Monitor goes out of freq. range on attempting to start Xubuntu...

[i845_]

Hi.

I installed Xubuntu 7.10 on my machine this morning. The installation completed smoothly, but on attempting to boot Xubuntu up, the monitor showed the "Out of frequency range" screen (and suspended the display after a timeout of 20 secs.). And yes, I don't even get to see the usplash screen...

Clearly, X was somehow asking my monitor (an LG 500G) to work at an unsupported refresh-rate, so tried to reconfigure X by issuing as root:

dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Still no change. The newly created xorg.conf and the backed up copy were identical, bit-for-bit. (Have attached a copy of the original...)

If you look at my xorg.conf, you'll see that the Monitor section contains only two entries:

Identifier "500E"
Option "DPMS"

So I added these to it:

HorizSync 30-54
VertRefresh 50-120

and tried again. Still, nothing! My graphics accelerator is an i845GL. And I've been using Ubuntu for a year and a half now, without any issues.

Any ideas?

[saikee]

Your horizontal and vertical frequencies look like those for a CRT which are at variance with the those listed here (http://www.fixya.com/support/p397949-lg_l1915s_19_lcd_monitor)

Try the LCD setting and let us know the result.

Don't think there is any harm to get the two frequencies matching the manufacturer's settings first and then look at the video driver next. I have no experience with your "Intel" driver but let's us concentrating one problem at a time.

[mrrangerman43]

saikee

The LG 500G is a CTR monitor, and the H & V he has listed are the correct settings for that monitor.

Although I don't see them listed in the xorg.conf file he posted.


SubSection "Display"
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x450" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection

i845_

Get rid or that resolution the max on that monitor is "1024x768" and see if that will fix the problem. The xorg.conf file is read from left to right so the default resolution in this case is 1280x1024 which is outside of the monitors max.

Edit: This was what I found on that monitor, LINK (http://www.monitoresonline.com.br/LG500G.htm) unless that's not the monitor you have, dropping your resolution should work.

[i845_]

@saikee

The link you provided corresponds to the LG L1915S (LCD) monitor.

Like I mentioned in my last post, my monitor is an LG StudioWorks 500G, which is a CRT. (See here (http://www.villman.com/products/specs/lg/500g.asp?code=lg_sw_500g_white&ref=lg/500g.asp).)

edit: Late again! Sheesh!
edit: Thanks for the tip, mrrangerman... will try it out now!

[i845_]

On trying to edit my xorg.conf, I found that I had already removed "1280x1024" from the 'Modes' entry, the last time I edited it. The xorg.conf file I submitted was the one created by the Xubuntu installer, and not my edited version.

Just to make sure, I deleted my existing xorg.conf, reconfigured X, edited the new xorg.conf yet again, and re-tried...

Still, nothing!

[saikee]

OK I read the 500E model picked up by xorg.conf. Your frequencies are therefore correct.

In your case I usually try another generic driver, like "vesa".

Sometimes even within the same family, could possibly happen to Ubuntu and Xubuntu too, the same video driver can work on one distro and not on another another.

[i845_]

@saikee

Given the situation I'm in, I boot into Xubuntu using the "recovery mode" option that it creates in Grub, and do my changes there. I tried to run Xorg from there, and well, it seems to work! (I get a blank screen with an X at the center.) But on booting using the normal entry, my monitor goes bonkers.

I tried the "vesa" driver (by changing entries in xorg.conf), but to no avail.

Attached below are copies of my Xorg.0.log files, using both "intel" and "vesa" drivers, just in case...

[saikee]

I haven't checked Xubuntu but the standard booting choices from a Ubuntu installable Live CD include one forces the Xorg to use "vesa". It is featured as the 2nd booting option in case the first one doesn't work.

Now you can actually install Xubuntu and that means the kernel and its parameter as used by Xubuntu did work before during installation. Only in a post installation it fails.

To force the Xubuntu to uses vesa it is just adding an extra parameter in the kernel statement with "xforce vesa" in its isolinux.cfg, which can be directly translated into Grub's menu.lst. This is introducing "vesa" at booting stage as an alternative.

If you have another distro from the Ubuntu family installed you can check its xorg.conf setting to see the monitor and video driver that work and use them in Xubuntu.

Up to a certain point I believe you can also investigate a boot-up Xubuntu's xorg.conf setting if it has one, from the Live CD. If not you can generate one for investigation purpose.

In a desktop that work or does not work you can press crtl+atl+backspace to drop back to a terminal mode. Edit xorg.conf, save the file and type "startx" to go back to the desktop. Thus you can getting the bugger sorted by try and error repeatedly between desktop and terminal mode.

[i845_]

There might be something that we're missing. Like I said in my first post, I don't even get to the usplash screen. I select the entry for Xubuntu in Grub, press Enter, and poof...

Pardon me if I'm wrong, but does X even get started at that stage?

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/* For the uniniatiated, here's how the Ubuntu wiki defines usplash:

usplash is a userspace application that uses the Linux framebuffer interface or direct vesa access to draw a splash screen at boot. It has a companion utility that is able to send commands to usplash, allowing information about the bootup sequence to be displayed in a more attractive way.

In other words, it's similar to bootsplash, fbsplash and gensplash, and many other custom apps that distros use to make the bootup sequence look more atrractive. */

[saikee]

No.

Many distros want to show something more sophisticated than a terminal mode, which both Grub and Lilo use, and would embedded a splash image at the boot-up screen. I always remove it as one of them called "fgxmenu", that favoured by Opensuse and Sidux, can prevent the activation of a Grub prompt.

Grub has no interest in the Linux. It just loads the kernel, ensure the parameters to be passed at boot time are carried by the kernel and buggers off not to be seen again.

The kernel will start the hardware detection and loading of various files.

Only at the final stage the X Windows is loaded if that is want has been wriitten in the booting up procedure of the kernel. Thus if a video screen is mismatched the Linux is actually waiting for you in the terminal mode, probably seeping coffee and relaxing in the sun at the back ground. The key sequence of ctrl+alt+backspace is to remove the isolation between you and the Linux. It works most of the time for me.

One of the reason that you did not get a splash screen is in recent Ubuntu versions the command "hiddenmenu" has become popular. That effectively hide the Grub booting screen making the user booting the default system permanently. You can put a # in the menu.lst to disable it if you want to see the Grub menu. I believe there is a message to invite you to press the "esc" key if you want to unhide the menu.

[i845_]

One of the reason that you did not get a splash screen is in recent Ubuntu versions the command "hiddenmenu" has become popular. That effectively hide the Grub booting screen making the user booting the default system permanently. You can put a # in the menu.lst to disable it if you want to see the Grub menu. I believe there is a message to invite you to press the "esc" key if you want to unhide the menu.

I don't even get to the usplash screen. I select the entry for Xubuntu in Grub, press Enter, and poof...

@saikee

I'm aware of the hiddenmenu command.

Grub is not the problem. I get to see it all right. (Please refer to quoted text...) It seems to me that the problem is with usplash, which is unrelated to Grub. Let me explain.

The first distro that I used was RH-7. Back then, on bootup, the kernel would print a lot of messages to your terminal, as it went on to detect and set up the devices on your system. Then init would come come up, and fire away messages as it spawned new processes and started services on yout machine. These days, distros use some kind of app (bootsplash, gensplash, splashy, usplash, etc.) to hide that phase from the end-user, replacing it with a neat, little progressbar on a funky looking background. These apps get started even before the kernel invokes init. So I'm assuming that this is (probably) not an problem related to X.

This (http://wiki.freespire.org/images/e/ea/Grub-menu2.gif) is what I get to see. After this point, I should normally have gotten to see this (http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/7940/xubuntuusplashxh5.gif). But I don't.

Many distros want to show something more sophisticated than a terminal mode, which both Grub and Lilo use, and would embedded a splash image at the boot-up screen. I always remove it as one of them called "fgxmenu", that favoured by Opensuse and Sidux, can prevent the activation of a Grub prompt.

OpenSUSE uses Gfxboot (http://en.opensuse.org/Gfxboot). Gfxboot will allow you access to Grub, if you press Esc. (Around two days back, I repaired Grub on a friend's machine using a Frugalware disc. It had Grub along with Gfxboot. Guess what magic I used... that's right, Just Booting Tips! ;-) ... )

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[saikee]

Good tip on gfxboot. I shall try it out and update my Just booting tips.

Do you manage to get back to the terminal mode by pressing ctrl+alt+backspace?

Your xorg.0.log doesn't mention any screen error and I got the feeling the process was aborted. However you did say in the first post that you got the "Out of frequency range" error.

Since you show a Freespire screen I take it that distro manages your hardware OK and there is nothing out of the ordinary between its xorg.conf with that of Xubuntu.

The last straw is obviously that may be a genuine bug in Xubuntu. Don't supposed you can try to run an older version or Ubuntu or Kubuntu, may be installing it onto an external hard disk just to prove the xorg setting is functional by another Ubuntu family member?

[i845_]

Problem solved! I am writing this from within Xubuntu. :-)

usplash was indeed the culprit.

usplash uses a configuration file, /etc/usplash.conf. This file consists of only two lines:

xres=somevalue
yres=somevalue

In my case, xres and yres were set to 1280 and 1024 respectively. I corrected the values, and issued this:

dpkg-reconfigure usplash

That solved the problem. It came to me later that maybe passing the vga=771 parameter to the kernel would also work.

This quirk seems to have made an entry to the official Ubuntu bug-list. Here (https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/usplash/+bug/64487)'s a link.

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I am deeply grateful to all who took the time to read and reply to my post... you guys rock!

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[saikee]

Nice to see you sorted out but more importantly you have left the a trail of useful information on how it was investigated and subsequently cured.

Well done!

[i845_]

@saikee

You were with me all the time. Here's a token of my gratitude.

Good tip on gfxboot. I shall try it out and update my Just booting tips.

(link (http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5578/gfxbootfrugalwarestartie9.png)) Gfxboot in all its glory.
(link (http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5052/gfxbootfrugalwareescfv8.png)) This is what you get on pressing Esc.
(link (http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/8608/frugalwaregruboq5.png)) And this is where you get on pressing OK in the last step.

I don't need to tell you where you'll get from here by pressing c, do I...? ;-)

[saikee]

i845

Your tip helps me to write this thread (http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?p=875081#post875081) and I put in an acknowledgement of your contribution.

As a result of your tip I have added in "Just booting tips" a new Task J4 to alert users some Linux/Solaris CD/DVD can give a Grub prompt. I also mentioned your name there but it may be hard to find though.