A clarification of my problem ( I hope).

I have a 19” monitor. It's spec is:

Horizontal scan range 30 kHz to 96 kHz
Vertical scan range (Refresh rate) 48 Hz to 120 Hz
Optimal preset resolution 1024 x 768 at 75 Hz or 85 Hz
Highest preset resolution 1600 x 1200 at 75 Hz
Highest capable resolution 1600 x 1200 at 75 Hz

The Dapper screen pref gui default res is 1280 x 1024. This looks most appropriate and i can't alter it to lower resolution in the dropdown. The same applet claims my refresh rate is 86 Hz and likewise i cannot change it, -but my screen looks like 60 Hz, which is the reading my monitor displays when i press a button on the cabinet. This is too low and it trails smears when i move windows.

I can lower the the resolution by deleting the 1st settings ( 1280 x 1024 ) from each modes line in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf but i'm sure these are less appropriate settings. Here is the relevant sections from my /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
Driver "vesa"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "ULTRASCANP99"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 30-96
VertRefresh 48-120
Modeline "1024x768@85" 100.94 1024 1056 1432 1464 768 782 793 807

EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Generic Video Card"
Monitor "ULTRASCANP99"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "720x350" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "720x350" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "720x350" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "720x350" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "720x350" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "720x350" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

How old is your computer? Mode lines are practically extinct, and refresh rates can usually be guessed correctly by the X server on its own with modern monitors, and to top it all off, your using the vesa driver, which signifies that you either don't care about your hardware or their isn't any better drivers, or your really using OLD hardware, so what is it?

My pc is new, my monitor is a great trinitron crt. Don't know anything about vesa drivers. Have i better options ? My monitor is fine in Windows.

Why are you asking me if you have better options? Its your computer, i don't know anything about it.

Well, since you appear to not have any problems, why did you post?

I quote myself:

The Dapper screen pref gui default res is 1280 x 1024. This looks most appropriate and i can't alter it to lower resolution in the dropdown. The same applet claims my refresh rate is 86 Hz and likewise i cannot change it, -but my screen looks like 60 Hz, which is the reading my monitor displays when i press a button on the cabinet. This is too low and it trails smears when i move windows.

Options: Did someone suggest i could alter my position with a driver other than my Vesa ?

Hi nnjond

Apologies, I'm not very busy on forums.

If you know what a terminal is, type "sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg"

Choose your graphics card/adapter from the list, follow the text, if there's anything you don't understand press "esc" (this will skip). When you come to resolution, enter 1600x1200 with the space-bar. Choose "medium" for the settings, move down to 1600x1200@75Hz.

This will give you a range of resoloutions between 1600x1200 and 648x480.

All the best! :-)

Thanks for the tip. It made perfect sense. All seemed to go perfectly well. However when i restarted, the user and password screens appeared, so i tapped in my details... It halts on a black page of text before returning to the user and password screen. There dosen't seem to be a way in?

That sounds like you have the wrong password or user name? As you seem to have had these problems for some time, I would suggest doing a fresh install with whatever version of Ubuntu you are using. Best I can do! :-)