Can not pick opitmal Resolution for Xwindows
 

I'm running Gnome on Xwindows.
Apple 15" AV monitor
NVidia GeForce4 4600

I am unable to switch to higher resolution than 800 x 600. This does not cut it.
I've run xf86config as root. choosing the appropriate info and then rebooting. Yet gnome's 'Screen Resolution' app under desktop preferences still only lists 640 X 480 and 800 x 600.

What am I doing wrong? Is the 'screen resolution' app simple not giving all the options? should I be using something else? does xf86config not write to the correct file location by default (and for that matter where is the correct place for the config file on debian; is this a debian specific place or is it the same on all distros)?

full of questions.


Steve

the xserver tries to use the highest resolution possible automatically on startup. Something isn't configured correctly or it would give you more resolution options than what you are seeing. I had the same problem with mine running KDE, but turns out it was a problem with the video driver the xserver was trying to use. NVidia cards take a little more work to get them working optimally. Following the instructions below is how I got mine working...

http://home.comcast.net/~andrex/Debian-nVidia/

Also be sure you have the right settings for horizontal and vertical sync range.

Poke around in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4. You could try adding the resolutions manually if the config programs don't do it for you. Might hurt your monitor, but I doubt it. However, you've been warned... Here's what my "Screen" section of XF86Config-4 is like, if you want to see it:


Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Generic Video Card"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection


Good luck.

-E

I also forgot to say it uses the highest possible resolution from the available resolutions you have configured. If you have told xconfig to use higher resolutions and it doesn't display them as an option then it could be the video driver.