The Problem:
I have RedHat Linux 7.2 installed on a HP Pavilion xh575 laptop which has a Trident cyberbladeXPm videocard.

Posting this question eariler this year resulted in a post instructing me to do the following (Paraphased)


During install select the Trident cyber 9525 (not the one labeled trident cyberbladeXP)
At the end of install select text login
select 1024x768x16bit

Log in as Root
edit /etc/lilo.conf and add line vga=791
reboot

Login as root
edit /etc/x11/XF86Config-4
go down to "device" section
add ChipSet "cyberbladeXPm"

save file

type startx


I have done all of these things and startx results in a nice white screen and nothing else can be done expect reboot.

I have constant access to the shell (or whatever mimics DOS). What can I do to correct the problem? As I really want to learn Linux, and actually make use of everything.

Has Trident released a Linux driver that I just don't know about?

Secondary Problem:
Lilo did not pick up my Windows XP partition is there a way I can mannually edit lilo.conf to see my XP so I can boot XP? Is there a way I can make XP default boot if no selection is made after like 10 seconds?

Read this, espacially the buttom part http://xfree86.org/4.2.0/Status33.html#33
you need to upgrade to XFree86 4.2.0
Regarding your second quesion, search here on forums for dual boot issues, the question like this was asked more than a couple of times,
Cheers

Firstly, you have stated that your instructions were to reboot after editing the lilo.conf file. This is correct, however, you also need to run /sbin/lilo in order to effect the changes... then reboot. So, edit, run, reboot.

As for adding XP to your Lilo... some say that it is better to use the NT loader that XP gives you, but I'm not too sure! Basically, all you need to do is find out which partition your XP is on (will normally be /dev/hda1) and then add an entry to your lilo.conf file telling it where to look.

To find out where Windows is, issue fdisk -l as root and note which is the first Windows partition. Add this to your lilo.conf file:

other=/dev/hda1
label=Windows
table=/dev/hda

Then re-run lilo to effect the changes, and reboot.. Obviously change the /dev/hda1 and /dev/hda parts to suit your setup.

Hope this helps, but Neo is right, searching the forums can often answer a problem.

To have xp as the default, look for the line in lilo.conf that has default= and change what is after the ' = ' to xp or whatever you labeled it. In Thymox's example, he labeled it ' Windows '. If the default= line isn't there, just add it.

To have it default to xp in 10 seconds, look for the line that has timeout= in it and change the number after the ' = ' to 100. If the timeout= isn't there, just add it.

Ok guys, thanks for the help..

I downloaded Redhat 7.3 and installed it. Same problem. However during the install I actually read the lilo config and it allowed me to set up LILO as a dual boot (yippie!!). So I have one problem solved.. However I still only have access to BASH (?).


My guess is now that my Laptop's screen is not set up correctly (or something similar). As XFree 4.2 supports my card, then the problem exists when X tried to send a signal to my LCD screen. So.. The real question is.. How do I manually set up my screen? Where do I get this information? etc. etc.

Once again.. Thank you for your help..