Unable to change resolution on laptop (after much configuration stuff)

catenary · 04-11-2004, 01:56 PM

Hello, everyone. This is my first time using this forum, and I couldn't quite figure it out. I couldn't find an X-related section of the forum, but if this is the wrong place for this post, please tell me. I don't want to offend any delicate sensibilities.

Anyhow, I'm trying to get a resolution other than 800x600 working. I read that you just had to write this resolution in on the leftmost side of the appropriate line on the config file, and I did, but it isn't working. I'm using fluxbox, and so I don't have any GUI tools for setting the resolution, but it didn't work in GNOME either. I tried a number of different horizontal/vertical sync rates, although maybe I haven't tried the right one.

I'm not sure exactly what information is relevant, but I can say:

Distro: Arch 0.6
hardware: Gateway m305XL (Gateway sucks! Don't buy one!)
card: Intel 852GM (maybe 7M ram)

I'm not very experienced, so I wouldn't know what else would help.

Also, here's an excerpt from my XF86Config file (with some of the comments removed):

# Any number of monitor sections may be present

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "My Monitor"

HorizSync 31.5 - 48.5

VertRefresh 50-100

EndSection

# Standard VGA Device:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Standard VGA"
VendorName "Unknown"
BoardName "Unknown"

Driver "vga"

EndSection

# Device configured by xf86config:

Section "Device"
Identifier "** Intel i810 (generic) [i810]"
Driver "i810"
#VideoRam 8192
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "** Intel i810 (generic) [i810]"
Monitor "My Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768" "800x600"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x960" "1024x768" "800x600"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"

Screen "Screen 1"

InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

# Section "DRI"
# Mode 0666
# EndSection

Thanks in advance for any help!

tekhead2 · 04-11-2004, 06:13 PM

Hey catenary!
Yeah I had the same problem once. Hey do you know if X is running in 24-bit , 16-bit or 8-bit color depth? I saw from your config file that 24 is the default depth, but maybe that isnt working and its dropping down to a lower color depth. Its hard to tell the difference between 24-bit and 16-bit in fluxbox, since its so clean.

Also I would try to edit the XF86Config,(back it up first) and take out the other smaller screen resolutions in the display subsections. Like this....

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x960" "1024x768"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection

I dont know too much about XFree86, but I got mine working this way.This will basically just force it to try and use a larger resolution. If it doesn work, atleast you can see what the error is that is stopping it from going to a larger resolution. And as always you should keep your hands on <ctr> <alt> <bckspc> just in case you start to burn your screen, those LCD's will fry alot quicker than a CRT. Fire back at me with whatever errors you get and I will try to figure it out. Later!

catenary · 04-11-2004, 11:55 PM

Thanks for the suggestion. While it didn't work, it made me think that I needed to reread /var/log/XFree86.0.log again. I found some messages that seem like they're important, but for which I don't know exactly how to proceed. Maybe you can help me sort them out:

Code:

(II) I810(0): My Monitor: Using hsync range of 31.50-48.50 kHz
(II) I810(0): My Monitor: Using vrefresh range of 50.00-100.00 Hz
(II) I810(0): Not using mode "45" (no mode of this name)
(II) I810(0): Not using mode "1024x768" (no mode of this name)
(II) I810(0): 2900 kBytes additional video memory is required to
	enable tiling mode for DRI.
(II) I810(0): 4 kBytes additional video memory is required to enable DRI.
(II) I810(0): Disabling DRI.
(--) I810(0): Virtual size is 800x600 (pitch 800)
(**) I810(0):  Built-in mode "800x600"
(**) I810(0):  Built-in mode "640x480"
(==) I810(0): DPI set to (75, 75)

Now, this came after a string of mode names like this one:

Code:

Mode: 5a (1600x1200)
	ModeAttributes: 0x9a
	WinAAttributes: 0x7
	WinBAttributes: 0x0
	WinGranularity: 64
	WinSize: 64
	WinASegment: 0xa000
	WinBSegment: 0x0
	WinFuncPtr: 0xc0006f3a
	BytesPerScanline: 6400
	XResolution: 1600
	YResolution: 1200
	XCharSize: 8
	YCharSize: 16
	NumberOfPlanes: 1
	BitsPerPixel: 32
	NumberOfBanks: 1
	MemoryModel: 6
	BankSize: 0
	NumberOfImages: 0
	RedMaskSize: 8
	RedFieldPosition: 16
	GreenMaskSize: 8
	GreenFieldPosition: 8
	BlueMaskSize: 8
	BlueFieldPosition: 0
	RsvdMaskSize: 8
	RsvdFieldPosition: 24
	DirectColorModeInfo: 0
	PhysBasePtr: 0xe8000000
	LinBytesPerScanLine: 6400
	BnkNumberOfImagePages: 0
	LinNumberOfImagePages: 0
	LinRedMaskSize: 8
	LinRedFieldPosition: 16
	LinGreenMaskSize: 8
	LinGreenFieldPosition: 8
	LinBlueMaskSize: 8
	LinBlueFieldPosition: 0
	LinRsvdMaskSize: 8
	LinRsvdFieldPosition: 24
	MaxPixelClock: 230000000

Which is why I added "45", the name of a 16-depth 1024x768 mode, to my list of modes. However, as you can see, it didn't work.

Another thing I forgot to mention: I keep getting an error "GARTinit: Unable to open /dev/agpgart (no such file or directory)". I ignored it at first, but then read that it was pretty important for my type of card, and so I tried "modprobe intel-agp", but I got an error that said "operation not permitted" (or some such).

Actually, I think I read on intel's site that this thing was so important to my card that X wouldn't start without it, although this is clearly not true.

Anyhow, that's what I know. Does it tell you anything?

catenary · 04-12-2004, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Another thing I forgot to mention: I keep getting an error "GARTinit: Unable to open /dev/agpgart (no such file or directory)". I ignored it at first, but then read that it was pretty important for my type of card, and so I tried "modprobe intel-agp", but I got an error that said "operation not permitted" (or some such).

Nevermind that part, I figured out how to change to root

*slaps self*

Problem still at large, though