Red Hat 9


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This may have been discussed previously in the forums, but I'm going to ask it here anyhow.

I have installed Red Hat 9 - no trouble with any of the installs. The problem comes when I try to boot it up. It loads all (or most) of the drivers successfully (excepting firstboot and mdmonitor). What happens is when it comes to these, it evidently is trying to do something, but I can't tell what. My monitor goes blank and tells me there's no signal coming from my computer. I also had the problem that I couldn't run the graphic installer - so I'm figuring it's got something to do with the video card.... I'm not sure what, though, because I was able to load up the test resolution I wanted using the boot line. My problem is that I don't know how to set a video mode on the command line. Perhaps if I could do that, it might work.

In case it matters, here are my specs:

Red Hat 9 (sub-version, I don't know)

S3 video card

mx70 monitor (detects correctly) max res 1280x1024; like I said, it tests correctly

20G HD (with full Linux install, 3 partitions (all XFS), methinks)

Athlon 2000 processor

Any ideas?

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This is usually caused by xwindows trying to use a refresh rate not supported by your monitor. If you can boot into text mode you can change the config file and lower the refresh rate. the config file is /etc/X11/XF86Config and you want to find the section that looks like:

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "Monitor0"

VendorName "Monitor Vendor"

ModelName "PL150"

DisplaySize 300 230

HorizSync 30.0 - 62.0

VertRefresh 50.0 - 60.0

Option "dpms"

EndSection

Usually the problem is that the VertRefresh is too high. Try lowering the second value (60.0) in this case. If it is 80 or something, it may be too high.

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No, it's on a video card... (I've got the HP Pavillion 304w). Also, the config thing looks like it'd work (I read the file, saw things similar to that)... problem is, I don't know how to edit files with Linux command line. I read through INFO, but didn't see a topic for it...

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If your "Monitor" section is ok, you probably need to adjust your "Screen" section.

The way Linux (XFree, actually) works, is that you define one or more "Monitor"s, you define one or more "Device"s (video cards), and then you put them together with a "Screen" definition.

That way a Video Card "Device" that supports resolutions A, B, and C and a "Monitor" that supports resolutions B, C, and D can be put together in a "Screen" and be told to support resolutions B & C only. This is a simplified version, but it helps me understand it better. ;)

For example, here is my "Screen" section:

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Videocard0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth     16
        Option      "NoLogo" "on"
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     16
                Modes    "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

In your case, there may be modes specified that are not available. Remove them from your list, and viola!, you will have a working configuration.

AND... if you boot and get just a blank/undisplayable screen, there is a trick to walking through the listed resolutions to test them without having ot edit anything. Use CTRL+ALT+[NUM PAD PLUS] and CTRL+ALT+[NUM PAD MINUS] to have X switch through your listed resolutions.

Perhaps if you post your XF86Config file, it would help us....

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Heh... can't exactly post my config file, because that's on a different hard drive... WinXP came with the backup CD on a hard drive partition... and you can't create partitions with XP unless the disk is empty. :rolleyes:

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Heh... can't exactly post my config file, because that's on a different hard drive... WinXP came with the backup CD on a hard drive partition... and you can't create partitions with XP unless the disk is empty. :rolleyes:

Oh. You can't save it to a floppy? :whistle:

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Through a bit of toying with the resolution/refresh setup, as well as doing the key trick, I managed to get 'er running just fine. I still need to play with them a bit more to get all my modes recognized, but at least I can see something... it won't be long.

Thanks for the help! :)

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Through a bit of toying with the resolution/refresh setup, as well as doing the key trick, I managed to get 'er running just fine. I still need to play with them a bit more to get all my modes recognized, but at least I can see something... it won't be long.

While toying with the x config is fun, it is better to know what your computer has and how to set it up so you don't have to toy. :whistle:

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While toying with the x config is fun, it is better to know what your computer has and how to set it up so you don't have to toy. :whistle:

Aww.... c'mon.... Everyone is a noob once. (Some of us twice) :D

I'm just glad he is getting it figured out (and learning in the process) ;)

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