SuSE 10.1 display frequency

[marco84]

Im a bit of a linux virgin, so could do with some help on something that is probably very simple....

I have installed SuSE 10.1 and when the system boots up i get the error message on the monitor that the refesh frequency is out of range...how can i change the frequency, i could do it in windows in seconds. but done have a clue when it comes to linux.

Thanks.

[Geoff]

Do you have the monitors manual/specs handy?

[marco84]

Not to hand im affraid, its just an old Dell CRT that ive grabbed.

[Geoff]

Ok, what about a model number?

[marco84]

Geoff, ive swapped the old Dell CRT for a new Xerox 700p. Still with the same error message.

[Geoff]

Just swapping monitors is not going to help. We need to determine what the horizontal sync and vertical refresh rates are for <insert monitor> in order to generate the correct modelines. These go in /etc/X11/xorg.conf in the monitor section. Once you've done this X will work.

There's a modeline generator here:

http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl

[CyberNerd]

SuSe 10.1 has a failsafe mode defined in the bootloader. Boot to failsafe and either run yast or sax2 as root to reset the refresh settings. or as Geoff pointed out edit the xorg.conf file by hand. Best to use the lowest possible settings then work upwards.

[Norphy]

I had the same problem with a server I installed it on recently. Even for the installation routine, it bumped the resolution/refresh rate up to 1024x768@87hz. Of course none of my TFTs could handle that so I had to go and grab a 17" CRT so I could see what I was installing. I assumed the VGA chip on the motherboard (an old Rage XL which still seems to be popular with the server board manufacturers) couldn't interrogate the monitor to get its supported modes or something as installing it on a workstation with an integrated Radeon didn't produce that problem.

After it was installed, I didn't care as I accessed the console over SSH.

The really daft thing is, OpenSuSE 10 doesn't do it. I installed it on the same server today (Because Zimbra doesn't work properly on 10.1) and everything displayed beautifully :|

[Geoff]

Best way is to sort out the monitor settings yourself. As I explained above.

[CyberNerd]

@ Norphy

The really daft thing is, OpenSuSE 10 doesn't do it. I installed it on the same server today (Because Zimbra doesn't work properly on 10.1)

I found a thread on SuSE10.1 seems some have it working at least (we're running on Centos though)
http://www.zimbra.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4695

By the way, I have an updated content filter script if you want it....

sorry for hijack,

[Norphy]

It works for the most part on 10.1 but the spell checker doesn't run and the logging facility doesn't work on it either. In the end, it was easier to download 10.0 and install it on that, at least that is an officially supported distro.