Hi

I'm completely new to Linux and I have seached the forums to try to find an answer to my problem but have had no luck so far. I have a very old compaq that was just gathering dust and thought I'd try Linux. the machine spec's are

Processor: Pentium mmx 200
Ram: 128Mb
HD: 4Gb
Monitor: HP Pavillion v70s
Display Adaptor: S3 Trio64v2
Linux: SuSe 9.1

My problem is that when it boots to the graphical interface my monitor gives me a signal:not valid. Though searching posts I tried using yast which corectly identifies my adaptor and monitor, but when I try to change it to something else I get the same signal:not valid error. I have tried using sax2 but when it boots I get the same error. I have reinstalled suse twice, with no change. I have used different monitors, done all on-line updates. I am willing to try editing my /etc/x11/xorg.config file, but I'm not quite sure how to do it.
I have installed mandrake 7.1 and everything worked except for networking. I have used Knoppix and Ubuntu as live cd's and they worked fine, although slow. Ubuntu gave me the same signal not valid when I tried to install to the HD.
Mandrake 10.1 gave me the same error. I have also tried Linspire, feather, e-live, ALinux, slackware, and Mephis all with similar problems. Do I need to stick with an older distro or does someone have another solution.

Thanks

It sounds like either the resolution setting or the horizontal/vertical refresh rates are set higher than your monitor can handle. Please post the contents of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file -- J.W.

Welcome to LQ!

Thanks for replying. Since I'm a complete newbie, and Linux is making me feel like an idiot, I could use a little help doing this from the command line. To get the contents out I could probably send it to a floppy. I would appreciate some advice on how to do this.

did u try ctrl alt + sevral times.. That might help some times if its a resolution problem.

I tried ctrl alt + when I got the signal not valid, but that did nothing

If your machine won't run a GUI, then it makes things a little more problematic, but nothing unsolvable. As you said, copy the file to a floppy, and (I'll assume you're dual booting here) start Windows, then open the file with notepad. From there just cut and paste, and we can see what's in xorg.conf

If you need help copying the file to the floppy, the command line will be
which will probably mean you'll need to run something like
The actual mountpoint will depend on your system. You can use any mountpoint you want, but in SuSE, removable media is usually in /media -- J.W.

Boot into failsafe mode
At the console:
1) login: root
(type root password)
2) cd /etc/X11
3) xorgconfig

Go through the text-based configuration. After you're all done, type

startx

Let us know if you have a question, which you probably will.

I found out that using Sax to configure your devices does not boot into KDE. YOu have to use xorgconfig.

Thanks for all the replies. I did as Micro suggested and it seems to be working now.

Thanks again!

Excellent - congrats on solving the problem and thanks for posting back. Also, hats off to Micro420 for contributing the solution. Thanks all -- J.W.