new monitor connection

[normandlin]

I just connected a new monitor to my pc and when I try to startup, it shows the normal startup screens, but then the screen goes blank and a box says out of range. When : i switch drives to windows the startup is normal.

[mrrangerman43]

Is the monitor a LCD, CTR,? What distro are you using? Did you kick your dog? Did you search on this forum or google.com/linux? You need to give some kind of info?????

If its a CTR you can edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and make sure you enter the right Hor. & Ver. sync. Also enter the proper res. "1024x768" "800x600" ect.

If its a LCD I'm not sure, I believe in Debian you have to rerun dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg (not sure if that is the proper command) as I don't use a LCD yet. But anywho, rerun whatever X configuration for your distro and it should detect it.

[normandlin]

thanks for the info. !. it's a lcd. @. I'm really new to linux so trying to run commands is new. 3. my screen goes blank early in startup so don't seem to be able to insert any commands on blank screen that won't show any functions

[mrrangerman43]

What linux are you using Red Hat, Slack, Ubuntu, Suse, Debian,? You should have a opption at bootup to boot into safe or recovery mode. It will allow you to boot into a shell as root, no Xserver running, from there you can edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf. But you need to let us know what you are using.

[normandlin]

using suse 10.1

[normandlin]

have seen option to boot in safe mode will try your method thanks for the support. I'm just really new to linux..

[normandlin]

along these same lines would appreciate any input on good books for beginning linux users.

[normandlin]

just tried using /etc/x11/xorg.conf. says invalid file or directory

[spowel4]

>>just tried using /etc/x11/xorg.conf. says invalid file or directory

In linux, file names are case sensitive (i.e. /etc/x11/xorg.conf is not the same as /etc/X11/xorg.conf). The proper path to this file is /etc/X11/xorg.conf. While you're at the command prompt in safe mode, type in the following: vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

This will open the file in an editor. Page down until you find the sections called "Monitor" and "Screen", these are the two sections that determine what resolution your monitor is being asked to run at. Below is mine that I'm using for a 17" lcd monitor. My setup may not be the best way, but it works. Follow this format and change the line called "Modes" under subsection "Display" to the resolution you want your monitor to run at (usually for lcd's it's 1280x1024 but I need glasses so I changed it to 1024x768 for better readability). To change the text while in vi, press the "i" key for insert. When you've made the changes, press the escape key to get out of edit mode and then enter :wq to save the file. Then restart your pc and see what you get.

BTW, you will probably want to save a backup copy of your xorg.conf file before doing any of this stuff just in case it gets totally screwed up. You can do that by typing in "cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.backup" at the command line.

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "AL1717"
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ATI Technologies, Inc. Rage 128 Pro Ultra TF"
Monitor "AL1717"
DefaultDepth 24

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

[normandlin]

well that got me going but no luck with the changes. What is the easiest way to uninstall the entire thing and then restart fresh with the installation cd's. I would like to do the reinstall but hopefully without having to write zeros to the hard drive. I have a separate hard drive in this pc for Linux

[mrrangerman43]

Ok if you boot into recovery mode you should have to give your root password, you will be in a shell with a prompt kind of like a Dos prompt.

Using NANO

I'm not sure if Suse uses nano for a editor so it this doesn't work don't worry,
at the prompt type nano -w /etc/X11/xorg.conf just like you see it, as spowel4 said linux is case sensitive, so make sure its X11 not x11. Now follow spowel4's instructions if you plan at some point to use the same monitor you started with, instead of overwriting the original settings just comment them out with a # at the beginning of each line you want to save like this,

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
# HorizSync 29-85
HorizSync new
# VertRefresh 50-15
VertRefresh new

Just add a new line with the proper settings for your new monitor under the old settings like above.
Now you can make what ever changes to your Modes

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
note: xserver reads from left to right, so whatever Mode/resolution you want at bootup have it be the first in the list like above "1024x768" will be the default mode.
After changes are made you need to save them, press Ctrl + x at the same time, nano will ask if you want to save changes, press y for yes, now if another menu comes up instead of taking you back to the command prompt, press Ctrl + t at the same time, on the next screen use your arrow keys to toggle to the xorg.conf entry, now press enter, it may ask one more time to confirm overwrite, press y for yes.

Now you should be back at a prompt, to see if the changes work type startx if all goes well the xserver should start. If it doesn't start it may be because your logged in as root, if that is the case type logout then when it brings you to a login prompt login as user, then try startx again.

Using VI

Follow spowel4 instructions

EDIT: You don't need to reinstall thats a windows habbit you CAN work this out.

[spowel4]

Doing a quick google search for suse command line commands to configure the xserver turns up either sax or sax2. You might try entering one or both of these commands at the command prompt to see if it will take you to a configuration screen for x.
Keeping in mind that everything in linux is case sensitive, if typing in either one of these commands results in a command not found message, try variations of them, such as Sax2 or SaX2, you get the gist. Since I don't use suse (I use ubuntu) I don't have any idea what the sax configuration screen might look like but if you can get it to open, I would think it will provide options for you to change your screen resolution, color depth, etc...

[normandlin]

Well I tried but hosed it up. End result I reinstalled operating system. It picked up the monitor right away. So now it's ok.. Thanks everyone for the input it all helped and is very much appreciated. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good book to learn these things, for a Linux beginner....

[spowel4]

Well I tried but hosed it up. End result I reinstalled operating system. It picked up the monitor right away. So now it's ok.. Thanks everyone for the input it all helped and is very much appreciated. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good book to learn these things, for a Linux beginner....

Well I'm glad you got it working. The Apress books seem to be pretty good, they've got one for suse called "Beginning SuSE linux" that you might want to check out. I haven't read it but I've bought a couple of Apress books dealing with javascript/ajax and they seem to be pretty good. I'm sure others in this forum will have good suggestions for you too.

[mrrangerman43]

Glad to hear you have it working BUT reinstalling only teaches you to reinstall, although I've been there myself.

Here (http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz) is a good online book.

[normandlin]

Thanks for all the help it really makes it easier to learn this new system....

[webwolf]

You will, in general, find the Linux Community to be very friendly and ready to help. As a short future note, it is normally helpfull when we know what distrobution you are using. Enjoy linux.

Jeremy

[ladoga]

Well I tried but hosed it up. End result I reinstalled operating system. It picked up the monitor right away. So now it's ok.. Thanks everyone for the input it all helped and is very much appreciated. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good book to learn these things, for a Linux beginner....
http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz

Sorry, I read your post too late. What would have probably solved your problem would have been issuing vga=792 parameter to your kernel, which gives 1024x768 24bpp framebuffer. You can change your kernels boot up parameters from /boot/grub/menu.lst.

This thread has a chart for figuring out those modes and some additional info (some of which applies only to debian based distros):
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=286241

In all distros using grub you can add this vga= parameter to the end of kernel line in /boot/grub/menu.lst for example:
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27-2-386 root=/dev/hda5 vga=792

In linux there is usually much easier ways to solve problems than reinstall. Google is your friend.