I always got into a fight with X

**renevanh** · 10-29-2005

I always get into a fight with X, and so I did this time.
I got a Compaq computer (i know, rubish) with PII 350MHz and 64MB RAM.
I had RedHat installed on it and ran a webserver on it. It all worked really nice.
But RedHat is slow and not the thing I like, and since I got Debian installed on my "main" PC (P4 2.4GHz 512MB RAM, Asus 6600GT) I decided to get Debian on the Compaq too.
The installation was all good, but now the GUI isn't good.
When it's started, the screen is just some kind of holographic black, and the PC won't react to any commands given from the keyboard (Even CapsLock won't turn on!).
The only thing I can do is reset it, get in recovery mode, resetup X and try again, but with the same results.

My graphicscard on the Compaq is a PCI card, a Cirrus Logic CL-GD5440-J-QC-B. I tried various resolutions and colordepths, but with no result.

What should I do now?!

On another PII 350MHz PC (this one has got 128MB RAM) I also had RedHat. This one is needed as a fileserver and proxyserver. I installed Debian on it too, but I can't get the GUI work good neither. The onboard videocard won't work, and an ISA graphicscard (OAK Technologie, really old, 1991) just gives a 320x200 resolution with a colordepth of 4 bits.
I can put a PCI card in it, but I don't think it will solve the problem.
Any help would be appreciated!

So if anyone can help me with one of these problems (or both!), please help!

Regards,

René

**bidi** · 10-29-2005

Can you post your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file? I had a similar problem (blanks screen when going into X) on Slackware, and it was because I didn't have my X config file setup properly.

**renevanh** · 10-29-2005

Sure, but first I got a question about it... how do I open it in the commandline?

And is there any way to send it somewhere, or do I have to retype it manually on another PC?

Regards,

René

**bidi** · 10-30-2005

The config file is just a plain-text file, so any editor will open it. Since you can't go into X, I'd recommend copying the file to a floppy, then opening it up on a fully functional computer.

**renevanh** · 10-30-2005

Originally Posted by bidi

The config file is just a plain-text file, so any editor will open it. Since you can't go into X, I'd recommend copying the file to a floppy, then opening it up on a fully functional computer.

Good idea... haven't thought about that one lol.

Ok, working on it

Regards,

René

**renevanh** · 10-30-2005

The XF86Config-4 file of the Compaq machine.
The other one is not at this location, I'll post it wednesday.

Code:

# XF86Config-4 &#40;XFree86 X Window System server configuration file&#41;
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the XF86Config-4 manual page.
# &#40;Type "man XF86Config-4" at the shell prompt.&#41;
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xfree86 package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xfree86
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following commands as root&#58;
#
#   cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.custom
#   md5sum /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 >/var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum
#   dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

Section "Files"
	FontPath	"unix/&#58;7100"			# local font server
	# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/&#58;unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/&#58;unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load	"GLcore"
	Load	"bitmap"
	Load	"dbe"
	Load	"ddc"
	Load	"dri"
	Load	"extmod"
	Load	"freetype"
	Load	"glx"
	Load	"int10"
	Load	"record"
	Load	"speedo"
	Load	"type1"
	Load	"vbe"
	Load	"xtt"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Generic Keyboard"
	Driver		"keyboard"
	Option		"CoreKeyboard"
	Option		"XkbRules"	"xfree86"
	Option		"XkbModel"	"pc104"
	Option		"XkbLayout"	"us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Configured Mouse"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"CorePointer"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/psaux"
	Option		"Protocol"		"ImPS/2"
	Option		"ZAxisMapping"		"4 5"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Generic Mouse"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"SendCoreEvents"	"true"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/input/mice"
	Option		"Protocol"		"ImPS/2"
	Option		"ZAxisMapping"		"4 5"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"CL-GD5440-J-QC-B"
	Driver		"cirrus"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Compaq V75"
	HorizSync	30-70
	VertRefresh	50-160
	Option		"DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Device		"CL-GD5440-J-QC-B"
	Monitor		"Compaq V75"
	DefaultDepth	16
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		1
		Modes		"800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		4
		Modes		"800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		8
		Modes		"800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		15
		Modes		"800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		16
		Modes		"800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		24
		Modes		"800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier	"Default Layout"
	Screen		"Default Screen"
	InputDevice	"Generic Keyboard"
	InputDevice	"Configured Mouse"
	InputDevice	"Generic Mouse"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Mode	0666
EndSection

Regards,

Rene

**bidi** · 10-30-2005

I guess what you should check is to make sure your video driver and refresh rates are correct. It would be these two parts:

Code:

Section "Device"
   Identifier   "CL-GD5440-J-QC-B"
   Driver      "cirrus"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "Compaq V75"
   HorizSync   30-70
   VertRefresh   50-160
   Option      "DPMS"
EndSection

Do a search on google for both and make sure (1) for your monitor: the refresh rates are correct; (2) for your video driver: you have the correct driver.

**renevanh** · 10-30-2005

Is there something like a list with videocards and which driver you need for them?
Can't find the information I'm searching for when talking about the driver...

About the monitor: I found www.compgeeks.com/details.asp%3Finvtid%3DCQV75-1B+%22Compaq+V75%22+%22refresh+rate%22&hl=nl&clien t=firefox-a]this[/url].

So I opened the XF86Config-4 file in the commandline using the view command.
Then I typed ":edit" and I edited the file.
Now I'm stuck, how do I save?!

Regards,

René

**infoseeker** · 10-30-2005

I had a problem with Debian on install and I eventually found that the allocated graphics memory (shared) was set too small, but after setting it to 16MB my graphics problem disappeared.

**renevanh** · 10-30-2005

Too bad, but setting the videoram higher isn't a solution either.
But I did discover another thing.
The graphicscard isn't a CL-GD blablabla, but a GD 5430/40, and has got 1MB of RAM.

Ow I'm really getting tired of this... Just work you stupid c*w!

Regards,

René

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