Arch Linux

Sylvain_P

Member

Registered: 2008-06-23

Posts: 2

[newbie] default Xorg works but wrong driver

Hi,

I am using ArchLinux 2008.04 x86_64 (up-to-date) on a Dell Optiplex 745 (82Q963/Q965 Integrated Graphics Controller) with a VGA-connected screen (DELL FPW2005 1680x1050@60Hz).
Occasionally when windows open they first appear "fuzzy" for a fraction of second. It doesn't matter so much, but I wanted to understand why.
Using hwd -s it appears that the video driver used is xf86-video-vesa instead of xf86-video-intel (the last version of which is installed on my PC).
I tried to make my own xorg,conf, but I cannot get it working (several warning and a fatal error: no screen found, or screen found but no suitable mode available)
The strange thing is: the default xorg.conf is huge and contains plenty of screen resolutions / modes, none of them matching my screen characteristics, and yet once X starts the resolution is the good one (display looks good, and I checked using xrandr | grep '*' ) ?!

This is the interesting part of my own (but useless) xorg.conf:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Dell 2005FPW"
    Option "DPMS" "true"
    VendorName   "Dell"
    ModelName    "Dell 2005FPW"
    HorizSync    65.3
    VertRefresh  60.0
    # 1680x1050 @ 60Hz (VESA) hsync: 65.3kHz
    ModeLine "1680x1050" 146.25 1680 1728 1760 1840   1050 1053 1059 1080 -hsync +vsync
#EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Intel Corporation 82Q963/Q965 Integrated Graphics Controller"
        Driver "intel"
    Vendorname "Intel"
    Option "AccelMethod" "XAA"
    BusID "PCI:0:2:1"
    VideoRam 131072
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "intel"
    Device     "Device0"
    Device     "Intel Corporation 82Q963/Q965 Integrated Graphics Controller"
    Monitor    "Dell 2005FPW"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     24
        Modes "1680x1050@60"
        Viewport  0 0
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Parameters for the monitor are from the Dell website. I tried also without BusID and VideoRam, but this makes no difference.

I also tried only:

Section ""Device"
    Identifier "intel"
    Driver "intel"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "intel"
    Device     "Device0"
    DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

as apparently the last intel driver (>2.0.0) should be able to find everything by themselves, but this does not work either, though it leads to another error.

There are many sources of information for xorg.conf with intel driver, but with various syntax, various advices, and often not up-to-date (typically using previous drivers like i810).

Again this is not a big deal as the default Xorg.conf works, but I would be happy to understand what is wrong here.

Many thanks in advance!

kumyco

Member

From: somewhere

Registered: 2008-06-23

Posts: 153

Website

Re: [newbie] default Xorg works but wrong driver

it would prolly help if you posted the output; see /var/log/Xorg*(, sorry i don't remember the full filename)

i see a couple syntax errors, i wouldn't expect it to parse the config file because of these
`Section ""Device"'' << double quotes ... `#EndSection' the openening `Section' is never closed

generating the default config with `X -configure` and then correcting the driver should be fine,
don't forget to copy the new config file over (/root/xorg.conf.new?)

Sylvain_P

Member

Registered: 2008-06-23

Posts: 2

Re: [newbie] default Xorg works but wrong driver

Thanks for your help!
Actually the # mistake (commented EndSection) was only from my copy/paste to this forum.
I tried removing the duplicate quote (""Device) with no success.
I will make several tests and will look at the logs systematically. Unfortunately I am not often at my computer lately.

What I find strange is:
the default file obtained by

hwd -xa

asks for the driver vesa and create this huge list of screen resolution (Modelines), none of which match my screen characteristics, and indeed the resolution will be poor (probably 1024*768). If I change vesa for intel, but let the list of Modelines and default screen resolution, everything is OK, as if the intel driver overwrite the rest of the xorg.conf file. However, hwd -s indicates that I am still using vesa!?

server: Xorg (vesa)  Driver: xf86-video-vesa   module: -

I am certainly missing something here...