Display on Dell Inspiron 8600

absolute0net · 08-17-2004, 08:14 AM

I've sifted through the forums and cannot seem to locate (or understand) how to get my display higher than 1024x768. When I had windows running on this laptop, I could get 1600x1200. I d/l nVidia drivers per other forum directives, updates my XF86config files but still have had no luck. Any help would be extremely appreciated.

Here is a copy of my lspci & XF86config

root@localhost:/home/Jay# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 3340 (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 3341 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #1) (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #2) (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #3) (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BAM/CAM PCI Bridge (rev 81)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24cc (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24ca (rev 01)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Audio (rev 01)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Modem (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 0324 (rev a1)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401 100Base-T (rev 01)
02:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments: Unknown device ac44 (rev 02)
02:01.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments: Unknown device 8029
02:03.0 Network controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 1043 (rev 04)
//end lspci

//start XF86config
# File generated by xf86config.

Section "Module"

# This loads the DBE extension module.

Load "dbe" # Double buffer extension

# This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables
# initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module.
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension
EndSubSection

# This loads the font modules
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "speedo"

# This loads the GLX module
Load "glx"

EndSection

Section "Files"

# 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.

RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"

FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic/"

# ModulePath can be used to set a search path for the X server modules.
# The default path is shown here.

# ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"

EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"

# Uncomment this to cause a core dump at the spot where a signal is
# received. This may leave the console in an unusable state, but may
# provide a better stack trace in the core dump to aid in debugging

# Option "NoTrapSignals"

# Uncomment this to disable the <Crtl><Alt><Fn> VT switch sequence
# (where n is 1 through 12). This allows clients to receive these key
# events.

# Option "DontVTSwitch"

# Uncomment this to disable the <Crtl><Alt><BS> server abort sequence
# This allows clients to receive this key event.

# Option "DontZap"

# Uncomment this to disable the <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> mode switching
# sequences. This allows clients to receive these key events.

# Option "DontZoom"

# Uncomment this to disable tuning with the xvidtune client. With
# it the client can still run and fetch card and monitor attributes,
# but it will not be allowed to change them. If it tries it will
# receive a protocol error.

# Option "DisableVidModeExtension"

# Uncomment this to enable the use of a non-local xvidtune client.

# Option "AllowNonLocalXvidtune"

# Uncomment this to disable dynamically modifying the input device
# (mouse and keyboard) settings.

# Option "DisableModInDev"

# Uncomment this to enable the use of a non-local client to
# change the keyboard or mouse settings (currently only xset).

# Option "AllowNonLocalModInDev"

# Set the basic blanking screen saver timeout.

# Option "blank time" "10" # 10 minutes

# Set the DPMS timeouts. These are set here because they are global
# rather than screen-specific. These settings alone don't enable DPMS.
# It is enabled per-screen (or per-monitor), and even then only when
# the driver supports it.

# Option "standby time" "20"
# Option "suspend time" "30"
# Option "off time" "60"

# On some platform the server needs to estimate the sizes of PCI
# memory and pio ranges. This is done by assuming that PCI ranges
# don't overlap. Some broken BIOSes tend to set ranges of inactive
# devices wrong. Here one can adjust how aggressive the assumptions
# should be. Default is 0.

# Option "EstimateSizesAggresively" "0"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "Keyboard"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# Identifier and driver

Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"

Option "Protocol" "Auto"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
# This will turn on the touchpad
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "UsbMouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

# Any number of monitor sections may be present

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "My Monitor"
HorizSync 31.5 - 100
VertRefresh 30-90

EndSection

# Any number of graphics device sections may be present

Section "Device"
Identifier "VESA Framebuffer"
Driver "vesa"
#VideoRam 4096
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "VESA Framebuffer"
Monitor "My Monitor"

# DefaultDepth 8
# DefaultDepth 16
DefaultDepth 24
# DefaultDepth 32

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection

EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"

Identifier "Simple Layout"
Screen "Screen 1"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "UsbMouse" "AlwaysCore"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

hw-tph · 08-17-2004, 12:52 PM

You don't seem to have updated your configuration file. You are still using the vesa driver when the higher resolutions probably are possible only with the nvidia driver. Change this:

Code:

Section "Device"
Identifier "VESA Framebuffer"
Driver "vesa"
#VideoRam 4096
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

to something like this:

Code:

Section "Device"
Identifier "NvidiaCard"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

Also change the references to the "VESA Framebuffer" to "NvidiaCard". You will also have to change the Modes section(s) in order to get 1600x1200 since you haven't got that mode specified at all. Change this:

Code:

 Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
EndSubsection

to this:

Code:

 Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
EndSubsection

Also, you need to load the "nvidia" kernel module before actually starting X. modprobe nvidia should take care of that. For more information, refer to the documentation that comes with the nvidia driver.

Håkan

absolute0net · 08-17-2004, 09:59 PM

Thank you for your response.... Got the Nvidia drivers loaded into the kernel....updated the XF86CONFIG, and I got the Nvidia Logo when I booted X, however, the screen does not appear to have gotten smaller. It still looks like the display is at 1024x768.

I went into tools > peripherals > display....and it showed that the display is in fact 1024x768...which leads me to ask

1) Is 1024x768 the max that this vid card will support
2) why would windows display the same vid card at a higher resolution.

hw-tph · 08-18-2004, 05:21 AM

1) No, it probably supports higher resolution than your screen can manage.
2) Because it is configured correctly while your Linux setup appears not to be.

Check the X log located in /var/log. It's called XFree86.0.log or Xorg.0.log. It contains a lot of useful information, and keep an eye out for lines beginning with (EE) or (WW) indicating errors and warnings, respectively.

Håkan

absolute0net · 08-18-2004, 11:18 AM

These are the only (WW) I see:

(WW) Open APM failed (/dev/apm_bios) (No such device)
and

(WW) NVIDIA(0): Not using mode "576x384":
(WW) NVIDIA(0): horizontal sync start (589) not a multiple of 8
(WW) NVIDIA(0): Not using mode "360x200":
(WW) NVIDIA(0): horizontal sync start (378) not a multiple of 8
(**) NVIDIA(0): Validated modes for display device DFP-0: