Hello,
this is only the second problem I've had where in over a year where I've not found a solution on the web.

I've grown tired of Madrake 9.2, finding it next to impossible to compile from source code, especially with complex things like upgrading to kde 3.3 and kernel 2.6.x. So I tried out Fedora Core 3, which has so far been great except for one major problem. Right from the word 'go', as soon as I started installing from the 4 Discs, the screen has intermittently flickered. Every couple of minutes there will be either faint horizontal flickers on the screen, for no apparent reason, and it's now started going quite mad, so that the whole screen will jump about, making it impossible to read. Turning the monitor off then on again fixes the problem, until the next bout of flickers.

I'm using a Rock Xeno-M laptop, and as far as I can tell (not too sure how I find out), I have an integrated graphics chip, SIS 650. I also think that I'm using XFree86, though am not really sure what that means!

Please do help me; I'm on the virge of giving up on linux altogether, which would be very sad!

Many thanks,
Kit

I'm using a Rock Xeno-M laptop, and as far as I can tell (not too sure how I find out), I have an integrated graphics chip, SIS 650. I also think that I'm using XFree86, though am not really sure what that means!

Yes Mandrake does use Xfree86. That refers to the X environment.
X is the graphic server.

Your configuration file for X is at /etc/X11/xf86config or /etc/X11/xf86config-4

I assume that you don't have the correct driver installed for your display or you have a low refresh rate specified. You need to find out the display type if you can.

You can run a X config tool from Konsole or shell by typing
xf86config
That will allow you to configure your display, mouse, keyboard manually for X.
You can get a graphic config tool by typing in konsole while in X
xf86cfg

I haven't had a CRT or LCD display that Fedora would not handle yet. Maybe your config is wrong.

I would back up any config file to a safe place first before altering it in case you mess it up.

If Fedora does not come with the diplay driver that you need then you will have to google for it. You can also search on here for past answers.
Good Luck, I would not give up, sometimes Linux makes you struggle a little.

Hi, thanks for your help so far.

I've already had a good look through google, and found nothing to help me. I've also set up my display settings as best I could (although those shortcuts, e.g. xf86config, weren't available, and I couldn't find a config file where you specified).

Fedora comes with a driver for my card (SIS 650), which is seems to have recognised. I tried a generic VGA driver and it wouldn't even work.

Funilly enough, I changed the refresh rate from 70 HZ (with the major flickering problem) to 60 Hz, and it seems to be working better. Any ideas on why that is? However, there are still occasional 'fuzzy lines' that appear on the screen, so it's readable but still quite annoying. Would getting a new driver help? That would seem odd as the current one (SIS 650) seems to be doing a half-decent job.

Many thanks, and I will keep pusuing linux. It can be frustrating but very rewarding!

Kit