display problem

brianL · 01-16-2010, 01:05 PM

I always used to edit menu.lst after a kernel update, removing the old kernel entries, after making sure the new kernel was working OK.

brianL · 01-16-2010, 01:08 PM

I should have put gksudo, not sudo in that command I gave you. Don't know if that will make any difference now.

sonichedgehog · 01-16-2010, 06:24 PM

If OP has same problem as originally prompted this, maybe gedit won't do it- I think it needs X working. Earlier in the thread I suggested sudo nano FILENAME, not as intuitive as gedit but since OP learned his stuff on DOS he'll be fine with it. Long thread!

sonichedgehog · 01-16-2010, 06:40 PM

Greenknight, do you still have a display problem? If so, do you need more advice on Debian install?

I'm no expert on boot records but would advise that you don't change anything until you're sure. Briefly, now you have grub installed, it's written a MBR which has directed the OS to read /etc/grub/grub.cfg for instructions. It copied any windows entry into the cfg file, and also moved the code to the end of the MBR. This is known as chainloading. It all happens on the same HD. If BIOS is directed to check another source first, unless there is a valid MBR there (cd, floppy, other HD, whatever, it will skip to the next option in the order you have set.
However grub.cfg can be set up to load a linux kernel from another HD, or another partition. If there is a windows MBR on that HD, it could even be set to chainload that.
For now, you could let the OS installer deal with your grub list. If you have redundant entries (usually previous kernel versions, or other OS's you have installed) just don't select them. If you really want to make the boot easier, you could just change the default in grub.cfg to the preferred entry.

greenknight · 01-17-2010, 09:51 AM

I hope this gets to sonichedgehog and all the others who have helped be with my monitor refresh rate.
It is now a mute point as I have solved the problem. I bought a new lan card for my old 300hz computer. It has always came up ok against several diistros. Well it did it again. I am right now On the old system running Ubuntu 9.10. I am one happy camper
Oh the refresh rate is 75hertz.
The only problem is I can only access in low rez 600*800. This makes most screens to wide for the monitor and I have to scroll quite a bit. But hey, I am online using Ubuntu.

sonichedgehog · 01-17-2010, 10:19 AM

Glad you're up and running. It's been a pleasure to assist.

greenknight · 01-20-2010, 02:48 PM

Sonichedgehog and all others:
Remember when I told I was up and running and why? Why was to switch my two machines around since the other combination always ran Linux. I didn't want to because the old one is much slower at 300mhz. Well I fixed it even better. You may not believe how simple it was. This whole thread could have been avoided If I had mentioned both combinations. The solution was to change monitors. Nothing else.
Now I can give you another good one. The bad combination now is running both win and Linux. I didn't change anything in the bad combination. Just tried it and it works as impossible as it seems but it is.
Thanks everyone for all the help I may never have got it right without you. Besides it was a good learning experience.

sonichedgehog · 01-21-2010, 03:43 AM

Hi Greenknight
A newer monitor would probably be correctly configured - although even 2 years ago I had an issue with a brand newone, so this is not a universal truth.
However, if we can decide how your older system correctly configured the monitor that previously didn't work, that will be useful. If we identify the mechanism, we should mark the thread as solved, as others will refer to it. Having looked around, there is much info around this subject but nothing I have found goes deep enough.
Please don't spend too long on this, just enjoy using the system, but:
-what distro/version is on this dual boot box?
-does it have an /etc/X11/xorg.conf, or indeed an xorg.conf anywhere (do a search from /, not /home/***)
-if so, please post the model of the monitor, + contents of the xorg.conf file.
Regards

greenknight · 01-21-2010, 06:30 PM

A topic for another thread will be no term from accessory.
I took the long route through recovery and got there. There was no xorg file found. I cd to X11 directory. There I found two config files. nieghther was what we are looking for.
They are XVMCConfig and Xwrapper.config.
I will have to use my lighter to see the mon id. I hope there is enough on the front. HP 1024. Is that enough? No wonder it works. It's an hp. I had a HP amber monitor 20+ years ago. It had the best sharpest screen of any monochrome monitor I have seen. It was still in good condition when I junked it.

sonichedgehog · 01-23-2010, 10:30 AM

Quote:

There I found two config files. nieghther was what we are looking for.
They are XVMCConfig and Xwrapper.config.

Like mine, your system has autodetected the settings. I don't know why one system assigned correct settings for your monitor, whereas the other didn't (this, together with model details and everything else, should appear in /var/log/Xorg.0.log).
HP 1024 is old, that's not a criticism, it just means detection tools might not work. Interestingly, there is a modern HP with an unsolved bug- and the modern monitor I referred to, needing custom settings in xorg.conf, was an HP.
To force yours to work, as others have suggested, you would need to generate an xorg.conf (I think that has been covered, but its easy to deal with anyway, commands nvidia-settings, nvidia-config, Xorg -configure)
If you do set it manually in this way, I think your settings are: H Freq/ V Freq: 32-54khz / 50-105 hz
(source: http://www.monitorworld.com/Monitors/hp/hp1024le.html )
Be very careful if you do anything with monitor settings, it can destroy a monitor. Regards

greenknight · 01-24-2010, 07:24 AM

It is working to good to monkey with right now. The only thing is more in appearance than anything. I get random, at the pointer,half inch square windows showing the window below the top one. I doubt any setting would fix that weirdo. That sounds like computation or memory holes. It doesn't seem to happen in windows.

greenknight · 01-25-2010, 01:11 PM

I went looking for /var/log/Xorg.0.log). but It doesn't seem to exist. I tried a few variations in case something was a typo. Like that .O. sequence.
If you have anymore ideas let me know. I am learning things from this thread like how to get back from man pages. A simple Q for quit.

sonichedgehog · 01-26-2010, 05:27 PM

other things that will help you:
All the logs are in /var/logs. cd to it. Then

Code:

ls

will show you something like:

Code:

:/var/log$ ls
apparmor       daemon.log       dmesg.1.gz      kern.log       mail.log            samba                user.log.1
apt            daemon.log.1     dmesg.2.gz      kern.log.1     mail.warn           speech-dispatcher    user.log.2.gz
auth.log       daemon.log.2.gz  dmesg.3.gz      kern.log.2.gz  messages            syslog               user.log.3.gz
auth.log.1     daemon.log.3.gz  dmesg.4.gz      kern.log.3.gz  messages.1          syslog.1             user.log.4.gz
auth.log.2.gz  daemon.log.4.gz  dpkg.log        kern.log.4.gz  messages.2.gz       syslog.2.gz          wtmp
auth.log.3.gz  debug            dpkg.log.1      lastlog        messages.3.gz       syslog.3.gz          wtmp.1.gz
auth.log.4.gz  debug.1          faillog         lpr.log        messages.4.gz       syslog.4.gz          Xorg.0.log
boot           debug.2.gz       fontconfig.log  lpr.log.1      news                syslog.5.gz          Xorg.0.log.old
bootstrap.log  debug.3.gz       fsck            lpr.log.2.gz   pm-powersave.log    syslog.6.gz          Xorg.1.log
btmp           debug.4.gz       gdm             lpr.log.3.gz   pm-powersave.log.1  syslog.7.gz
btmp.1.gz      dist-upgrade     installer       lpr.log.4.gz   pm-suspend.log      udev
ConsoleKit     dmesg            jockey.log      mail.err       pm-suspend.log.1    unattended-upgrades
cups           dmesg.0          jockey.log.1    mail.info      pycentral.log       user.log

As you see, its a zero not a letter "o" in the name we need.
But with ls you just get the list of files, so you wouldn't need the precise name if you know the location.
Also:

Code:

cd ..

to get up one level, ie back up the tree. Saves much typing.

Code:

ls -l

gives you file sizes and permissions as well.

Your patchy screen sounds like refresh rate to me, unless you're getting other issues,like generally slow operation.

greenknight · 01-26-2010, 06:20 PM

There like you are seeing what is below current. I have had annoying things in windows where stuff is no erased and it can make things difficult but if that was refresh then the monitor should have died before now.
Having fun with all these things that look like they are working. I would be staying in Linux a lot more if I could get the flash player updated right. It is needed on my facebook farm games. It is the only reason I am going between here and windows. Even Thunderbird was not tricky. I just had to get the server names right. I like it better than Evolution which I found filters a little harder than in Thunderbird.

greenknight · 01-27-2010, 10:53 AM

My :/var/log$ ls does indeed look like the sample though rotation
of files are different. I might expect that.
My /var/log/Xorg.0.log is blank, but /var/log/Xorg.0.log.backup contains to much to copy in here. Time I checked in to sending an attachment. The backup thing also explains why I couldn't find it.
I went through the attachment thing but it possibly isn't here due to the file extension is invalid. I tried changing it through save as in gedit but I don't have the permission to save it with the other two files in the same location. Had I been sucessful I could have deleted it after uploading it. It is something like 33 kb. Got any ideas?