SETTING UP LINUX (FC7 &FC8) ON SYSTEM WITH RV410 (Radeon X700) (PCIE) display card wi
 

I was trying to load FC7
on an AMD-64 Machine with 2 GB RAM, 120+80 GB HDD's, VIA Motherboard,
and RV410 (Radeon X700) (PCIE) display card with 256 MB RAM. The FC7
loads and thereafter, I just cannot login as the screen just goes
blank and the display goes off. I've been able to load Solaris 10
without any problem. However, I've failed with all the LINUX. Can you
help. I've also just managed a DVD of FC8, but the same problem occurs
with FC8 also.

Been there...done that...got the T-Shirt!

The Linux drivers for ATI graphics cards leave a lot to be desired; when properly installed, the fglrx driver from ATI does a great job. Unfortunately, that will take a little work.

WHAT YOUR PROBLEM IS: The 'ati' and 'radeon' drivers linux loads don't work above 640x480 with 16-bit colors. I don't know why (maybe someone a lot smarter than me can explain it); I do know that to get them to work, during the install process, I had to select the lowest video settings to get X to start. I could then go through the fglrx installation joys.

WHERE YOUR PROBLEM IS: The file is xorg.conf in the /etc/X11 directory. It is a simple text file that can be edited at a command line prompt.

OPTIONS:
1. Put the FC8 DVD in and reinstall, this time select just the rudimentary video settings it takes to get it to start. Next log onto http://rpm.livna.net/rlowiki/; click on "Fedora 8 repository RPM". This will lead you through a simple installation process to add their repositories to Fedora's Yellowdog Update Manager (YUM). Then, open a terminal, 'su' to root and type: yum install kmod-fglrx. Reboot the computer and change the video to what you want--everything should work.

2. Put the FC8 DVD in and select Rescue mode. When it gives you the option, type "chroot /mnt/sysimage" (or whatever it tells you your system is mounted to). Next, type "startx" and follow the procedures in Step 1 about adding the livna repositories and install kmod-fglrx.

3. Edit the video portion of xorg.conf, changing the module="ati" or module="radeon" to module="vesa" and reboot the computer. This is the basic graphics driver that does 2d graphics as well as any other. If you are not gaming, this is actually a perfectly fine driver. If, however, you want to game, you will need to follow the directions above that install the fglrx driver.

Be careful about option 3; many Linux text editors are not as easy as you may be used to. You will find many post extolling the virtues of Vi (or Vim); I would offer other assessments of them. Ed or Jed should work better if you can get them. I think Fedora offers one or both of them in Rescue mode--check their website.

Good luck.