Monitor keeps blinking in knoppix LiveCD boot

[gopikrish]

After I pressed enter key in the boot window it said "You passed an undefined mode number.Press return to see video modes available, space to continue or wait 30 secs"
When I pressed enter it showed some modes and below there was "Enter mode number or 'scan' " So when I entered "scan", after monitor blinked for some time, another window (i think VEGA) with list of different modes appeared, this time when I entered "scan", monitor blinked for a longer time but same think window appeared again showing the list of modes. But when I pressed "enter" key linux kernel booted and everything was fine and continued.Autoconfiguring devices also passed.Then sound card was recognised and everything was over.And then Root# prompt appeared, then suddenly monitor started blinking again but that light on monitor kept blinking in fast intervals and nothing happened and keeps on blinking... What could be the problem?
Actually even when I installed Damn Small Linux that same problem of "You passed an undefined mode number" appeared but when I pressed "enter" it continued and everything was successfull and no problem appeared !

[robwelch100]

It sounds like the setup is having a hard time finding a driver to use with your card. I don't know the wording but you can specify to use the VESA generic driver and set the resolution at the boot prompt. That way it uses what you specify and skipps the detection stage. I will try to edit this post once I have found the code to use. I have seen it on other posts in this forum.

(later) I Found a thread that may be of use.

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4276

try at boot prompt:
knoppix vesa, 1024x768 (if not try the same but with 800x600)
or
knoppix vga=normal

[gopikrish]

Well I tried using Knoppix vga=normal at boot and that message "You passed an undefined mode no." didn't occur but monitor blinks fastly later.Actually when it was blinking I kept on pressing ctrl-alt-del and after sometime it returned to the dos window and there the following was written,
Starting single X-window session for user knoppix. Please stand by a few seconds while the optiman configuration is being determined.
After this system terminates, the system will automatically shut down.
Starting X11...[drm:drm_init]*Error* Cannot initialize the agpgart module
root@tty1[/]#

So this was there, I dont know whether the above was displayed before that blinking occured or during or after that blinking process.So please help what to do as I am struggling :(

[bob58]

I have been struggling to get my LCD monitor to work with Knoppix 3.4. It is a Sylvania 15" LCD.....works great on Winblows Box.....I tried all the cheat codes and it does not work except for "Knoppix vga=normal" which I run from CD....I suppose I could put that code in the Append= section of LILO.....problem is I am STUCK at a lame 640x480 resolution using that code!!!!!
I have a HD install on my desktop, which has 2 hard drives. One has WinXP and the other has Knoppix 3.4......monitor works fine on WinXP.......I plugged in LCD monitor and kept getting error saying "VGA MODE NOT SUPPORTED" .....so i tried all the cheat codes while running from CD cause you cant run cheat code from HD install unless you add them to the Append=
section of LILO. Knoppix vga=normal does the trick but only in 640x480!!!! I cant deal with that low resolution.....I use 1024x768. I tried putting in those resolution numbers as well, but no go. The funny thing is my wife has a similar desktop computer. I ran the Knoppix 3.4 CD on that with that LCD MONITOR and it ran BEAUTIFULLY!!!! Whatsup with that????? Any idea????bob :(

[robwelch100]

Bob58
Did you try:
knoppix vesa, 1024x768
command at boot from cd? If not, give it a try. If it works you need to find out how well and look in the xf86config files and save the live cd config file. Then boot up the hd install and see what is different. The problem with the hd install is that it was set up with different hardware and does not know that it was changed unless you change it in the system files. I would venture to say that the nice new lcd monitor has different refresh and h&v sync rates and that is what you need to change. refer to the monitor manual for that data and change it in your xf86config files. You will have to do it in the lame 640x480 resolution i'm affraid.

I have a sylvania crt monitor, of all the distros of linux that I have none of them even list sylvania as a monitor company. I would venture to say that your wifes lcd monitor is a make that in the list and when knoppix boots, it identifies the correct settings whereas with yours, it does not. You will have to tell it what to use and you can only do that by knowing the monitor info and trial and error.

Also, other distros like SuSE, which is now available as a downloadable iso. have a great installer and hardware tool called Yast. If you have the time and want to see you could let it do it's magic and then mess with the settings in Yast. It allows you to that with the gui up and changes the settings imediately. Then you can know what the xf86files are supposed to look like and try mimicking them in knoppix.