Help me please!!!

[jeffthespasm]

I'm new to Linux, I just installed the latest build of Debian on a second hard drive.

I am using a Radeon 9200 graphics card. I don't know if knowing that will help answer the question or not.

I got linux installed, and accidentally chose 1280x960 for my resolution, which will not normally work. Then, when Debian booted up, the screen was HUGE. All I could see was "Sessions", which took up the entire screen. With the help of a friend, I managed to log in, and get to the desktop. After exiting out of the windows, the desktop was normal resolution. But, when I opened a window, or even hovered and got tool tips, the text was also HUGE. I mean, one word takes up the entire screen huge. I'm not sure if this is a problem with just text size or with resolution. I can't even see what I'm doing in the configuration windows, so I can't really do anything about it.

Does anyone know of any way to fix this, such as changing text/resolution size with the keyboard? I tried Ctrl+Alt+ - or +, but it did not work to change it. Can anyone help, or do I have to completely reinstall?

Thanks very much in advance.

[dan@george]

This sounds like a resolution problem. You should be able to get to a terminal from the login screen by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1. Once you're there, use a text editor to open your XF86Config file, which should be something like /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 (an "ls /etc/X11" should show you it). Then scroll down to the "Screen" section for your monitor and look at the "Modes" lines. Each of these lines should contain a whitespace-separated list of resolutions in quotes. For example, my Screen section looks like this:

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Device		"Generic Video Card"
	Monitor		"DXS:1313"
	DefaultDepth	24
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		1
		Modes		"1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		4
		Modes		"1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
...
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		24
		Modes		"1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Make sure these lines contain only resolutions your monitor can handle. If that doesn't work, then post the contents of your XF86Config file and we can think some more...

[kkubasik]

look into reading the guide for asking good questions (in teh reply screen on the right) great question, bad title, not trying to flame you, just wanted to point out that its not very descriptive.