Members, an answer please...

As you might have read in my posts, I had an old PC (with an olde SiS AGP graphics card) with a modern LG LCD monitor - and have had a lot of trouble with Linux distros because of that. If I could actually load a distro, it would only show a basic display. [Mageia-5 was a brilliant exception.]

Now something has happened.

In the last few days I managed to get two other multi-installed distros (Korora and Antix - both with only a basic display resolution) to recognize the 4 built-in video modes. Xrandr showed I was running at 1280x1024 resolution. However the new problem (on each) was that the full desktop was HUGE, and I was only able to see on-screen (and access) the top left quadrant - on both distros.

Yesterday - after lots of questions here and there, and considerable effort at the console - I managed to get a useful xorg.conf file set up which gave me very good resolutions, although there still seemed to be some issues remaining. [Just as explanation: I found one game that still ran at the massive-desktop scale. Some window titles exhibited larger fonts. And so on.] I was intending to work further on that problem. However, today the monitor wouldn't power up. It's dead! Very odd. I just get a solution to the resolutions then there's dissolution of the resolution. Is that strange - or just a coincidence?

Anyway, I replaced the old monitor with an Acer LCD and booted up Mageia-5. It came up straight away - even hi-res. No problems. [Methinks Mageia-5 amazing!]

So I try to boot into Antix. Blank. Well not totally blank - a message-box from the monitor floats around the screen: "Input not supported".

So I try to boot into Korora. Blank. Well not totally blank - a message-box from the monitor floats around the screen: "Input not supported".

I removed the xorg.conf's. Same deal.

O-OH! I worry that (somehow) my Mageia-5 setup may now be compromised. I re-boot Mageia-5. Nup! Works great!

So, what is going on? Why can I simply change a monitor and boot Mageia-5, but Antix and Korora just won't display?

[If you are going to respond, understand this is not a "flame" thing. I want to know what linux procedure is typically used to install a replacement, alternate monitor into an existing distro system (eg. Antix, Korora, etc.). CLI? ".img"? Something else?]

Regards,
aka boombaby

I guess the first thing that I would be doing is taking a look at the output of /var/log/Xorg.0.log of the various distributions that you are testing out here, and see what the differences are between the ones that don't work and the one that does work.

There are probably some error or informational messages in the ones that don't work that will point you towards the solution.

In addition, taking a look at the differences between the /etc/X11/xorg.conf files of the various distributions should help a bit.

"Input not supported". to me usually means that video card is out of it's range.

You have to boot with command line edits to help. With that old sis you may have to just run vesa mode.


In some cases the monitor might syc up if you unplug monitor while booting for a bit or just after you boot.

Sometimes you can use a kvm switch that inputs a faux signal on boot then move back to the monitor.

I doubt he has to run vesa mode with an SiS AGP card. With a PCI card I could see that, but AGP was advanced enough that the chipset should provide something a bit better than just VESA.

Hello, Wells and jefro (et al)...

1.
The real question is the procedure to replace a monitor (or any STD plugged-in device/card) with alternate one. Hmmm?

[jefro, things that I have learnt tell me I mustn't unplug the monitor while it is ON - not good, electronically. That might be the case for the card too. So I'm not prepared to do that right now. No offence is meant.]

.
Anyone have a procedure for exchanging a monitor (or other required device) to an alternate one? If plug-n-play is supposed to work, this time it didn't (except in Mageia-5). Remember, IF I was on a single-distro and re-attaching another monitor there would be no screen to work with. So what would I do then to get a different monitor installed, and the distro back again?


2.
As far as the other things go (and there might be "relevance")...

For a long time now (think "months", "years") I have not been able to find the driver (with distro support) for the SiS-6326 card [EXCEPT Mageia-5]. So I, as a Pnewbie (Post-Newbie; silent "n"; copyright waived), finally reverted to my first attempt at configuring the xorg.conf file - and I used the vesa driver for that. [Tip: Whenever I've tried VESA in distros I have ALWAYS had trouble/failure. For instance, in TahrPup-6 (ie Puppy Linux 6 "Tahr") - which has a brilliant video setup mechanism (GUI & CLI) - whenever I chose VESA as the driver for the SiS card the display crashed - ALWAYS! Thus, I had been reluctant to even mention the word VESA.] After "advice" from Fedora Forum (ie for Korora) I finally reverted to setting that up myself - ie customize vesa myself. [N.B. I am still happy with that "advice".]

By following the "manual" I was clear in my head that I got things right, and I got "hi-res" working on Antix, then Korora. In fact, the Xorg.0.log showed both my video card specs AND monitor EDID were read.

< There is a proviso here because something odd happened later. In GUI I changed the res to 800x600 and got (almost) the whole desktop back in view as hi-res, yet xrandr still showed the 4 built-in modes - with main display on 1280x1024. [Now that is unusual to ME, but maybe not to YOU (the "advanced" Reader) because you know something I don't. However it seemed odd (ie TO ME).] >

Then, next morn, dead monitor - no start. Hmmm. Strange. Of course, the supplementary question is:- "Is THAT an amazing coincidence (and my lack-of-faith-in-vesa unjustified), or can "vesa" (somehow) kill a modern monitor)?" [There is no finger-pointing here - I just want to know if it is safe to attempt that again, or not?)]


Regards,
aka boombaby

I meant to unplug the AC power not the monitor connector din connector. Turning off modern monitors do not remove power to the circuits inside. So to be more exact. When you do power down systems to replace parts, you always remove any and all AC power from all connected peripherals.

I have replaced maybe 1000 monitors in my life. At first it was quite an ordeal. Modern systems are just replace with a monitor that can replicate the old standards used usually. Not all new monitors report to video card correctly especially with linux. Some newer displays are kind of complex again with windows and advanced drivers.


Vesa is a tried and true solution and almost every video card made in the last 20 years fully supports it. In fact on some systems the quality and speed are better.

Hello, Any...

On the SiS-6326 card see the following...

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...34#post5541334


On the Monitor...

So, jefro, I have to replace the monitor. How does linux "know" what's there? Do I have to manually edit the xorg.conf file from "brand X" to "brand Y", or what? Is there a proper procedure?


Regards,
aka boombaby

I haven't fooled with x config in a long time but at one time you used to have to go through a huge list of questions and a warning about burning up a video card or monitor. In fact there was a warning on that programs about it. XConfigure or configX or some program like that was used to make your file. Then you now throw in KMS and it makes things difficult.
However maybe we ought to go back to the other thread.

In it you said that this exact graphic card used to work like a charm. Now that you have replaced the monitor due to unknown reasons then you don't seem to be able to get anything to work. At this point I can't fully say what is going on. I'd try some of the old Knoppix cd's myself. Maybe 3.4. See if that works as expected.

If you can Cntrl+Alt+F# to a console. You could set the DISPLAY variable and run xrandr there for the screens that are blank. If it's out of range or an unsupported mode you can change it with xrandr on the console and Cntrl+Alt+F7 to get back to the gui, which is hopefully usable. One way to recover when things went unexpectedly. Assuming that X hasn't crashed and rendered your input devices offline. If your capslock key toggles a light on the keyboard, that's one way to check if it's still responsive.

$ export DISPLAY=:0
$ xrandr
$ xrandr --output VGA-0 --mode 1280x1024 --panning 1280x1024 --primary

(or other options depending on what you want)

Many distros will default to VESA when an unfamiliar GPU is at play. Which tends to max out at a 1024x768 resolution. You can work around that by manually doing a modprobe of the kernel module / driver for it before starting X. Or restart X after that change. And probably a dozen other ways as long as the needed parts are available.

# apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-all
(for .deb based distros)

I had the AGP SiS 6326 when it was new, (paired with an AMD K6-2 350Mhz) back in the day, and suggest it was the worst combo ever in hardware.

There are 16 "basic" modes which all video cards (with the exception of the SiS 6326) supply, and nearly all distros use them. You need text mode for an install, and a kernel build with the graphics driver. It was still in 3.19.0-rc6 as CONFIG_DRM_SIS and you need AGP support also.

Hello,

I want to thank the Forum Members in this thread who chimed in to help with my problems.

When I started this I was panicked about the dead monitor, but also referenced the graphics card/driver problems.

The thread headed towards solving the graphics problem. Thanks.

The problem got solved, so I wrapped it up in the "other" thread about it, because THAT'S where it "fits" best (ie under subject "graphics", not "monitor").

So, for your benefit, and to round-up this thread, and for what it's worth, here is the outcome...

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...rd-4175579128/

Thanks again.
aka boombaby