Hello all. I recently reinstalled SuSe Linux 10.1. I go into Yast, to change the monitor settings. Yast opens fine. Everything in Yast works fine. But, when I go to hardware, then to monitor/video card, Yast crashes to a black screen with a white dash in the upper left hand of the screen. I have to reboot at this point. In Yast, when I check on the hardware in the computer, it shows me the model of my monitor, so it knows what I have. I just can't go in there to change anything. My resolution is stuck at 1280! Everything is so small, I can barely read anything. I tried using Yast as root, same problem. Is there a way to change the monitor settings some other way, or is there a fix for Yast?

Try running sax2 from command-line. Boot into failsafe or runlevel 3 (type '3' at the grub menu), then login as root and run sax2, reconfigure, test the settings and restart. What graphics card do you use? Maybe it helps to install the drivers (nvidia/ati).

I am using a GeForce FX 5200, with new drivers from Nvidia. In trying to make changes in sax2, this was the response:

linux-o0cc:~ # sax2 -r -m0=fglrx
-b/usr/share/doc/packages/fglrx/sax2-profile
SaX: initializing please wait...
SaX: your current configuration will not be read in

SaX: access to your display has been granted
SaX: ups lost card during probing... abort at /usr/share/sax/init.pl
line 619.
linux-o0cc:~ #

I do believe it is either the card that is the problem, or the driver or how the driver set everything up in the system. There must be a workaround for this problem. I can't keep buying new hardware just to see if something will work with 10.1. I believe the same thing that is making Yast crash when I try to go into 'Video card and monitor', is the same thing that makes sax2 crash as well. It all seems to point to something about the vid card or the vid card software.

Have you tried sax2 -m 0=nvidia ? AFAIK that's the correct driver for your card.

Yes, I tried this in sax2. That and several variations. I am always told the same thing:

SaX: access to your display has been granted
SaX: ups lost card during probing... abort at /usr/share/sax/init.pl
line 619.
linux-o0cc:~ #

I have removed the video card, plugged it back in, making sure all connections are good. I have reinstalled the drivers.... sigh... I am at a losss here.

Do you have a second onboard card?
You can check this with 'sax2 -p'
In this case, it may help to de-activate it in the BIOS.

What does this mean?

linux-o0cc:~ # sax2 -p
Chip: 0 is -> Intel I815 00:02:0 0x8086 0x1132 PCI i810
Chip: 1 is -> NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 01:14:0 0x10de 0x0322 AGP nvidia
linux-o0cc:~ #

That means that you have an Intel I815 chip onboard, which is addressed first. The result was that the drivers you tried (ATI:fglrx, NVIDIA:nvidia) did not work with the intel chip.

Try 'sax2 -m 1=nvidia' or 'sax2 -m 0=i810' or disable the Intel chip in the BIOS.

I tried both, but had the same results. System crash to a black screen with small white dash in upper right of the screen. Turns out that the i810 chipset will autodetect an AGP video card and shut down motherboard video. But, my GeForce FX 5200 is PCI. I have a Netvista A40p, 6841. This system does not seem to use the normal BIOS, but uses a setup program, which is accessed by pushing ctrl-s during boot up. I have accessed BIOS before, but cannot remember how I did it. Hmm.. Anyway, supposedly disabling the PCI parity in the setup utility might help. I will try this now and see what happens.

Well, I accessed BIOS using the F1 key. I went into Advanced Setup, PCI control, and changed the PCI parity to 'disabled'. There were no other options to disable the i810. I then rebooted, went into Linux, reinstalled the video drivers and still, no changes. I then checked sax2 -p and came up with the same response. chip 0 is still the i810 and chip 1 is still the GeForce FX 5200. How can I get rid of the i810, or how can I change chip 0 to the GeForce? I am not sure what to do or how to do it. Maybe make changes to a config file? If so, how to do that?

I don't think you can manipulate the graphics chip detection other than in the BIOS. It's a bit strange that the card is still detected.

Let's try another option: sax2 -m 1=nv
This option uses the dummy nvidia driver without 3D support. Even if the installation of the nvidia driver didn't work, nv should.

And you could remove the NVIDIA card and try again with i810. I know that this isn't what you want, but it may lead us closer to a solution.

A little more drastic would be the re-installation of xorg. In case you installed the ATI driver (just a suspicion, because you used to run sax2 with this module previously), you may have corrupted the xorg settings.

Previously, I was running an AGP card in my motherboard. There were no graphics problems. I changed to the FX 5200/Nvidia due to the graphics needs of AutoCAD 2004 in WinXP Pro. I run a dual boot system. The 5200 is a PCI, which means it will not trigger the i810 to shut down. The i810 only shuts down when an AGP card is present. I found this card online, at TigerDirect.com:

EVGA GeForce FX 5200 / 128MB DDR / AGP 8X / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

This card is an AGP. It is only $34, so the price for my mistake of using a PCI card in the Netvista A40p-6841 is not that bad. I will give this a try. It does make sense now that I looked into it more deeply. If the motherboard wants to use either the i810 onboard/integrated video, or an AGP, then that is what I should probably do. The problems did not start untill I tried to use a PCI video card. So although the BIOS says it is using a PCI, nvidia card and that the integrated video is disabled, the motherboard hardware doesn't seem to support that functionality.
This type of motherboard conflict could be the reason for other people having the same problems. If they have a motherboard with an i810 chipset, then an AGP card is best.

Well, I tinkered with removing the PCI card, making changes in BIOS...sigh... Nothing gets rid of the i810 in the list. With the PCI card removed, the i810 is the only thing listed. With the PCI card, both are listed, no matter how BIOS is set up. It must be the nature of the i810 chipset. No matter what, it is detected, as it performs more than just video. It controls many things on the motherboard. There is no way to shut it down completely. With this in mind, the only other thing to try is to reinstall SuSe 10.1. But! Now, since I upgraded the kernel, I can't use my CD-ROM drive to do a new install. It reads the disk, untill I get to the window that asks me if I want to boot from the HD, or do a new install, then it suddenly decides that it can't read my CD-ROM drive anymore. So, now I can't even do a new install. How on earth do I get rid of the install I have now, so I can install it again?

Weird things happen on your system! I can see why a kernel upgrade affects booting. At that stage, the kernel isn't even loaded and never will be, as the kernel "should" come from the CD. This must be an effect of your BIOS changes. Didn't you play with the PCI settings?

I can boot up the system fine right now. 10.1 loads easily and the graphics work. I just can't get into Yast, Video Card and Monitor, to change anything without crashing Yast. So, I am stuck with one resolution that makes the screen taller than it is wide. Makes circles into ovals. No monitor settings (monitor button controls) change this either.
So basically, when trying to do a new install, it chooses not to read the CD drive past the welcome screen. It loads the kernel, but then doesn't read the drive after that. It says 'can't mount the cd drive'. Which is bull because it had to read the drive to load the welcome screen!
Everything in Yast works, just not the Video Card and Monitor settings, which causes a crash to black screen. Same with Sax2. I think I am just going to give up on 10.1. BUT, how do I uninstall 10.1? The computer won't let me just overwrite it. I want to put in the remastered 10.1, but if it won't let me overwrite the old 10.1, how do I get rid of the old 10.1?