I just installed SUSE 10.1 and didn't test the display. it's out of range and I can't see the screen.

I started in failsafe mode, but not sure how to go about adjusting the refresh rate without being at the KDE desktop, which is what I think is causing the problem.

anyone know how to this from the console/command line?

The first thing to try would be to run sax2. You'll have to change to runlevel 3 to shut down X first. It will probably be easier to do this from one of these terminals - (CTRL-ALT-F2).

This should detect your monitor and set up X accordingly.
If this does not work, you may need to find monitor drivers to provide to sax2.

thanks.
started up in failsafe, logged in as root, ran SAX2, and reset.

crazy though. I had to pick VESA instead of the correct monitor in the list. still didn't have all the refresh freq's. after logging into KDE.

ended up swapping out the video card -- it was onboard Intel, and seems fine now with NVIDIA

Yeah NVIDIA cards with their Linux drivers are about the best all around combination I've found.

As far as having to pick VESA, you'll probably need to look up drivers for the monitor if you want to pick it by name, which will give you the full range of settings. In my experience, the generic settings are usually sufficient for standard desktop work.

yeah, I noticed the other two desktops I'd setup had no trouble at all, even showing several refresh rates and resolutions standard -- both running Nvidia cards

odd thing is, the OS picked up the right monitor. just didn't seem to work properly. the more I think about it, the more I think it had to do with the onboard Intel video adapter/driver. guess I should poke around to see if there's an updated linux driver on their site.

I went to Viewsonic's site though and they don't seem to offer downloadable linux driver support for their monitors.