Freezing

[gugafan05]

Sometimes when I try and download a file or install a program or updates the computer freezes and the resolution goes bad with vertical lines covering the screen. Does anyone know why this might be happening? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[devils casper]

which graphics card do you have?

[gugafan05]

nvidia 64 geforce 4 mb

[devils casper]

did you install nvidia driver? which driver are you using right now?

[gugafan05]

no how do i install a driver?

[devils casper]

check this tutorial for detailed instructions. you can switch to nv or vesa driver to fix this problem but these driver doesn't support 3D effects. check Section Device Video Driver in /etc/X11/xorg.conf or XFree86 file.

[gugafan05]

Section "Device"
Identifier "nVidia Corporation NV18 [GeForce4 MX - nForce GPU]"
Driver "nv"
BusID "PCI:2:0:0"

This is what the xorg.conf files reads. What should it be if I have a nvidia nforce2 64 mb geforce 4?
Here is my processor, it is the MCP at the bottom of the page: nForce Platform Processors .

[devils casper]

try "vesa" driver. its a generic driver and works pretty fine with most of Graphics Cards.

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"nVidia Corporation NV18 [GeForce4 MX - nForce GPU]"
	Driver		"vesa"
	BusID		"PCI:2:0:0"

[gugafan05]

I tried to edit the file, but it wont let me since the permissions are not allowed for any use except the root. How do I log in as the root, what is the command and then how do i edit the file. I am assuming I am going to have to do it through the shell outside of the gui. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks for all of your help so far.

[devils casper]

root login is disabled in debian but you can gain root privileges in Terminal/Konsole by executing su command. it will ask for password, enter password of user that you created during installation.

su
nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf