24" ASUS-VK246 screen is still blurry running CentOS 4
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24" ASUS-VK246 screen is still blurry running CentOS 4
I'm having a screen resolution problem and have surfed the web for three days trying to solve it. Maybe it is easily solved, but I really feel like I've bashed my head against the wall and am ready to give up.
I installed Linux (Centos 4) and I'm using a 24" wide monitor that can handle 1920x1080 screen resolution. The monitor is manufactured by ASUS, model VK246. I believe the video card is nvidia, as indicated by lspci (shown below). Changing things in the Applications, Display GUI doesn't seem to have any effect, even after rebooting (or logging out and logging back in).
I tried to edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file in order to change the screen resolution and the horizontal refresh rat (upper range was at 67.0 now at 75, according to the specs from the monitor manufacturer). Here's the relevant bits of the xorg.conf file as it stands now:
Thanks. I tried changing the config file to list just the correct Mode. Then I shut down the whole system and restarted. Before finishing the restart, after attempting to start x, the screen showed a blue-error reporting that it could not read the config file. After proceeding through two windows it asked whether I wanted to start in default mode. I did, and now I am back to where I started. I will try and find out how to attach the screen shot I took (I'm new to Linux). The screen is blurry in the same way any screen is blurry when the computer tries to project the wrong screen resolution for the resolution of the monitor. I know that this particular monitor can be much crisper because the machine is a dual boot machine that can boot in Windows. In Windows the screen is crisp and lovely. Thanks for any further insight.
Distribution: ArchLinux / Source Mage GNU Linux (test branch) / openSUSE
Posts: 130
Rep:
I presumed you were new to Linux. Which is perfectly fine
The so called SAFE-MODE uses Vesa (generic driver). That's why your screen looks awful.
Once you get it to work you'll see it looks even better -sometimes- than Windows stuff.
That's my experience with an nvidia card.
Now, take another look at your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and change your whole screen section to:
(eliminating modes so the hardware handler guesses for you)
If it doesn't work: Make sure you have a backup of the original file and try doing: nvidia-xconfig as root which is to say, log as root or use
Code:
sudo nvidia-xconfig
It will override your defaults and accommodate to your actual settings.
I can't give you extensive help right now but count on me for solving your problem. Let's walk through.
PS:// If you get tired of Centos try better distros like OpenSUSE. Cheers.
Thanks for all the help! I haven't had a chance to look into resolving this problem on th 24" monitor because I've since become preoccupied with trying to use the advice you have all provided into resolving the same issue on my T61 Lenovo laptop.
The monitor is also blurry and I can't change the xorg.conf file without it crashing. The monitor is supposed to handle 1440x900 screen resolution, and I can change that in the xorg.conf file but it doesn't seem to change the actual resolution that the monitor displays. The xorg.conf file (that is currently working, but blurry) is given below. Any help on this monitor issue would also be really appreciated. Is it possible that the laptop just can't support the better resolution? I tried changing the xorg.conf screen settings to:
# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Distribution: ArchLinux / Source Mage GNU Linux (test branch) / openSUSE
Posts: 130
Rep:
Don't get anxious, you know that will make everything look worse.
Take a deep breath an check what you are doing:
Code:
Driver "vesa"
Should be
Code:
Driver "nvidia"
Your monitor is looking worse because you have VESA as driver (do remember it is the generic one, it does not even support hardware acceleration nor wide-screen)
Your problem is not fully solvable with J.W. advice. EDIT: It is not about generic monitor modelines but the ones working for the intended resolution.
Use my working config as an example (see link above) and use the program pointed there to guess your specific monitor "modelines" for your specific resolution in the "new" format.
By the way, are you starting by means of xinit? If not it will be a little problematic reading your error logs. Anyway, you can always access them in /var/log/Xorg.0.log and see what is going wrong.
"Quite a lot of work and Linux experience is required to get the Lenovo Thinkpad T61 working with Linux. Definitely not a install and use laptop but you can get everything working with a bit of work. Update: Ubuntu 7.10 and more than likely other recently released distributions now include good support for this laptop. The sound and wireless work without extra configuration."
That is just a cosmetic change. Not big deal.
Please tell me whether you are using startx for starting the server... It is not just that the server fails. You need to look at the terminal output or /var/log/Xorg.0.log instead to know for certain what is going wrong.
ok...
so the
/var/log/Xorg.0.log
is really big. Would it be safe to save this log file as Xorg.0.log_Dec05, then remove the Xorg.0.log, then change the xorg.conf file back to the one that causes the startx to crash, then retrieve the new Xorg.0.log file? (just so that the log file contains just the stuff that is relevant to this episode?)
Distribution: ArchLinux / Source Mage GNU Linux (test branch) / openSUSE
Posts: 130
Rep:
Quote:
Originally Posted by bevil
ok...
so the
/var/log/Xorg.0.log
is really big. Would it be safe to save this log file as Xorg.0.log_Dec05, then remove the Xorg.0.log, then change the xorg.conf file back to the one that causes the startx to crash, then retrieve the new Xorg.0.log file? (just so that the log file contains just the stuff that is relevant to this episode?)
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