24 April 2009

Debian Lenny - simple fix for Trident video card

My note for my old laptop which has Trident Cyberblade video card.

Reference:
http://www.edugeek.net/forums/nix/32431-omg-xorg-trident-video-4hours-wasted-time.html

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+question/49247

By default Debian Lenny and Ubuntus (even the latest 9.04 version) can only show 800x600 as the maximum resolution while the correct resolution should be 1024 x 768

To overcome the problem usually I copied the xorg.conf file from any other distros (mostly Mepis and Sidux).

Today I found the above references, and it turns out that the solution is really simple, just add 2 lines in the "Monitor" section of the default xorg.conf as follows:

HorizSync 28-96
VertRefresh 50-75

(The above values I took from sidux's xorg.conf).

Now from the System > Preferences > Screen Resolution menu, I can choose the refresh rate (60, 70 or 75 Hz).

Below is the complete xorg.conf

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
HorizSync 28-96
VertRefresh 50-75
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

13 comments:

  1. thanks for that . work great .
    Regards.
    Patrick.2

    ReplyDelete
  2. Terima kasih PakSeputar.

    Salam.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have been working on fixing my screen resolution on an old notebook all night. Your edits to the xorg.conf file worked. Thanks a lot:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are welcome.
    And thanks for leaving your comment.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You have saved me. Thank you so much. I have spent weeks trying to figure this out and even looking for help in the forums under r100 and I couldn't find this until today. I'm a total newbie and old fart so I almost gave up, but thanks to you, my son will have a great laptop with a great o/s. Only other thing i needed to know was to use
    gksu gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf in order to edit the xorg file and be able to save changes. I was using just a text editor but it wouldn't let me save my changes. Thanks again!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi MeandAJ,
    Glad to hear it.
    Actually the credit should go to the references I mentioned in the posting.

    Regarding gksu gedit, well, I know what you mean, been there and done that too :)
    Maybe next time I should mention it clearly. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you :)

    ReplyDelete