can't change screen resolution
 

hi all,

i've installed mandrake 9.1 on a thinkpad 390 - very straightforward installation by the way. everything works great so far, except i can't change the screen resolution - i want to increase the screen area. if i go to mandrake control center - hardware - change screen resolution - i have three options, 640x480, 800x600, or 1024x768 (where it is currently set). if i choose one of the other options, it tells me i have to reboot for the changes to take, effect. but after rebooting, the screen looks exactly the same, even though the new settings appear in the control center.

any ideas how to fix this problem?

Try to manualy editing your X configuration. Configuration file is in /etc/X11/xfreeconfig-4(or somefing)

I don't know if mandrake has xvidtune (i'm on FC3), but you should give it a try from console.
If it does have it, make all the necessary changes, and then press 'show'.
A line with some parameters will be shown. Copy/paste this line to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf (or xfreeconfig/xfreeconfig-4) in the section "Monitor" and put the word Modeline in front, like:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "LG"
ModelName "L1915S"
HorizSync 30.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 75.0
ModeLine <copy/paste here the line>
Option "dpms"
EndSection

and save it. You will then have to restart X. Also, keep a copy of xorg.conf. If something goes wrong, you won't be able to start X....

still can't get resolution to stick
 

hi - i tried your suggestions of editing the x configuration manually and xvidtune, but they didn't have any effect. the screen resolution is stuck on 640x480 or so - too small to be useful for browsing, word processing, etc.

i looked around the web and found that a lot of people have problems with screen resolution, both with mandrake and other distributions. any other suggestions?

thanks,

fl.