Resolution issues - Dell D620 Intel 945 chipset
 

Hello!! First time poster, and somewhat of a new guy at Linux. I just loaded Fedora Core 6 on my D620 Dell Latitude laptop. Everything is great, and I am using it regularly, however, it will not recognize the native resolution of my laptop's LCD (1280x800). It defaults to 1024x768. It is an Intel 945 chipset. The 1024x768 is useable, but since it is a wide screen display, it appears distorted.

My other hardware is working fine. I have updated my BIOS, and verified the BIOS shows the proper default resolution. Also, the laptop is dual booted with windows, and windows sees the proper hardware and resolution.

I read an article where someone obtained the right resolution by starting the Linux installer with an argument containing the resolution. I would like to get this resolved without re-installing Linux, if possible.

Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

to get native resolution out of the the intel 945 chip you need to install the 915resolution package. have a look at this post:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=504839

Once the package is installed just reboot and it should automatically set your res to 1280x800

Well we are closer, but not there. I updated my yum and installed the 915resolution package. If I go to System -> Administration -> Desktop it shows the proper video card and I can choose from various resolutions (one of which is 1280x800). However, once I choose a new resolution, it tells me my xorg.conf has been edited, and says I must restart X. So I reboot the PC, and it is back to the old resolution.

try this
 

as root do
then change your Modes settings in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file so that it only contains "1280x800"

I'm on ubuntu on a macbook with the intel chip. My /etc/X11/xorg.conf looks like this:

This may not be directly applicable to your setup, but give it a try. If it doesn't work, or your xserver wont start when you reboot just do this in a root terminal:

then reboot and you'll be back where you started

Well, thanks for the input, but I am afraid I did not make any progress. If I set the only resolution mode to 1280x800 the system still loads 1024x768. Here is my current xorg.conf file. I really appreciate all of your help.

# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Synaptics" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
Option "LeftEdge" "120"
Option "RightEdge" "830"
Option "TopEdge" "120"
Option "BottomEdge" "650"
Option "FingerLow" "14"
Option "FingerHigh" "15"
Option "MaxTapMove" "110"
Option "VertScrollDelta" "20"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "20"
Option "MinSpeed" "0.3"
Option "MaxSpeed" "0.75"
Option "SHMConfig" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
Identifier "Monitor0"
ModelName "LCD Panel 1280x800"
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
### HorizSync 31.5 - 90.0
### VertRefresh 59.9 - 60.1
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "i810"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection

have a look at the xserver log /var/log/Xorg.0.log

there might be some clues as the why you're not getting 1280x800

see if

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep EE

returns anything

Thanks for the info. Below is the result of the command.

[root@pc2rw16b1 dking]# cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep EE
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER

no errors...
 

You don't seem to be getting any errors when you start up.

as root do:
this will give the available modes for your chip.
You can also try editing the /etc/default/915resolution file so that it has XRESO=1280 YRESO=800

I am not sure if this will work. After doing some googling this appears to be an issue with whether the 915resolution package (really it just patches the bios modelines) thinks it is needed for your chip.

This just keeps getting more and more weird. According to package manager, I have 915resolution installed. However, if I run the "915resolution -l" command as root, it says command not found. Also, under /etc/default there is no 915resolution file. Also, if I open file explorer and search the file system for 915 it returns no results. So, I removed it from package manager, and installed it again using "yum install -y 915resolution". Still, there is no 915resolution folders, files, or commands.

as root do

updatedb

then after it's finished do

locate 915resolution

that should return something

Thanks so much for your help. This is the result of those commands:

[root@pc2rw16b1 sbin]# locate 915resolution
/usr/sbin/915resolution
/usr/share/doc/915resolution-0.5.2
/usr/share/doc/915resolution-0.5.2/LICENSE.txt
/usr/share/doc/915resolution-0.5.2/README.fedora
/usr/share/doc/915resolution-0.5.2/README.txt
/usr/share/doc/915resolution-0.5.2/changes.log
/usr/share/doc/915resolution-0.5.2/chipset_info.txt
/usr/share/doc/915resolution-0.5.2/dump_bios
/var/cache/yum/atrpms/headers/915resolution-0.5.2-5.fc6.at.i386.hdr
[root@pc2rw16b1 sbin]#

OK, I got around that last issue, here is the result of the 915resolution -L command. It is interesting it does not show a 1280 x 800, which is the native resolution of the display (and what Windows runs as).

[root@pc2rw16b1 ~]# 915resolution -l
Intel 800/900 Series VBIOS Hack : version 0.5.2

Chipset: 945GM
BIOS: TYPE 1
Mode Table Offset: $C0000 + $269
Mode Table Entries: 36

Mode 30 : 640x480, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 32 : 800x600, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 34 : 1024x768, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 38 : 1280x1024, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 3a : 1600x1200, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 3c : 1920x1440, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 41 : 640x480, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 43 : 800x600, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 45 : 1024x768, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 49 : 1280x1024, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 4b : 1600x1200, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 4d : 1920x1440, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 50 : 640x480, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 52 : 800x600, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 54 : 1024x768, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 58 : 1280x1024, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 5a : 1600x1200, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 5c : 1920x1440, 32 bits/pixel

OK I think we are close, I modified 915 resolution to display 1280 x 800 using the following command:

915resolution 38 1280 800

This put 1280 x 800 on the list. I then added 1280x800 to the modes under display in my xorg.conf. I understand now I need to put 915 resolution in the startup so it starts before X. How do I do that?

SO CLOSE!!!! I have the resolution on my screen right now!!! If I run the above command, then log out of X and back in, it puts the resolution at the right place. BUt as soon as I reboot it is back to the wrong resolution. So if I can just get it in my startup I am golden!!

Every time you reboot, you have to run 915resolution before GUI loads. If you have a file named /etc/rc.local, /etc/local.rc, /etc/conf.d/local.start, or other similar files, place /usr/sbin/915resolution and with its option to change the video BIOS. I suggest changing mode 38, 49, 58.

You do not need to reboot Linux for a setting to take effect. You just need to log out and hit CTL+ALT+BKSPC to restart the GUI. It will then use the new settings.

The easiest is to use whereis if you trying to find a command. Updating locate takes a long time.

Information about Intel graphics 915 and up:
In order to use a custom resolution that these chips do not come from the factory (Intel), you will have to use some utility to reprogram the video BIOS in order to get the custom resolution to work. This utility is named 915resolution. The utility needs to be loaded before GUI is loaded or else factory set resolutions will be used. Depending on the distribution, it may have created a service script in /etc/init.d, so you can load it up as a service upon boot up. If it does not, you have to find the file that your distribution use to load during boot up after all scripts are run. Blame Intel for this mess.