Configuring Videocard and Monitor help

Soothsayer_8 · 09-09-2005, 01:37 PM

Hi Im running slackware 10.1 and cant run "startx" because I think my VGA and/or Monitor settings in "xorg.conf" might be wrong.

I have little documentation on my monitor and havent been able to find any online.

My VGA is an ATI Radeon 9800XT

I was hoping someone could either help me set it up correctly, or give me some advice on a 'safe settings' just so I can get KDE up atall.

Right now, running 'startx' just causes the screen to go black and the system to hang, indefinately. No activity whatsoever...strangely my keyboard also seems to stop functioning, as I cant toggle capslock etc.

I am a Linux newbie totally, any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks,

cb951303 · 09-09-2005, 02:50 PM

run "xorgconfig"

Soothsayer_8 · 09-09-2005, 04:35 PM

yeah thats actually where the problems came from

in running xorgconfig i was forced to enter details I diddnt know, so I guessed assuming that a monitors a monitor, and that things would work, I made educated guessed, knowing my monitor resolutions and frequesncy and so on, but I wasnt certain.

cb951303 · 09-09-2005, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Soothsayer_8
yeah thats actually where the problems came from

in running xorgconfig i was forced to enter details I diddnt know, so I guessed assuming that a monitors a monitor, and that things would work, I made educated guessed, knowing my monitor resolutions and frequesncy and so on, but I wasnt certain.

thats just how we all do it, how the hell should I remember my monitor vertical and horizontal frequencies

?? so I try "xorgconfig" until "startx" works :P

peace

dkpw · 09-09-2005, 07:16 PM

I've just recently gone through this when attaching a new TFT monitor to my previously configured Slack box. I was able to look up the specs of my new monitor on the internet and had these to hand when running through the xorgconfig program.

Even with these details it did take a couple of goes to find a setting that worked. Just take a note of what you enter each time for an elimination process.

Once I had X working, there was still a bit of manual tweaking of /etc/X11/xorg.conf for wheel mice and Nvidia cards to do.

You've also configured your ATI card?

For what it's worth here are the relevant sections from my previous xorg.conf, configured for a rather crummy, low speced Dell 14" monitor. It may get you started. Your Graphics device section will be different as you do not use Nvidia.

Code:

Section "Monitor"

    Identifier  "My Monitor"

# HorizSync is in kHz unless units are specified.
# HorizSync may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY.  REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

    HorizSync   31.5 - 50.0

#    HorizSync	30-64         # multisync
#    HorizSync	31.5, 35.2    # multiple fixed sync frequencies
#    HorizSync	15-25, 30-50  # multiple ranges of sync frequencies

# VertRefresh is in Hz unless units are specified.
# VertRefresh may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY.  REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

    VertRefresh 40-90

EndSection


# **********************************************************************
# Graphics device section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of graphics device sections may be present

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "VESA Framebuffer"
    Driver      "nvidia"
    #VideoRam    4096
    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Screen sections
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of screen sections may be present.  Each describes
# the configuration of a single screen.  A single specific screen section
# may be specified from the X server command line with the "-screen"
# option.
Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen 1"
    Device      "VESA Framebuffer"
    Monitor     "My Monitor"

# If your card can handle it, a higher default color depth (like 24 or 32)
# is highly recommended.

#   DefaultDepth 8
     DefaultDepth 16
#   DefaultDepth 24
#   DefaultDepth 32

# "1024x768" is also a conservative usable default resolution.  If you
# have a better monitor, feel free to try resolutions such as
# "1152x864", "1280x1024", "1600x1200", and "1800x1400" (or whatever your
# card/monitor can produce)

    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       8
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       16
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       32
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection

EndSection

Regards,

dkpw

Soothsayer_8 · 09-10-2005, 02:42 PM

thanks everyone for advice,

dive · 09-10-2005, 03:19 PM

You can also run xorgsetup which tries to configure automatically.
I started with that and then tweaked my xorg.conf afterwards.

Cirilobeto · 09-12-2005, 11:16 AM

i had the same problem too. it was all about trying and testing.

when you startx and it hangs press Ctrl + Alt + Backspace and see if it returns to the boot sequence screen.

then press Ctrl + Alt + F6 to return to console and continue testing configurations. have you tried the VESA Framebuffer instead of the Ati drivers?

also, be sure to look for your monitor in the internet and find the exact values of the Vsync and Hsync, that helped me too.

If you have more experience, you could also recompile a new kernel with your configuration.

these are all the things i did to get my computer up and running.

reply and tell us how you do.