 2D working.

Log in as root at the command line and bring up /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Locate the "device" section and replace the driver (probably "ati") with "vesa".
Then locate the "monitor" section and verify whether the vertRefresh and HorizSync are in range, i.e. not higher than the monitor can actually support (this information is monitor specific and should be available from the manual or the internet).

Save and quit:
Ctrl + O
Enter
Ctrl + X

Then do:
startx

You should be able to get into the GUI at this stage. Remember that you are now using the "vesa" driver which is so universal that it produces universally poor results. Install the ati driver by setting up the livna repository. For information on doing this, search google for stanton finley's installation notes for Fedora Core 5. Before you install the driver, however, I recommend that you first do a system upgrade: many packages have seen updates in the meantime, including the kernel. Considering that the driver needs to be reinstalled after each kernel update, you will save time by sticking to the vesa driver until you have a fully updated system.

Hi All,

Many thanks for the replies. I shall give this a try and update you next week.

Thanks

I am still having trouble, maybe its because im an idiot with terminal (primarly because I've never used it before, and I just started to use linux last week). I am also running a dell optiplex 745, intel core 2 duo, 2 gigs of ram, ati x1300. Ultimatly, I want to run the "desktop effects" and I need a basic walk though as if I was installing everything from scratch, minus the "system updates". Thanks!

I thought I replied to this a while ago, my apologies. In the end the user decided to not try the steps and just use the onboard Video. Thank you for your help.

Im not an expert but I doubt you will get desktop effects runnign well with that card if it can'r even display a simple GUI but hopefully one of the other more advanced users will be able to advise if it's something thats within your technical ability.

It might be an idea t rey the wiki for help.