Hard drive just cashed - trying to recover - if not a new one on is in order. As it's a SCSI it will take a week or so to replace, and would therefore appreciate your help when I get back up and running again. thks.

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies Inc ATI Default Card"
# added radeon driver, # out vesa
Driver "radeon"
# Driver "vesa"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "DELL E198WFP"
Option "DPMS"
#added horizsync and vertrefresh
HorizSync 24-92
VertRefresh 50-70
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ATI Technologies Inc ATI Default Card"
Monitor "DELL E198WFP"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
# added 1440x900 and deleted all depths except for 24
Modes "1440x900" "1440x1440" "1280x1024" "1152x864" "$ EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
EndSection


Here's a copy of xorg.conf, before I try and run it, as usually this cashes Xserver and I'll only be able to use the terminal.
I'll run this and let you know.

Xserver cashed with an Error message (EE) No devices detected

All I can see is that the Display SubSection has an extra "$ before the end. It needs to look like this:

I removed a few other things too--for simplicity. I would also modify the "Device section like so:

I don't know if this will make a difference--I'm just trying to eliminate variables.

Finally, after doing all this and trying again, please post the full error messages. You can find these at the end of the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log


PS: You can also try xorgconfig. (In a terminal, as root)

Two more cents. Try commenting out sync lines, this will force Xorg to use DDC.

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "DELL E198WFP"
Option "DPMS"
#added horizsync and vertrefresh
# HorizSync 24-92
# VertRefresh 50-70
EndSection

I tried adding and deleting these two lines HorizSync and VertRefresh and has no effect at all on the performance. The only item that has an effect is the driver selection. If I try anything else, "ati, radeon, fglrx" other than "vesa" the Xserver crashes on start up and I have to use the terminal.

Using anything other than "vesa" as the driver crashes Xserver on start up and I have to use the terminal.

Back to basics again.
In terminal mode, how do read the '/var/log/Xorg.0.log' file as if I enter 'ls /var/log/Xorg.0.log' I just return back the command prompt?

Additionally, basics again, how do I in terminal mode, capture the contents of these file and post their contents?

steve;

Since you obviously are motivated to conquer this new beast, take the time to learn the basic terminal commands. I gave you a few teasers in an earlier post but now it's time for a book. I recommend "Linux in Nutshell" from O'Reilly, and "BASH Guide for Beginners" by Machtelt Garrels. (free at http://tldp.org)

To read the contents of a file, there is the "more" command---and of course the "nano" editor (Which you already used to change a file---n'est-ce pas?)

In your particular situation, you might benefit from one of the distros that sets things up more automatically than does Debian. consider trying Ubuntu, Fedora, or OpenSUSE.

Whatever you do, stay with it. In the long run, you will be the winner.

Thanks - I have to learn, and have got numerous books and stuff off the web already and will get the ones recommended.

I did get the fglrx driver loaded after doing searches on the debian site and setting up a new ftp server in the sources file to load updates, so I'm getting there.

I going to do some more web searches for similar problems to mine to see if there's anything else we should be doing, when I did look yesterday, there seems to be something in adding the "modeline" line in 'xorg.conf' that we tried earlier.

Also I noticed that running 'lspci -nn|grep VGA' it comes back with 'VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device [1002:94c4]' so not sure if this has a bearing on my problem or not.

I also may try Ubuntu on this PC as i have it on several others. I try it just to see what the differences are.

As I've got several PC's to play with and learn, I can easily change distro's without upsetting anything.

Good Luck!!!

This does not pose any problem, lspci uses it's own database and yours is out of date. Try to run update-pciids.

Hey Steve, you are doing good!