hey all, I have an NEC LCD 1700V. When I go to install Fedora in GUI mode, give me an error "out of range" and then the sync range

I got it installed just fine through the text based install, but when it boots, it tried to go into X, crashed and give me the out of range error again.

How can I get it to boot, at least into a shell (init 3)? and if you can provide the answer, how to get this stupid monitor working!


Any help is as always much appreciated. TIA!

At the bootloader prompt type "linux single" then edit /etc/inittab to set the default runlevel to 3 or, if you're sure you know the monitor specs, edit the VertRefresh and HorizSync lines in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and leave the deafult runlevel at 5.

ya know what? I didn't even think of that! What a knucklehead! I'll try it right now. If it doesn't work, I'll post again. If it does, thanks!

ok edited /etc/inittab to start up. worked fine. I am failry new to fedora, tried running Xconfigurator, but no good. Command not found. I went into my XF86Config file and tried to guess refresh rates, but still not working. Anyone that could advise me on my next step to get X and GUI up and running would be much appreciated. TIA!

A quick google search shows your montor's optimal setting is 1280x1024 @ 60Hz, which is a standard refresh rate. Early models like my NEC LCD 1530V only work right @ 75Hz, which can be a real pain. My guess is it's a problem with the video card and not really an issue with your monitor (though CRTs support wider frequency ranges so are more forgiving.) What kind of video card are you using? Some SiS video cards use non-standard refresh rates for VESA modes. I have to disable framebuffer support when booting up many live CDs on my SiS630, for example.

yea that could be it. I just have whatever POS onboard vid card was supplied with the computer. I'll switch to a CRT and see if it works, if so, I'll probably just use that. I am still curious as to what happened to Xconfigurator in Fedora. I understand it's not included anymore. I tried DLing the RPM and source code for it, but it wouldn't install properly. Just my luck. Does anyone know if there is something that replaced Xconfigurator?

The GUI installer doesn't use X, it uses the framebuffer device. Since you mentioned in your first post you had to do a text install, I'd say the odds are pretty good it's the vid card's fault. Once you get everything setup you can specify a different VESA mode for the bootloader -- it's the VGA= line in LILO, not sure about GRUB. My SiS630 tries to drive the LCD at 87.5Hz in 1024x768 VESA modes but uses 60Hz for 800x600, go figure.

As for setting up X, I usually use Mandrake's Drake X tool which has a database with specs/modelines for all NEC LCD screens, but I think I remember Red Hat has a tool called redhat-config-xfree86 or something similar. You could also try using the command "XFree86 -configure" which creates a file with a .new extension that you can tweak and test with "XFree86 -xf86config XF86Config.new" or maybe "xf86cfg -textmode" will work for you. Pretty sure Xconfigurator was deprecated with the 4.x release of XFree.