Arch Linux

arbulus

Member

Registered: 2007-12-25

Posts: 45

Problem with video driver

I'm new to Arch.  I've been using Linux for a few years, but just started trying out Arch.  I've installed on an old Dell Dimension 2400 and I'm trying to get the GUI set up but I'm having a problem with the video driver.  I have the Intel 82845 driver and I have a 22" monitor. The native resolution of my monitor is 1680x1050.

I tried installing the "intel" driver, but that didn't work at all.  I couldn't get X to work. So I tried installing the i810 driver, and it does work, but it won't give me the correct resolution.  I think it's only trying to give me a really low resolution and just stretching it out enormously, because my screen area is enormous, it extends off the monitor.  I'm not really sure what is going on or how to get it work properly. I tried telling it to just use 1440x900 resolution in xorg.conf in case it's not able to do 1680x1050, but that doesn't seem to help.

I'm just using openbox for a gui.

Here's my xorg.conf file:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "X.org Configured"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath      "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
    ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load  "extmod"
    Load  "glx"
    Load  "dri"
    Load  "record"
    Load  "GLcore"
    Load  "dbe"
    Load  "xtrap"
    Load  "freetype"
EndSection

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

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Mouse0"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option        "Protocol" "auto"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option        "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    #DisplaySize      470   300    # mm
    Identifier   "Monitor0"
    VendorName   "WDE"
    ModelName    "LCM-22w3"
 ### Comment all HorizSync and VertRefresh values to use DDC:
    HorizSync    30.0 - 82.0
    VertRefresh  56.0 - 76.0
    Option        "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "NoAccel"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "SWcursor"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ColorKey"               # <i>
        #Option     "CacheLines"             # <i>
        #Option     "Dac6Bit"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DRI"                    # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoDDC"                  # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ShowCache"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvMCSurfaces"           # <i>
        #Option     "PageFlip"               # [<bool>]
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "i810"
    VendorName  "Intel Corporation"
    BoardName   "82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device"
    BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device     "Card0"
    Monitor    "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
        Modes    "1440x900"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Any ideas?

bgc1954

Member

From: Edmonton, AB, Canada

Registered: 2006-03-14

Posts: 1,160

Re: Problem with video driver

Google is your friend... http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=352147

or: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=557598h

Last edited by bgc1954 (2008-04-07 02:38:54)

---

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz

arbulus

Member

Registered: 2007-12-25

Posts: 45

Re: Problem with video driver

Google is your friend... http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=352147

or: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=557598h

I did google and I couldn't find anything. That's why I came here.

It appears that the questions in those links weren't answered.  They don't have anything that explains how to fix the problem.

arbulus

Member

Registered: 2007-12-25

Posts: 45

Re: Problem with video driver

I forgot to mention:

I first tried setting up X using hwd, but it didn't detect my mouse and keyboard and when I started x it said no screens found.  So I tried X -configure and that's what got me to where I am now.

somairotevoli

Member

Registered: 2006-05-23

Posts: 335

Re: Problem with video driver

maybe try a lower resolution? just because the monitor can do 1440x900 doesn't mean the video card can.

arbulus

Member

Registered: 2007-12-25

Posts: 45

Re: Problem with video driver

Ok, so I came across this command "xrandr" to refer to your screen resolution settings.  This is the output of that command for me:

Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1600 x 1200
default connected 1600x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right) 0mm x 0mm
   1280x1024      75.0  
   1024x768       75.0  
   800x600        75.0  
   640x480        75.0  
   1600x1200      75.0*

Since 1680x1050 is not listed on this, does that mean that my card is not capable of 1680x1050?  I'm not terribly familiar with this.

arbulus

Member

Registered: 2007-12-25

Posts: 45

Re: Problem with video driver

Well, I just answered my own question. I pulled a 17" CRT monitor out of the closet just to see if it could get the correct resolution.  I plugged in my monitor and had to do X -configure again, but it works like a charm now with the correct 1280x1024 resolution for this monitor.  so I guess my video card just couldn't handle the 1680x1024 resolution.

Thanks for your help, though!

danes

Member

Registered: 2004-11-24

Posts: 48

Re: Problem with video driver

did you check this?

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_GMA_945

---

[DESKTOP]

arbulus

Member

Registered: 2007-12-25

Posts: 45

Re: Problem with video driver

did you check this?

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_GMA_945

I've not seen that one.  I'm going to give that a shot.
Thanks!