I have 2 problems that I know of. First when Xserver was working it would not go above 800x600. well, I put that error on hold and tried to get sound to work.(I'm new to debian) so I read a few posts that said something about alsa. i apt-get'ed it. then rebooted. now xserver won't start. I tried to reconfig it using the dpgk-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 and that goes successfully. but when i reboot it still brings up an error and won't start up my much desired GUI.

please tell me what info i need to give to be of help to my rescue team. Thanks ahead of time guys.

Can you post the /var/log/XFree86.0.log file and the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file you are using. You will most likely have to split the log file into two parts to port it. Some information on the sound and video card as well as your monitor would be nice to have.

ok, while i wait for that computer(the one with the debian problem) to reboot into windows so i can access the logs i copied over to the fat32 shared drive, here are some specs.
my motherboard has a built in sound system. i have an ABIT IC7 mother board. but i also have a PCI sound card(cuz i couldn't get the MOBO one to work with windows a while back) it's a CT4810( Creative Tech. i'm really sure ) . and the moniter is a Daewoo LCD F227B.
www.datuspc.com/F227B-Manual.pdf ( this has the specs for the moniter; resolutions on page 10 )
the video card is a Nvidia Geforce4 Ti 4600.

I just 2 days ago installed debian, so I have almost no problem formatting debian off, then back on if it must come to that.

Here is one of the files:::


# XF86Config-4 (XFree86 X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the XF86Config-4 manual page.
# (Type "man XF86Config-4" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xfree86 package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xfree86
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following commands as root:
#
# cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.custom
# md5sum /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 > /var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum
# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86
Section "Files"
FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server
# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection
Section "Module"
# Load "GLcore"
Load "bitmap"
Load "dbe"
Load "ddc"
# Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "record"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
HorizSync 31-80
VertRefresh 56-75
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Generic Video Card"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "Generic Mouse"
EndSection
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

welcome to the penguin...
we also need /var/log/XFree86.0.log

(II) Loading font Type1
(II) Loading font CID
(II) LoadModule: "vbe"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libvbe.a
(II) Module vbe: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
compiled for 4.3.0.1, module version = 1.1.0
ABI class: XFree86 Video Driver, version 0.6
(II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o
(II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.4620
Module class: XFree86 Video Driver
(II) LoadModule: "mouse"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/input/mouse_drv.o
(II) Module mouse: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
compiled for 4.3.0.1, module version = 1.0.0
Module class: XFree86 XInput Driver
ABI class: XFree86 XInput driver, version 0.4
(II) NVIDIA XFree86 Driver 1.0-4620 Mon Sep 29 08:56:31 PDT 2003
(II) NVIDIA Unified Driver for all NVIDIA GPUs
(II) Primary Device is: PCI 01:00:0
(--) Assigning device section with no busID to primary device
(--) Chipset NVIDIA GPU found
(II) resource ranges after xf86ClaimFixedResources() call:

(II) Setting vga for screen 0.
(II) Loading sub module "vgahw"
(II) LoadModule: "vgahw"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libvgahw.a
(II) Module vgahw: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
compiled for 4.3.0.1, module version = 0.1.0
ABI class: XFree86 Video Driver, version 0.6
(**) NVIDIA(0): Depth 24, (--) framebuffer bpp 32
(==) NVIDIA(0): RGB weight 888
(==) NVIDIA(0): Default visual is TrueColor
(==) NVIDIA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
(--) NVIDIA(0): Linear framebuffer at 0xE8000000
(--) NVIDIA(0): MMIO registers at 0xF8000000
(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module!
(EE) NVIDIA(0): *** Aborting ***
(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
(II) UnloadModule: "vgahw"
(II) Unloading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libvgahw.a
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

When reporting a problem related to a server crash, please send
the full server output, not just the last messages.
This can be found in the log file "/var/log/XFree86.0.log".
Please report problems to submit@bugs.debian.org.

there was a lot of stuff above it, but i didn't see anything that looked important. and there was a lot of hex stuff between those two posts. tell me if you need either.

hmm... i just saw the Nvidia kernel driver error.... The windows training in me says to remove then reinstall the Nvidia kernel module. any for's or na's?

oh, some other helpful stuff. Debian kernel 2.6.7.

reinstall the nvidia driver. log into a virtual console (CTRL-ALT-F1) as root and do

I would agree with both you and zero79 re-install the nvidia drivers especially if you upgraded the kernel to get the 2.6.7 the driver have to be recompiled everytime you upgrade it. And you may have to use kdm, xdm or wdm in the line zero79 recommends depending on which of those window managers you are using. For the sound make sure that you have installed the packages alsa-base and alsa-utils then run the alsaconf and it should detect your sound card and setup it up and as nornal user make sure you run the alsamixer in a console window as normal user to have the default levels set on both the Master and PCM volumes you should put them at about 75% for both of them. For the screen resolution issue you need to edit the XF86Config-4 file and the line you have in the screen section for the 24 bit depth you want to add "1240x1024" to the start of the line so it ends up looking like this.

Then logout and restart the X server.

i used that Nvidia installer script that was suggested in one of the other threads. the unofficial installer. and it was working until I tried to install and set up alsa. alsa says it doesn't detect a sound card. and, when gdm tries to start now, i see the nvidia splash screen then the xserver dies.

try running the commands i enumerated above anyway. the nvidia kernel may need to be recompiled (that's what the nvidia-installer does) now that alsa is installed. try it and let us know if that fails.

and follow happytux's post about adding more screen resolutions.

do "su -c lsmod" and post the output here.

follow happytux's suggestions about alsa.

Don't forget the --purge option when removing the alsa (apt-get --purge remove package1 package2) to get rid of the configuration files before you reinstall and what packages are you trying to install when you get the alsa. Can we see the output of the lspci -v to see how the system is detecting the sound card.