New laptop, several related problems...
 

I just got a new Compaq R3200Z this week. Split the drive up and installed Fedora Core 3. I selected the Generic LCD 1280x800, which I knew wasn't going to work right away, based on the threads I've read.

Unfortunately, many of these threads make references to XFree86Config, which I don't seem to have.

I downloaded the latest nvidia drivers (released yesterday, I think), and I'm trying to install them, so at least I have a starting point. But I can't install with gdm running. If I stop it, it starts right back up. Not to mention, when I switch to console mode via Ctrl+Alt+F1, the screen goes crazy and any text is unreadable. The same thing happens during shutdown, but not during startup at any point.

Right now I'm using the Generic NVidia drivers that installed with FC3. The screen is runnning at 1024x768. Gnome looks fine, just a little stretched out. The only problem is with the command line.

So...

Should I install the NVidia drivers before I try to fix the resolution problem? If so, how do I go about getting to console without ever starting up Gnome? And once I do have the drivers installed, what's next, considering I don't seem to have XFree86Config?

Thanks for your help. I'm new, but I'm learning. :)


Edit: BTW: video is an NVidia Geforce4 440 Go, CPU is an Athlon 64 3700+, and I'm running 2.6.10-1.770_FC3 x64

From the top, if you don't have XFree86Config, then you're using Xorg(which is very popular at the mo') /etc/X11/xorg.conf

to get into command line mode, edit your /etc/inittab and look for a line that says something about 'Default run level' and change the number 3 to 5, or is it the other way around? either way, if it's a 3 then change it to 5 or if it's 3 then change to 5 :) then when reboot you won't have a GUI logon.

once you have the nvidia driver installed you change inittab again if you want. then you'll need to do a google search for the horizontal/vertical frequencies of the screen and edit xorg.conf accordingly.

To go to the command line just type: in an xterm.
Then as root install Nvidia drivers.
Since you don't have XFree86Config edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
Find the lineand change it to:
To return to X run:

Okay, that worked. Thanks! The console is working fine now.

Although, now my desktop looks all screwed up. What do I need to do to get the 1280x800?

Thanks,
Jeff

Refer to this link for further details: Essentially it is what the previous post describes but in detail:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...icle&artid=113

Now when I reboot it gets to 'Configuring kernel parameters' and won't proceed past that point. I have no idea what's going on.

Okay, there was a problem in the xorg.conf file that was causing the boot to hang. I've got it back to its original settings, and I've started making small changes based on an XF86Config-4 file that a friend has on his laptop (the same model as mine, but running Debian). Nothing I do seems to help the problem though. Basically, the full 1024 pixels displays normally (not stretched), but there's a small black vertical strip starting at 1024 and going about 20-30 pixels. Then there's a small strip (about 10 pixels) that is a repeat of a strip of pixels somewhere in the 800 range. The rest of the screen is black.

At the bottom, it looks like pixels 768 through 800 are repeats of 767. I'm going to get back on it now and post a copy of xorg.conf.

Okay, here's my xorg.conf.

All of 'Section "Modes"' was added from my friend's XF86Config file. In Section "Monitor" I commented out the stuff that was already in there and everything below those two comments I took from the XF86Config file. None of these changes made any noticeable difference.

First make a copy of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /root
comment out or remove load dri
Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
# Load "dri"
Load "dri" <---- this
EndSection

I would remove the mode section,the nvidia driver will make up some modes;

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "Modes" <-----from here

# Here is the optimal mode: 1280x800 @ 60.0Hz
# 1280x800 @ 60.00Hz (GTF) hsync: 49.68kHz; pclk: 83.46MHz
Identifier "16:10"
ModeLine "1280x800" 83.5 1280 1344 1480 1680 800 801 804 828
EndSection <----to here

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "LCD Panel 1280x800"
#HorizSync 31.5 - 90.0
#VertRefresh 60.0 - 60.0
UseModes "16:10" <------comment out this
HorizSync 30-90
VertRefresh 50-75
Option "UseEdidFreqs" "1"
Option "FlatPanelProperties" "Scaling = aspect-scaled"
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "NVidia GeForce4 440 Go 64M"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce 4 (generic)"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "NVidia GeForce4 440 Go 64M"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI" <----don't
Group 0 <----need
Mode 0666 <----this
EndSection <-------don't leave this,when you remove a section don't do what I have done
before and have two end sections.
See what happens,look at the log /var/log/Xorg.0.log
good luck

Thanks for the info, but I did what you said, and got no change.

Here's a section of my xorg.0.log:

.
.
.
.
.
I tried it the way you said, plus I tried the suggestions of a guy HERE, but that didn't work either.