Ati linux driver

Top Tip: Linux video driver problem?

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Question from mrmmills "One thing I learned in IT is not to assume anything!

This is the situation: Rehat 7.2, 7.3, and 8.0 see my integrated ATI Rage XL video card fine. Redhat 9 appears to see it fine (when I run the probe) but I am not able to get the screen to go to 1024x768. I have sought help from the monitor manufacturer but I don't want to assume it's the monitor - could it be the new version of RH9 that isn't working correctly. "

Answer from evers310 "Try entering in the exact vertical and horizontal sync ranges for your monitor. If you choose a generic monitor the ranges will be to low to get 1024x768"

Answer from akaBeaVis "This is probably a very nearly extinct technique, but if all else fails, (or you're curious about your XFree86 config file) you can try this:

http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl

this will generate a modeline suitable (about 95% of the time) for insertion in your /etc/XF86Config-4 file, open it in a text editor (outside of X, I use "vi /etc/XF86Config-4", it takes a bit of getting used to so read the man pages) and see where the other modelines are located. I should say this is best done while in X, using a couple of open windows so you can cut/paste the modelines, they are tedious to type in otherwise. Add a handful of possible modelines to the file and leave them all commented out but one, etc. Take a good look at the entire file so you can add things in the other places that they need to go and most definitely back the file up where you can easily restore it from a console before playing in it. Also, you'll need to be root to edit this stuff.

if you get errors and dumped back to the console whence you came, don't despair, check the messages in /var/log/XFree86.0.log, there's a world of useful info in there, specific to you would be lines rejecting modes. You can do a "grep -i 'removing mode' /var/log/XFree86.0.log and see what might be the problem. Although I would recommend reading the entire file at least once to see what all goes on during a "startx".

also, if your XFree config hasn't disabled it, have you tried Ctrl-alt-plus and Ctrl-alt-minus (number pad +/-, i believe) to see what all modes you have available? also, a ctrl-alt-backspace will dump you quickly back out of X, where you can edit your XFree86Config-4, type "startx" see what happens, etc.

like I said, this is a really archaic way to a config, but it allows the highest degree of control over your modes."

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