1280x800 with Slackware on a Compaq Presario R3210US

Zaulden · 07-28-2005, 02:57 PM

The problem: No matter what settings I tweak, and how many times I try, I cannot get Xwindows to display in 1280x800. It always goes to 1024x768, which is horribly stretched on my laptop's display. Despite this, the Nvidia logo displays before X loads, which I take as a good sign. I've experimented with many different modelines, and they either have only displayed 1024x768, or they have made my screen go blank and not go back to normal until I reboot. Also, I have tried switching resolutions while in Xwindows, and this only causes a blank screen as well, or a screen with weird colored lines (the nvidia driver messed up my console window apparently).

Resources consulted: I have thoroughly tried both approaches to this problem on similiar laptops outlined in these articles - http://web.tagus.ist.utl.pt/~ricardo...tm#Section_III and
http://www1.pacific.edu/~khughes/presario-r3120us/. Also, in another thread, an excellent gentleman who helped me get my wireless card working suggested I try to patch my VBIOS with the 855resolution package. That didn't work - said I had an unrecognized VBIOS.

My setup: I'm using the most recent "nvidia" driver, which I downloaded from nvidia.com, on Slackware 10.1 using the 2.4.29 kernel. Here are the relevent parts of my current xorg.conf file:

Code:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Laptop LCD"
    HorizSync 28.0 - 96.0
    VertRefresh 50 - 86.0
    Modeline "1280x800@70" 101.92 1280 1312 1696 1728 800 816 825 841
End Section

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Nvidia GeForce 420 Go 32 MB"
    Driver "nvidia"
    VideoRam 32768
End Section

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "LCD Screen"
    Device "Nvidia GeForce 420 Go 32 MB"
    Monitor "Laptop LCD"
    DefaultDepth 24

   Subsection "Display" 
       Depth 24
       Modes      "1280x800"
   End Subsection
EndSection

Anybody have an ideas? I really could use them.

tuxdev · 07-28-2005, 04:02 PM

I have found that X more or less ignores the Display subsection and figures out what is the best for your system from the DefaultDepth and the video memory. Also, for readability and to lower the possible confusion level, correct the identifiers.

Zaulden · 07-28-2005, 04:49 PM

Ok, I fixed the device names so it's easier to read. So you think if I list my card's memory under the Device, it'll work maybe?

Zaulden · 07-28-2005, 05:05 PM

Ok, I put my card's memory in, still no go. Still starting X up at 1024x768

egag · 07-28-2005, 05:53 PM

i think you have to fill in :

---------
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x800@70"
End Subsection
----------

egag

Zaulden · 07-28-2005, 09:10 PM

egag:

Tried that just now, too. Didn't work. This is getting quite frustrating. I've been trying off and on to get Slackware installed at the right resolution for a few weeks now.

However, I just got the ISO of the 5.04 Hoary Hedgehog Ubuntu, and holy crap, it detected and installed my 1280x800 resolution on its own! I'm sticking with Ubuntu. Sorry, Slackware folks, but this is really good. The apt-get is sweet, and it works with 1280x800 flawlessly.

Thanks for the help.

Aeiri · 07-28-2005, 10:57 PM

The problem might be the fact that you used a Modeline. On my Dell Inspiron 6000, I have no Modeline for 1280x800, and it runs fine with just:

Quote:

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "VESA Framebuffer"
Monitor "My Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubsection

EndSection