Newbie Questions

[Jason Lasker]

We had a similar issue with a Dell Optiplex with an onboard video card.  The
spec said 64MB of video RAM but it would not display anything more than
640x480. It turned out to be a BIOS problem, the amount of RAM set aside for
the video buffer was set to 1mb which caused Linux to fail to detect the
correct amount of video RAM.

Resolution:  went into the BOIS and changed the setting for Video buffer
from 1MB to 8MB. (the only 2 setting s available)
After that the on-board card work fine.

Maybe your BIOS has a similar setting.


Jason

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nflug at nflug.org [mailto:owner-nflug at nflug.org] On Behalf Of
David Dudek
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 8:38 PM
To: nflug at nflug.org
Subject: Re: Newbie Questions


The problem is definitely not the memory.  Find out what the chipset is for
the on-board graphics.  It's a driver issue for sure.

Also, someone should have mentioned this before, but since Red Hat 9 has
been end-of-lifed, I would recommend using a different newer distribution
with better driver support.  For a newbie, I would use Mandrake 10, the
latest SuSE or Fedora Core.  For troubleshooting purposes, I would strongly
recommend using the Knoppix live CD.  It generally has very good driver
support.  For a newbie, it's really not a bad distribution to use either.

-- 
David Thomas Dudek     http://www.buffalo.edu/~dudek/

On Thu, 27 May 2004, Robert Meyer wrote:

> Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 13:08:08 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Robert Meyer <meyer_rm at yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: nflug at nflug.org
> To: nflug at nflug.org
> Subject: Re: Newbie Questions
>
> OK, if you have limited amount of memory on the video card, try 
> changing the default depth to 16.  I don't know if this will help 
> because 1024X768 only uses about 2.3 meg of memory at 24 bit depth.
>
> Is it possible that the native resolution of the LCD display is 
> actually 800x600?
>
> Attached is an XF86Config-4 file for a Compaq Presario 700EA
>
> Hope this helps...
>
> Cheers!
>
> Bob
>
> --- Christopher Crowell <crowell33 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> > okay
> >
> > i tried that about 4 or 5 times with no luck.
> >
> > As far as the video card goes, it's actually 8mb on-board video. 
> > could that be limiting the resolution? If it is, is there anyway 
> > around it?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: David Dudek <dudek at buffalo.edu>
> > Sent: May 27, 2004 12:02 AM
> > To: nflug <nflug at nflug.org>
> > Subject: Re: Newbie Questions
> >
> > In Red Hat 9, the best (easiest) way to reconfigure the video is to 
> > do the
> > following:
> >
> > 1. Press CTRL-ALT-F2 to get to a "virtual console".
> >
> > 2. You should now be at a text only screen that says, "login:".
> >
> > 3. Login as the 'root' user, or if you have sudo setup for your user
> >    account, login as the user.  You will need to enter commands with
root
> >    privileges.  For more information on root privileges, see:
> >
> >    http://www.cit.buffalo.edu/linux/superuser.html
> >
> > 4. The next few commands you need to run with superuser privileges.
First
> >    do:
> >
> >    /sbin/init 3
> >
> >    This takes you to "runlevel 3", which is the runlevel where
everything
> >    is working except X.
> >
> > 5. Hit the ENTER/RETURN key a couple of times.  Now run:
> >
> >    /usr/bin/redhat-config-xfree86 --reconfig
> >
> >    This will startup a graphical configuration dialog for X.
> >
> > 6. After you configure X, run the command:
> >
> >    /sbin/init 5
> >
> >    ...which takes you back to "runlevel 5", which is the default
runlevel
> >    with graphical login.
> >
> > 7. Repeat as necessary until you get the configuration correct.
> >
> > --
> > David Thomas Dudek     http://www.buffalo.edu/~dudek/
> >
> > On Wed, 26 May 2004, Christopher Crowell wrote:
> >
> > > Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 20:36:37 -0400
> > > From: Christopher Crowell <crowell33 at earthlink.net>
> > > Reply-To: nflug at nflug.org
> > > To: nflug <nflug at nflug.org>
> > > Subject: Newbie Questions
> > >
> > >
> > > Hey everyone,
> > >
> > >
> > > I joined about 6 months ago but havent really chimed in about 
> > > anything yet,
> > mostly because I hadn't really had the time to do much with my Linux 
> > box. But, now that I have had the time, I have some questions I'm 
> > hoping everyone will be willing to help me with.
> > >
> > >  I installed Redt Hat 9 on my Compaq Presario 700 laptop the other 
> > > day. For
> > some reason, it won't let me change the resolution from 800x600 to 
> > 1024x768. Is that a driver issue? Also, when I installed RH 9 it 
> > read and recognized and every piece of hardware on my laptop with 
> > the exception of the modem. Could that also be a driver issue? I 
> > believe the modem that came with it is a Conexant.
> > >
> > > I know these are simple questions, but I really, REALLY want to 
> > > learn
> > Linux. Thanks in advance for any help.
> > >
> > > Christopher Crowell
> > > crowell33 at earthlink.net
> > > Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.
> >
>
>
>
>
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