Here is the xvidtune terminal output

root@localhost:~# xvidtune
Vendor: , Model:
Num hsync: 1, Num vsync: 1
hsync range 0: 31.50 - 50.00
vsync range 0: 50.00 - 90.00

I have a NEC MultiSync FE771sb 17" monitor capable of 1280x1024 at 50-66 Hz
horizontal sync range 30kHz to 70kHz
vertical sync range 50Hz to 120Hz

I want to run at 1280x1024, I am at 1024x768, my gui tool for changing resolution under KDE only allows 1024x768

I still can't seem to get thgis printing thing working yet either.

Look for these lines:

and add "1280x1024" in front of the modes like this

Your default color depth is 24 so technically you only need to change that mode, but do it to all of them anyway. For Modes X goes from right to left till it finds a resolution it can use with the monitor connected. My understanding is that if it can not find a valid mode for a particular Depth it goes down the scale of depths running through all listed modes. If it fails to find any valid modes you get the "X could not find a valid screen" stuff when you type startx.

Ok, I inserted the new values into xorg.conf and still only have 1024x768 available. Do I need to manually configure my monitor?

I assume you restarted X? hmm, I would say your refresh rates are too high for 1280x1024 but I don't think they are... What video card are you using?

nvidia geforce 4 mx420 (pny) 64mb

I had the same problem where I only got 1024x768 when I added 1280x1024 to the Mode line.

I had to define the Mode in the monitor section, I believe. I forget the sytax. I found the X.org documentation that some modes are predefinded for VESA, maybe 1280x1024 is not?

I can find out exactly what I did in a few hours when I get home.

Thanks

thank you I look forward to hearing from you

Here are the changes I made to xorg.conf to get X running on my Radeon 9800 Pro vidcard and KDS VS-195 monitor at 1280x1024:

skazi@kl:/etc/X11$ diff xorg.conf xorg.conf-vesa
282,283c282,283
< Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
< Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
---
> Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
>
374,375c374
< # HorizSync 31.5 - 50.0
< HorizSync 28.0 - 96.0
---
> HorizSync 31.5 - 50.0
389,390d387
< # 1280x1024 @ 85Hz (VESA) hsync: 91.1kHz
< ModeLine "1280x1024" 157.5 1280 1344 1504 1728 1024 1025 1028 1072 +hsync +vsync
402,403c399,400
< Driver "radeon"
< VideoRam 131072
---
> Driver "vesa"
> #VideoRam 4096
443c440
< Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
---
> Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
skazi@kl:/etc/X11$

1. Enabled my mouse wheel (not relevent).
2. Upped my HorizSync to 28.0 - 96.0.
3. Added a ModeLine in the Monitor section. According to some web page this was the VESA standard for 1280x1024. YMMV.
4. Changed the driver to radeon, and specified my amount of RAM in the Device section.
5. Added the 1280x1024 mode to my Screen section in the Depth 24 subsection.

I never found these steps documented in LQ, so maybe this is a hack rather than the correct procedure.

Regarding last post:

If I remember correctly, after my install of Slack 10, startx would return to the command line with an error. Switching the driver to radeon fixed that.

The rest of the (relevent) changes were steps I took to get 1280x1024.

Let us know what happens.

I am pretty new at manipulating .config files. If you could give me a little more guidance as to where exactly in the text of the file that information goes I would be very grateful. Thank you very much for helping me out on this.

/etc/X11/xorg.conf has multiple Sections. Like:

Section "Monitor"
<some lines>
End Section

My guess is that you are missing the Modeline in the Monitor section. Try mine. I added the Modeline immediately after the vertsync line.

I believe the Screen section will reference the Monitor section, so make sure you are editing the correct Monitor section.

For getting the changes to take affect, I think you have to restart X. Do you know how to do that? Certainly a reboot will do it, but for me I exit out to the command line and run startx again.

If you're still not getting the resolution, look in /var/log/<some X log> for messages about 1280x1024.

Sorry I can't be more exact, but I'm away from my Linux box until after work again.

Thanks

I am happy to report that I have with the help of mephisto and most recently Skazi solved my resolution problem. I had my sync ranges out of whack. Thank you Skazi for directing me to /var/log where I found the discrepency and thank you mephisto for nailing refresh rates as the core of the problem. You guys rock!

If you guys feel frisky today I will be posting a thread for my LAST PROBLEM. kurtwisener's Printing Woes. Thank you both so much for the help.