I am new to the linux thing and am trying to get it to work on my system. I have a Dell with a flat screen monitor. After installing and booting up for the first time, the screen goes black and I get the following message on the screen:
Cannot Display This Video Mode

I rebooted in failsafe mode to try to run sax2 and it came up on the screen but then froze. It does this every time I try...
Any ideas??

Which monitor is it? Was it listed during the install? Also what video card are you using/did you select? SUSE is pretty bullet-proof with monitors and such, so there shouldn't be a problem. However, YMMV if you have a really fancy monitor/video card which is really new.

You could always drop out of the GUI mode by pressing the key combo CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE. Once there, you can enter init 3 as root and run SaX2.

I have a Dell E173FP flat panel monitor with a radeon X600 video card. I tried reinstalling and made sure that the correct models were listed. Still get the same thing. I'm not sure I'll ever get this thing working....

Hi snarvey, it seems that your problem is related with the configuration of your monitor. so you need to know the following specs: vertical and horizontal frequencies and display size. Look in the manuals of your monitor or you can google to find out.

Also, you have an ATI graphic driver, that means that if you want to use it with 3D acceleration you need the proprietary driver. Since this will complicate more your problem, you can delay this after you have X running. Then, you can use the "radeon" driver, in case this doesn't work, you can always use the generic driver "vesa".

From your post it's clear that sax2 is not going to help you do this task (This problem with sax2 is very common, I hope that it's fixed in SuSE 10.1). So you need to edit manually the X configuration file.

Don't worry, this is not difficult. You just have to follow these instructions:

1. Boot in failsafe mode, you must be in a console terminal. Log in as root:
2. First you have to do a backup of the configuration file, type:
3. You need to use a text editor to edit the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf, you can use vim:
4. In the console you'll see the start of this file, you can use the up and down arrow to move. The next step is finding the Monitor Section, just press the down arrow until you see something like this:
When you find this Section, it's time to change the specifications of your monitor. Type "i", in the bottom line you'll see the text INSERT, this means that now you can edit the file. Move with the arrows, use the Delete buttom to erase what you think is wrong. Put the correct values, please note the spaces.

5. Once you think this Section is correct, you need to find the Driver Section, you have to scroll down a little bit more until you see this section:
As you can see, I'm using the "fglrx" driver, this is the propietary driver that you may install after. For now, you have to make sure that you are using the "radeon" driver. Again change it carefully.

6. Once done this, you have to save the file. First press "Esc", and then press ":wq", please note that this command will appear at the bottom line. Then press Enter.

7. There you have your new xorg.conf file, ready to be used. Logout as root, and then log in as a normal user. Then type in the command line:
8. Hopefully, you'll go straight to KDE...

In case you still have problems. Try to use the generic driver "vesa" instead of the "radeon" driver. You have to edit again the xorg.conf file.

In case you can't start X. Please post the errors in the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log:

.

Hi victorh,
I think I got the driver installed, but the xstart command won't work. I get messages such as:


----------------------------------------------------------
/usr/X11R6/bin/startx: line 235: cannot create temp file for here document: Input/output error
/usr/X11R6/bin/startx: line 245: xauth: command not found

Fatal server error:
Could not create lock file in /tmp/.tX0-lock

giving up.
xinit: Connection refused (errno 111): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.
/usr/X11R6/bin/startx: line 271: xauth: command not found.
--------------------------------------------------------


this doesnt seem like an error with the video card
maybe something wrong with the X server?

It seeems that you have started X as root and the /tmp/.tx0-lock file is still there and owned by root. Then you want to start X as a normal user but you couldn't because you can't write to this file.

Do a reboot and try again. This time as a normal user.

ok, i rebooted and logged in as a normal user this time, but still the same messages. Just for kicks, i tried to create a dummy file in the /tmp directory, but it game me "Input/output error"
Any idea what might be the problem here?
Thanks for your help, victorh

Hi snarvey, the problem may be caused by wrong permissions in /tmp.

You can review the permissions in the /tmp directory, type:
they should look like these:
If you want to change the permissions, type the following as root:
Also, make sure the ownership and group membership is correct, otherwhise reset them with:

OK, I tried all that checking permissions for the dir, and they all seem to be correct, and I am still getting the errors, Any other ideas?