redhat 9 and video problem - help please

[zskillz]

hey all.. i just installed redhat 9 on an older system. I have a diamond fire 1k pro video card in the system (which is supported by redhat 9)...

however, when I try and change the resolution. I get put back at the default 8x6/256 colors. i'm a first time user, so i need some help please!

thanks

-Z

[Ruler2112]

You're changing the resolution in the text-based shell with Xconfigurator, correct? Also, how much RAM is on this video card?

[zskillz]

oh boy.. i don't know... here's what i did:

1. clicked little red hat in bottom left corner
2. went to something like "system properties"
3. clicked on "display"
4. changed the resolution and the color depth

then redhat said that the changes had been saved to the Xconfig and that i needed to restart the xserver in order for the changes to take effect.

however when I rebooted, it was back to the default 8x6/256colors.

does that help explain what I did?

here's the specs on the vid card

thanks
-Z

[Ruler2112]

I don't know the minimum specs for cards, but 8 megs seems like it'd be enough to get at least 800x600@16-bit color... anybody else know exact details on what a given resolution takes to run acceptably?

Try logging out to a shell. (This will be pure text mode, no graphics.) Log in as root, then type Xconfigurator. Walk through the steps, one of them will have the resolution and color depth as an option. Then log out and log back in as a user; type startx to restart xwindows. (My theory is that something in the XF86Config file is locked by xwindows and isn't being set properly by the GUI utility. For those of you who know linux better than I, am I way off base?)

[Scott Tiger]

Do us a favor and browse to:

/etc/X11/

and read XF86Config

into a text editor and then copy and paste it up onto the boards.

ST

[zskillz]

ruler - i know the card can handle higher resolutions and color depths because when i had winXP on this same box it was just fine (it is a 3D card)

scott. when I get home this evening, I will post what you said to do (assuming I can do that!!!)

-Z

[Riconlinux]

# XFree86 4 configuration created by redhat-config-xfree86

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "DevInputMice" "AlwaysCore"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
Load "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# If the normal CorePointer mouse is not a USB mouse then
# this input device can be used in AlwaysCore mode to let you
# also use USB mice at the same time.
Identifier "DevInputMice"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Unprobed Monitor"
DisplaySize 19 16
HorizSync 31.5 - 37.9
VertRefresh 50.0 - 70.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "radeon"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "ATI Radeon Mobility M9"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group 0
Mode 0666
EndSection

[Riconlinux]

In reference to my last, it seems to be showing that I might only be capable of 640 x 480 and 800x400. Should I dare to edit this? Or settle for crummy-looking text?

[ry773]

I had the same problem. To fix, simply change monitor type to your monitor or the closest generic type. Log out, log in and your display setting changes will stick.