x starting only when monitor plugged on X.org 1.3.0.0. Was working with X6.9.0
 

Hi,

I have a Latitude C400 laptop with integrated i830M graphics chipset. I had previous working slackware-current (over 10.2 I think) install using X6.9.

I recently upgraded to slackware-current which now use X.org 1.3.0.0 and this strange problem started to happen. If I start X I get a "No valid modes" error in Xorg.0.log. If I plug a monitor to the back of the laptop, X starts without any error and everything works fine on the plugged monitor. It freezes if I try to switch to the laptop lcd with Fn-F7.

What is strange is that I use a (what I thought correctly modified) xorg.conf generated by gentoo livecd 2007.0 with which I can get X.org 1.3.0.0 to work perfectly out of the box :eek: Modelines/HorizSync/VertRefresh should thus work, although I feel like they are at fault. The xorg.conf generated by slackware is not working and using the older xorg.conf from my previous slackware install doesn't work either :(

Any ideas ? I will post my xorg.conf/Xorg.0.log/etc if needed.

Thanks.

what does your xorg.conf video section look like? maybe the listed resolutions aren't supported by your laptop screen? (maybe) or color depth? i've had issues with that before.

sure, here are the (i think) relevant sections in xorg.conf. I'm sure my laptop takes 1024x768 with depth 24, it's what I used before.

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.Org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "PS/2 Mouse" "AlwaysCore"
InputDevice "USB Mouse" "AlwaysCore"
InputDevice "Synaptics" "AlwaysCore"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
HorizSync 31.5 - 90.0
VertRefresh 40.0 - 150.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "i810"
VendorName "All"
BoardName "All"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultColorDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Instead of this:

Try some lower numbers:

or something like that.

unfortunately it doesn't work. As I said, it works with gentoo livecd 2007.0 which uses the same X.org 1.3.0.0 and their monitor section is

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
HorizSync 28.0 - 96.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 75.0
EndSection

Everything else (except for font paths and all) is the same.

did you try using that part of the config for slack?
is lsmod showing the correct mod for your vid card and is that being used in the xorg.conf driver section?

I did try those setting (and a lot more, some extremely conservatives) for Monitor0 but to no avail. Xorg.0.log correctly reports that it found a i830M chipset.

Also, in Xorg.0.log there is those 4 lines
(II) intel(0): Output VGA using monitor section Monitor0
(II) intel(0): I2C bus "CRTDDC_A" initialized.
(II) intel(0): Output TMDS has no monitor section
(II) intel(0): I2C bus "DVODDC_D" initialized.

Which for me looks like it only detects the VGA head and not the laptop screen. Maybe it could explain why it only works when a monitor is plugged at the back of my laptop. When it tries to detect available modes from Monitor0, it works flawlessly on my crt when plugged but it gets nothing in the other case (monitor unplugged) and bails out with a

(II) intel(0): I2C bus "DVOI2C_E" removed.
(II) intel(0): I2C bus "DVOI2C_E" initialized.
(EE) intel(0): Unable to read from DVOI2C_E Slave 236.
(II) intel(0): I2C bus "DVOI2C_E" removed.
(II) intel(0): I2C bus "DVODDC_D" removed.
(II) intel(0): Output VGA disconnected
(II) intel(0): EDID for output VGA
(II) intel(0): Output VGA disconnected
(EE) intel(0): No valid modes.
...unloading some modules...
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

go figure... :scratch:

Also, I'm currently using an older slackware-current with X 6.9.0 with the exact same xorg.conf and it works flawlessly. It's driving me nuts.

Could it simply be a faulty i810 driver for X.org 1.3.0.0 in slackware-current ?

It might be. If it works fine in everything but that ... then I think it's quite possible.

Try instead of i810. And just below that, try adding a line and/or With those, try changing the HorizSync and VertRefresh values.

It's telling you that you failed to supply a monitor section in your xorg.conf for your second monitor.

What I did is have Xorg generate its conf file: "Xorg -configure".

same problem with a sony laptop, same graphic chipset.
i tried everything but the last hint...
so it may be a bug, no ?

however, did you managed having an usable desktop manager without an other screen or a downgrade ?

regards,
Tonus.

I tried everything in that thread and much more. Still not working so I downgraded to X11R6.9 and somehow managed to get a working slackware-current (but still partial since without x.org 1.3.0.0). I don't really know but I think it most certainly is a bug in this particular version used by slackware-current (for now). I'm waiting for the next update in slackware/x.

I reiterate also that the same x.org 1.3.0.0 from gentoo livecd works without problem, autodetection included, on my laptop.

Bon courage ! :)

So, thank you.
I think I will downgrade soon, it's a bit hard to deal with forums
forums using lynx and I wonder how to detect the /x renew...
Is there already a related bugtrack ? I found some in Debian
lists but nothing slack-related.

browsing forums and google with lynx/links, I sympathize with you my friend.

Unfortunately you're right, I don't know if anyone is doing anything about this. Good luck !

My strategy was simply to install slackware 11 and pay careful attention to slackware/slackware-current/CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT (in your favorite slack-current mirror) in order to update mostly everything except /x and have a working, relative slack-current.

Although I'm not yet convinced of my ad-hoc strategy, everything seems fine for now :)