Dear Friends,
I'm facing a peculiar problem with my Samsung SyncMaster 793MB monitor on Suse 10.0.
The problem is with my refresh rate. I'm currently using my display at 1280 x 1024 @ 60 Hz, and trust me, this is not a treat for the eyes as the display keeps on flickering slightly.
I've tried my best to increase the refresh rate to 65 Hz (my monitor supports 1280 x 1024 @ 65 Hz), but to no avail.
When I go to the control centre, I don't get 65 Hz as an option, and when I go to the 'configure desktop' option, even then there's no 65 Hz in sight.
Is there a solution?
(I have a dual boot system, and my windows runs on 1152 x 864 smoothly. I also can't use the boring 1024 x 768 option.)
Please help before I go blind! :P
Thank you all in advance...
Cheers.

Anyone? Please?

Have you tried running sax2?

Hi Jay,
Thanks for the reply... but what is sax2? I'm sorry I sound lame, but I'm still new to Linux...

So I assume you haven't installed any video drivers yet? Unless they were installed by Suse, you could well be using a generic driver - that would account more for the poor display quality than the refresh rate if you ask me.

Now, this sax2 is a command that allows you to set up your GPU and monitor. Just type (+enter after each command):
su -
root password
sax2

Then you should be able to do some fine-tuning. When you're done, just reboot and see whether it has helped any.

As it comes out, it was sax2 that I had been trying to use before too.
It displays the same data;
Card: Intel 915G
Monitor: SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 793MB
What do I do next?

As a next option, you could try adjusting the refresh rates manually.

Have a look at the xorg.conf file under /etc/X11 to find out what horizontal and vertical refresh rates are currentlly being used. Compare those with what your monitor actually supports. I suppose you should have 65 vertical. Just edit the xorg.conf file accordingly(but don't set the values too high, or you'll lose your display!) and save it before your reboot.

Hello,
If you have got to sax2 then go to frequencies and confirm that suse got your scan frequencies correct..I looked up your monitor and I found that the Horiz should be 30-70KHZ and the vertical should be 50-160HZ.. look over all the parameters in sax including size and color depth and make sure nothing looks out of order..Also double check your video card settings to see if sax got the correct model listed..
Goodluck,
jolphil

I'm sorry for being such a pain in the ass, but thanks guys.
Here's my xorg.conf file:
Section "Monitor"
Option "CalcAlgorithm" "XServerPool"
DisplaySize 310 230
HorizSync 30-71
Identifier "Monitor[0]"
ModelName "SYNCMASTER 793 MB"
Option "DPMS"
VendorName "SAMSUNG"
VertRefresh 50-160
UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection


Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
EndSection


Section "Screen"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[0]"
Identifier "Screen[0]"
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
EndSection


Section "Device"
BoardName "915 G"
BusID "0:2:0"
Driver "i810"
Identifier "Device[0]"
Screen 0
VendorName "Intel"
EndSection


Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout[all]"
InputDevice "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
Option "Clone" "off"
Option "Xinerama" "off"
Screen "Screen[0]"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group "video"
Mode 0660
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
EndSection

Now, what I want to ask (just to make sure I dont loose my display or anything), do I have to add some lines below the:
Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
??
If yes, then do I type them and save them in the same format as in the section "Monitor" ?

Thanks a lot guys... I'll look forward to your replies.
And to jolphil, well, thanks man, I've checked all information. The Graphics driver is correct, and so is the monitor. And you're right about the rates you've mentioned. Thanks!

hello again,
I take it your MB has an onboard video chip?
I am only guessing at this point but two things come to mind(what little is left)..
First it looks as though your monitor uses a 4/3 aspect ratio..I would try the 1024x768 ratio to see if that helps increase the refresh choices..
If no good, go into your bios and see if your video chip is allocated enough shared memory..(At least 64kb)
After that I am out of ideas..
BTW if I remember correctly,sax will also let you fiddle with the aspect ratio..worth a try..
Goodluck,
jolphil

But what changes will I need to make to my xorg.conf file to get my display to run at 1280x1024 @ 65 Hz? Or 1152x864 @ 75 Hz? I can definitely settle for 1152x864 @ 75 Hz, as my monitor manual says that its safest to use 1152x864 @ 75 Hz as it causes least eye strain.
Thanks guys.

If you use sax2, then you shouldn't have to worry about xorg.conf: it appears to get ignored on values that were set using sax2. For example, my Suse had some trouble with the monitor during install so xorg.conf set rather modest values; I raised them considerably after installign a video driver and although xorg.conf still shows the original low values, I do get the higher ones set using sax2.

Ummm...
But there's no option left for me but to edit the xorg.conf file. My sax2 dialog shows nothing about 1152x864 pixels, and there are no options about frequency other than 60 Hz...
I don't think sax2 is going to help me here... and the only way to get things right is by editing the xorg.conf file.
Back to my previous question: What do I add to my xorg.conf file to get things working on 1152x864 @ 75 Hz? My windows runs perfectly on the same res.

I started my suse 10 box and went into sax2..I have a old 17inch mag monitor with an nvidia fx5600 agp card and the Nvidia driver installed..similar to yours except the video chip and driver..I would try
to go into sax2 again but instead of useing the samsung selection use the vesa one..BUT and a big BUT you must set the scan frequencies(H=30-70KHZ)(V=50-160HZ) be sure to verify those as you can fry your monitor if you put in wrong numbers..
Then see if you can get the resolution/refresh rate selection you want..If you make a selection be sure to TEST it and make any fine adjustments(size and centering)..It will ask you to save the configuration, do save it and either end the session or reboot..If you cannot satisfy your test, change it back to where you started and save that setting..
Please keep in mind the 1280x1024 resolution is the monitor very maximum...If you save sax settings you do not need to edit xorg.conf...
If the selection you seek is not listed then the only obvious difference I think,would be the graphics device you system has..Did you respond as to what was you graphics chip, the I810 suggests it is an onboard Intel video device with limited performance..
again goodluck
jolphil:twocentEdit heres what I mean aboutlinited performance...

The Intel 8xx and 9xx families of integrated graphics chipsets has a unified memory architecture and uses system memory for video ram. For the i810 and i815 family of chipset, operating system support for allocating system memory for video use is required in order to use this driver. For the 830M and later, this is required in order for the driver to use more video ram than has been pre-allocated at boot time by the BIOS. This is usually achieved with an "agpgart" or "agp" kernel driver. Linux, and recent versions of FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD have such kernel drivers available.

By default 8 Megabytes of system memory are used for graphics. For the 830M and later, the default is 8 Megabytes when DRI is not enabled and 32 Megabytes with DRI is enabled. This amount may be changed with the VideoRam entry in the config file Device section. It may be set to any reasonable value up to 64MB for older chipsets or 128MB for newer chipets. It is advisable to check the Xorg log file to check if any features have been disabled because of insufficient video memory. In particular, DRI support or tiling mode may be disabled with insufficient video memory. Either of these being disabled will reduce performance for 3D applications. Note however, that increasing this value too much will reduce the amount of system memory available for other applications.

Well... I think I should give up on this...
I tried that Vesa thing, but it seems like my PC know what I want and does not want to give that to me.
None of the monitors I selected there offered what I wanted. I first selected a monitor: 1152x864@75 Hz. I then looked everywhere for a 1152x864 setting, but it was nowhere to be found. Instead, my desktop started running on 1024x768@85.
Then I also selected other resolutions, but my pc never let me switch to what I wanted. I never found 1152x864@75 as an option anywhere... And there were no options with the frequency as well...
I don't know what to do...