Today I went to my uncles house and hooked my rig to his monitor, the problem is, when I boot into Linux (Red Hat 9.1) it goes black. How can I fix this? It works fine in XP (running a dual boot config)
The monitor is a CTX (not sure of the model, its a 17in, older one)
My usual monitor is a 17in AOC 7GIr.

Thanx for your time.


Stealth -

Do you login in graphical or text mode? Well, you could either try pressing simultaneously ctrl and alt and "+" or "-" (in you numeric pad). It should switch between different resolutions. I believe you get a black screen because or either the resolution is to high to the monitor or the v/h sync.

Another thing you could try is to go into /etc/X11 and edit the XF86config. There you have monitor properties. Switch for a generic standard one (as 640x480 or 800x600) and see what happens... that's all I can think about

Older one, as in VGA?

Your Xf86config is probably using refreshrates or colors that are outside of what the monitor can do. I would suggest making an alternate XF86config file that uses minimal colors and very low refreshrates (unless you know the specific refreshrates that the monitor uses) and that should be fine. Keep your existing XF86config so that you can switch back to it later.

slight

Oh yeah, if you're unsure about the monitor type and other stuff, when you boot in Winslow eXPeriment, try going to control panel and display properties to find out which monitor you have, then use those values in /etc/X11 as I said above

Its not that old. The res is probably too high. I have it set at 1280x1024 in Linux, this monitor maxes out at 1152x864 @ 60hz I think that might be my problem. let me try an reboot once.



Stealth -

OK... jeez... I need to start hitting refresh before I post.

slight

heheh I think it's cool slightcrazed, at least we have a confirmation that we are on spot

Ok, the ctrl+alt "-" didn't work. I either must not be doing this right or something.
How do I go into the setup and set up this monitor? I'm new to this part, I can screw around in Linux, but the command line leaves me a bit boggled. Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated!


Stealth -

I think the command in Redhat is 'xf86config'. That will walk you through building an xf86config file. You should do this as root. The process will ask you about what mouse/keyboard combo you have, and what kind of graphics card and monitor. Pretty self explanitory.

Here's a thought, when does the monitor go blank? Can you see the BIOS load up and the dmsg? Does it only go blank when X tries to start?

slight

I see all the loading and everything, it's just when it loads the GUI that it goes blank. I can get into Red Hat, but, I am doing it all blind


Stealth -

When it goes blank, try doing a ctrl+alt+f1 and see if you can get to a command line.

From their you can edit the xf86config file.

slight

Excuse me for being slow today...Been a long day, but anyway, how do I edit the xf86config? I get to the comand line, and I enter in my username an password, and I can't seem to do anything past that.
Wait, do I enter root as my username, and then my root pw? then type in xf86config just like that, or redhat-config-xfree86? whew*

Anyway, let me know. Thanx


Stealth -

Ok, got into the Root, I can't seem to be able to get any further.
/etc/x11 does not work, (it says something about it not being a directory) nor xf86config. I tried redhat-config-xfree86 but then I got the black screen again. argh...getting a little frustrated. :/ Can someone give me some step by step instructions (also, what parameters(sp?) to type in) on how to do this. So far, nuthing has really worked.

Yes.... when you get to the login prompt, enter root as the user and then root's pw. Then you can just do xf86config and it will walk you through making a new xf86config file. First though, you'll want to back up your old copy. Do and that will make a backup copy in root's home directory. Then you can do and walk through the steps to make a new file. At the end you will be prompted where to save the xf86config file. Leave as default, then once you are done you can restart and it 'should' let you go to a graphical login, provided that the values you set in the file will match what your dad's monitor can handle. If something goes wrong, then login as root again and copy your backup back to /etc/X11/XF86Config and all should be back to the way it was.

Cool? Cool.

slight

Thanx. If I remember right, when i typed in xf86config it didn't work. Will try again though, hell, what have I got to loose


Stealth -