Guys,

I am a complete newbie to linux, so do not be mad at me for asking stupid questions, but I have installed Suse just last night and it is really difficult for me to make it work.

First of all - after setting up the Suse 10.0 with Gnome, I have installed all packages accordingly. Auto update and setup went smooth and after the last reboot when I was expecting to see the beauty of linux - my monitor went in stand by and that was that - end of story. Thank God that dualboot works well so I want back to "horrible" MS WIN and starded looking over the forums.

I found a way to run the Gnome desctop by replacing my xorg.conf file, which was supposed to be correctly set up by Yast or Sax, or whatever the utility is called with an older one - xorg.conf.install file. This worked ok, as it seems to have reverted both monitor and videocard setting to some sort of safe defaults, working on 1024 x 768px.

Now running with some safe settings I tried to run both YaST and SaX2 from Applications>System>Configuration, however SAX2 does not start at all and YaST works OK until you select the Video and Monitor settings, where it fails to load the setup screen.

So I came back to this forum and found a guy that was trying to install an Nvidia Driver on his PC. As I am complete dummie in linux, I saw the guy mentioning that he has ran the SAX2 with command line parameters like this: sax2 -m 0=nvidia.

I have tried from the Konsole and it loaded the SAX2 module allowing me to change both video card settings and monitor. I have tried to load the correct settings according to my monitor specs, before applying I have selected the test switch and guess what - monitor went off in stand by again. Have awaited a few seconds to see what will happen as normally MS WIN reverts if you don't confirm the settings, so yes - in some 10-15 secs the monitor went on again, however the screen was completely distorted. What I mean by distorted is that there was nothing readable or recognizeable on it. The mouse pointer for example seemed as a big white square and it was moving in 3 different places on the desctop.

My question is - is it a monitor issue or a Nvidia card issue? If it is Nvidia issue, how can I update drivers? Please advise exact command line parameters, as I am not familiar with linux at all, and unfortunattely there is no simple installer as in MS WIN to guide me through the setup.

Just for your reference - I am using an Nvidia GeForce 5200 128bit on a Samsung SyncMaster 213T TFT LCD. Please help me as I don't want to quit on Linux - it seems pretty good OS, and moreover it is cheap and much more reliable than WIN.

Thanx in advance.

No decent person would be mad at you for trying.

I think from what you describe that it is due to monitor being driven at the wrong resolution, there were various fixes listed here, but most of them wont work on a tft as you can't actually see what is on screen, I have a crt monitor and managed by looking very closely to se what was being said and worked from there.

Look under earlier versions of Suse for this, it's been a problem for a while now.

Rgds
Simon

HELLO EVERYONE - I DID IT. I WILL DESCRIBE MY EXPERIENCE IN ORDER OTHER NEWBIES LIKE ME TO BE ABLE TO TRY IT ON THEIR OWN. So let's start from the beginning:

1. Downloaded latest NVidia Driver from http://www.nvidia.com/
2. Run YaST update to fetch the nvdriver that is supposed to be updated.
3. Reboot in safe mode and login as root.
4. After login as root # init 3
5. After init 3 go to the dir you have downloaded the nvidia driver and type: sh Nvidia-driver-name-version.run
6. The installer unzips and says - currently you have an NV Driver installed. In order to update you have to remove the old one. Do you want to proceed - YES - NO
7. After clicking YES the installer remooves the YaST updated driver and replaces it with the NV driver from the nvsite. After finishing the update the Nvidia manager says: RUN SAX2 TO CONFIGURE YOUR HARDWARE
8. After finishing installation, on the command screen type # sax2 -i (THE -i switch ignores current configuration and loads normally the sax graphical interface that looks a bit strange - some small fonts, etc.)
9. Set up your monitor carefully - check the refresh rates and model name as per your documentation. when everything is done click OK and then Apply. SAX2 will ask you to test the new settings - click TEST. If no problems SAX2 will ask you to save your settings and will exit.
10. Reboot to normal mode - the screen will go to your maximum res first, and then will turn back to the last one you have used (e.g. 1024 * 768).
11 THEN YOU CAN CHECK MONITOR SETTINGS AND CHANGE RES TO WHATEVER YOU WANT.

It worked for me - hope it will work for you as well.

It seems that SuSe 10.0 Automatic setup sometime fails testing the settings, etc. so manual installation is the best thing as always.

Good luck everyone.

Please note after doing all of the above as per my previous posting it turns out that I have made the TFT work with the NVidia, however now the NVidia says that 3d is not enabled.

If anyone can advise how I can activate the 3d it will be much of use. Meantime - please advise how once can change user when logged on into Gnome. For example - if I want to login as Root.

Thanx

1. download the driver via YOU (Yast online update)
2. download the driver from www.nvidia.com and follow the install instructions in the Readme file on the same side.