Text fonts become gibberish

[Carlos_m1]

Ok Guys, I've been pulling my hair out for about a week on this...

Thanks Very much to the Ubuntu folks I have a Linux OS with RAID (Really means a lot to me).

After I've been up and running fine for about 30 min. my Text and Menu letters turn to gibberish - (Panel labels like Kate, Shell - etc are OK) but the menus and typed in text become gibberish) This extends into the menu icons and K (menu button)

When I log out and back in again I'm good for another 10-20 min. before the problem comes up again.

Occasionally I get a sunburst coming down from the upper left corner of the monitor. Color is mostly black - but there are other colors too. (think I got that worked out) - Also get a scrambled mess when I boot into the regular mode - the rescue mode works fine - thought I had that part beat - but its back).

If that's not weird enough - since I'm running duel monitors I have tried using "nv" for one monitors driver, and "nvidia" for the other but the problem persists.

My system is:
Dell Precision 450
(Raid 0)
GeForce 6200 A-LE

Monitor 0 is Hyundai B90A
Monitor 1 is Samsung Syncmaster 930B

OS is (kubuntu) Karmic With KDE 3.5 (Kubuntu-Kde3-Karmic)

Have tried:
xrefresh
dcop kwin KWinInterface refresh &>/dev/null

My most recent conf file is:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 1.0  (buildd@palmer)  Sun Feb  1 20:21:04 UTC 2009


Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "HIQ"
    ModelName      "B90A"
    HorizSync       31.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Samsung"
    ModelName      "Samsung SyncMaster 930B"
    HorizSync       31.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 6200 A-LE"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nv"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 6200 A-LE"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "1"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-1"
Option        "metamodes" "CRT-0: 1280x1024 +1280+0, CRT-1: 1280x1024 +0+0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "1"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT-1: nvidia-auto-select @1280x1024 +0+0"
EndSection

Does Anybody have any ideas - advice - suggestions?
I've also asked at ubuntu's forum but haven't gotten any results.

Thanks,
Carl

[devils casper]

Use same driver for both Device sections. Check Monitor's Manuals for supported HorizSync and VertRefresh rates and edit xorg.conf file accordingly.

These are Generic Refresh rates and work fine with most of Monitors.

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "HIQ"
    ModelName      "B90A"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 71.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 160.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Samsung"
    ModelName      "Samsung SyncMaster 930B"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 71.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 160.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

[Carlos_m1]

Thanks for the fast response!

Tried the same drivers on both but no difference (Yes, have made the change to have both the same - both now "nvidia").

Did check HorizSync & VertRefresh both numbers are as listed in the manuals - (even though they are generic) However - the Samsung does have 2 other listings for the 1280x1024 - tried them both - but doesn't change anything. Even tried the 60 from 1280 x 1024@60 Hz as the VertRefresh with no success.

Found something I'm suspicious of:
Under System Settings / Monitor & Display the refresh is listed as 50Hz. - No way to change that (Only setting listed in the drop down selector) - Is there another way that could be changed? Or would that setting be over written by the Xconfig?

Thanks...

[devils casper]

Post exact contents of xorg.conf file again. Post the output of this too :

sudo lspci | grep -i vga

[Carlos_m1]

Ok, Here's XConf (Current - Some improvement - took longer for fonts to go sour, did get star-burst after a while - still have to use Rescue mode to get a screen...)

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 1.0 (buildd@palmer) Sun Feb 1 20:21:04 UTC 2009

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "HIQ"
ModelName "B90A"
HorizSync 31.0 - 80.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 75.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "Samsung"
ModelName "Samsung SyncMaster 930B"
HorizSync 79.976
VertRefresh 60
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 6200 A-LE"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Device1"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 6200 A-LE"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "1"
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-1"
Option "metamodes" "CRT-0: 1280x1024 +1280+0, CRT-1: 1280x1024 +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
EndSubSection
EndSection

For sudo lspci | grep -i vga
The Output is:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44 [GeForce 6200 A-LE] (rev a1)

Thanks for following up - Your assistance is appreciated.
Carl

[D-cat]

Just for S&G, I'd run a pass of memtest86+.

[Carlos_m1]

Done - No Problems (didn't expect any).

[Carlos_m1]

Got most of the problem worked out. Still having problems with fonts going funky after about an hour - if I turn off the screen saver (dunno why it helps)..

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder63)  Fri Aug 14 17:54:58 PDT 2009

Section “ServerLayout”
Identifier     “Layout0″
Screen      0  “Screen0″ 0 0
InputDevice    “Keyboard0″ “CoreKeyboard”
InputDevice    “Mouse0″ “CorePointer”
EndSection

Section “Files”
EndSection

Section “ServerFlags”
Option         “Xinerama” “0″
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”

# generated from default
Identifier     “Mouse0″
Driver         “mouse”
Option         “Protocol” “auto”
Option         “Device” “/dev/psaux”
Option         “Emulate3Buttons” “no”
Option         “ZAxisMapping” “4 5″
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”

# generated from default
Identifier     “Keyboard0″
Driver         “kbd”
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier     “Monitor0″
VendorName     “HIQ”
ModelName      “HIQ B90A”
HorizSync       31.0 – 81.0
VertRefresh     56.0 – 75.0
Option         “DPMS”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier     “Device0″
Driver         “nvidia”
VendorName     “NVIDIA Corporation”
BoardName      “GeForce 6200 A-LE”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier     “Screen0″
Device         “Device0″
Monitor        “Monitor0″
DefaultDepth    24
Option         “TwinView” “1″
Option         “TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder” “CRT-0″
Option         “metamodes” “CRT-0: 1280×1024 +0+0, CRT-1: 1280×1024 +1280+0″
SubSection     “Display”
Depth       24
EndSubSection
EndSection

[D-cat]

I don't know if you're facing video driver corruption or some sort of VRam corruption/failure. I know on one computer with an older card, I had that problem switching between text and X modes, the solution was to use a lower resolution (both framebuffer/text mode and in X). It doesn't sound like your exact problem but attempting to use less video resources might help.

[Carlos_m1]

A Lower Resolution???

Ya know That might just work. - I'll Give it a try -
Don't know why I didn't think of that - just never occurred to me.

Will let you know...
Thanks...