Re: [Xpert]display problems on Sony Vaio PCG FX-705 notepad
Joshua D. Knowles wrote: I recently installed Red Hat 7.3 on my Vaio notepad. Everything works except for the display, which has the following strange behaviour. If I do startx then I do not get a functioning display and I have tried lots of different settings in Xconfig - none work when I probe. HOWEVER, if I do startx with my laptop plugged into an external monitor AND THEN switch back to the laptop's display then I get a full, high-resolution picture and everything is fine from then on! (But I don't really want to walk round with a 19 CRT monitor). Does anyone know why I get this strange behaviour and how to fix it? I guess there must be a quick fix since the display works perfectly after I do the switch. The details of the display and the video card are: 1400 x 1050 15 display ATI Rage Mobility M1 8MB graphic card I am using the XFree86 4.2 driver Thanks a lot for any replies, Joshua i just got back from vacation and checked my mail... i may be able to fix your problem. i actually had posted about this a few weeks ago on a few different lists. here's a summary of my vaio display issues: the redhat 7.3 installer detected and tested my video card perfectly during the install (showed a nice 1400x1050 gnome screen)... upon reboot, x would not work... it would bring up a messed up wiggly grey screen with a little flashing white box in one corner. however, if i then plugged the laptop into my 17 monitor, switched to the crt and then back to the lcd, x worked fine. the fact that redhat's installer worked bothered me... so i went digging around at the redhat installer console (ctrl-alt-f2 while redhat is installing) and discovered that the install program itself is running a 640x480 framebuffer xserver at :1 and the 'test config' section loads up a normal xserver on :0. so i rebooted, told grub to pass 'vga=788' to the kernel, and booted up. now i have really nice big consoles, a tux on my screen at bootup, and x works with no problems. to clarify, i am not using a framebuffer xserver. i just have the kernel activate the framebuffer device at bootup and that mysteriously makes x work fine. strange... but i'll take it! :-) so, at your grub screen, append 'vga=788' to the kernel line and boot... please do let me know if that helps! i'm really curious if this was just a fluke with my specific laptop... good luck!! -mike ps - my laptop is an fxa59 -- -- | Michael D. Labriola | |[EMAIL PROTECTED]| || | Admiralty Drive West Apt F4 | | Middletown, RI 02842 | |(401)846-4085 | -- ___ Xpert mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/xpert
[Xpert]xfree86-4.2.0 problems on a sony vaio fxa59
i just compiled xfree86-4.2.0 on my brand new sony vaio fxa59 and i'm having some strange issues getting x to start correctly. here's the quick rundown. everything compiled and installed fine, and i'm using the attached XF86Config. as you can see from the attached XFree86.0.log file, there are no obvious error messages popping up on me... but instead of getting a nice x screen when i 'startx', i get a jagged lined (almost like chain links) and speckled grey screen with a little white box in the upper left corner (about 1 square). this is not the x is running but there's no wm screen... the specs sheet that came with the laptop says it has an ATI 3D RAGE MOBILITY-M1 and a 15.0 SXGA TFT screen that's supposed to run at 1400x1050. now i was completely stumped for a while, but i've actually made a positive discovery... oddly enough, if i plug a monitor into the vga out on the laptop and switch the display over to it (which works) and then switch it back to the lcd, the lcd works correctly. now, this is a good thing... but having to plug the thing into a monitor whenever i want to use x kinda defeats the entire purpose of a laptop... ;-) baby steps in the right direction, though. if i log into x, do the external monitor trick, log out of x, and log back in the lcd still does not work. (i have to do the external monitor trick again) i also have to redo the external monitor trick if i do a 'ctrl-alt-+' to change the active resolution. so, anyone have any idea whether this is a video card driver problem with x? or an lcd compatibility problem with x? or just an XF86Config problem? (starting to doubt that last one...) someone else i spoke with actually suggested that it might be a problem with x not detecting the route from my video card to my lcd screen. is this a posibility? thanks in advance! -mike ps - as an odd side note, when i attempted to install redhat 7.3 on the laptop, the graphical install worked fine (doesn't that use an x-server?) and it even succeeded in testing the video settings... but when i started up x after installing, it did the same thing. but still, why would redhat's graphical install and x test thing work during the install? i believe the graphical install uses a framebuffer x server... but why would that be so different? (i obviously don't know what a framebuffer x server is, or i wouldn't present such a silly question...) pps - my appologies for the novel. ;-) you'de be writing books trying to fix this too if your brand new $1700 laptop had no x. !@#$% -- -- | Michael D. Labriola | |[EMAIL PROTECTED]| || | Admiralty Drive West Apt F4 | | Middletown, RI 02842 | |(401)846-4085 | -- XF86Config.gz Description: application/gunzip XFree86.0.log.gz Description: application/gunzip
Re: [Xpert]xfree86-4.2.0 problems on a sony vaio fxa59
Brian T. Schellenberger wrote: On Tuesday 20 August 2002 09:29 pm, Mike Labriola wrote: | | so, anyone have any idea whether this is a video card driver problem with | x? or an lcd compatibility problem with x? or just an XF86Config problem? | (starting to doubt that last one...) I fear that I can't answer this question . . . | ps - as an odd side note, when i attempted to install redhat 7.3 on the | laptop, the graphical install worked fine (doesn't that use an x-server?) | and it even succeeded in testing the video settings... but when i started | up x after installing, it did the same thing. but still, why would | redhat's graphical install and x test thing work during the install? But I can answer this one. It uses a VGA X server. *That* uses a compatibility mode that is present in all graphics chips and it works everywhere. But it limits the display to 640x480 (or maybe 800x600). You could actually use this driver in the meantime to use it as a laptop, but I don't think you'd be satisfied running such a low resolution on your new laptop either. And frankly X (at least with most window managers) is really pretty painfaul--certainly less well-adapted than Microsoft Windows--at anything less than 1024x768. Still it might be a feasible workaround in the meantime. i had suspected that... but here's the trully odd part. the 'test config' thing that tests your x configuration successfully loads up a 1400x1050 screen (looks like an old screenshot of gnome 1.2) during the install. this of course leads to an almost viable solution question: can the vga server be made to run at 1400x1050? and if not, how the hell is redhat pulling this off? (and as a side note, isn't that a pretty unreliable way of testing the x config...?) -mike -- -- | Michael D. Labriola | |[EMAIL PROTECTED]| || | Admiralty Drive West Apt F4 | | Middletown, RI 02842 | |(401)846-4085 | -- ___ Xpert mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/xpert
Re: [Xpert]xfree86-4.2.0 problems on a sony vaio fxa59
Brian T. Schellenberger wrote: BTW, my suggestion #1 always is to check out the Linux for Laptops page (even if you don't run Linux) for your machine and see if anybody there has a working XF86Config for you box screen. actually, i did look into 'linux for laptops'... that's why i got this particular laptop. according to pages linked from linux-laptops.net, every bit of hardware in the slightly cheaper model can be made to work... but i got the one with the faster chip and LARGER LCD SCREEN... (my bad) -mike -- -- | Michael D. Labriola | |[EMAIL PROTECTED]| || | Admiralty Drive West Apt F4 | | Middletown, RI 02842 | |(401)846-4085 | -- ___ Xpert mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/xpert
