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View Full Version : Strange Video problem with NetVista X40i



Jansi
04-11-2005, 02:14 PM
With the KNOPPIX 3.4 disk, the IBM NetVista X40i lauches XFree86 perfectly. With KNOPPIX 3.7, it seems to *think* it has launched XFree86 properly, but really, it has created nothing better than a featureless white rectangle covering the right-3/4ths of a blank screen.

What perplexes me is that and older version of KNOPPIX works perfectly, while a newer one fails spectacularly...

Anyway, I've worked around that for a while. But it was irksome, and philosophically disatisfying (things aren't supposed to become LESS compatible, right :-) )... so recently I went ahead and installed Debian on that computer, thinking I could at least tinker with it now that it was a regular install. But same problem! I've tried what I can think of -- booting from KNOPPPIX 3.4 and then copying the XFree86config-4 file it creates over to my new installation... but no-go. I can ssh from another machine and run X apps remotely, so I assume the XServer is working fine.

SO all this sort of means to me that it isn't so much a KNOPPIX problem, but more of an XFree86 one... but I post here because KNOPPIX 3.4 did at least prove that running X Windows was totally possible at one point...

Anyway, any ideas of what I could try? Or where exactly I should go for more info, or to report a possible new bug? More info: NetVista is a bit of a weird beast -- BIOS allows sharing of system memory with the video chip (an SiS 630, apparently), and it has a built-in LCD screen. But I've gotten the impression a matrix screen was less finicky in some ways than CRT monitors -- at least H and V syncs aren't as critical (right?).

By this point, I am more determined to fix it out of curiosity than anything else. I mean, the idea that things get worse really bugs me --

lotech
04-11-2005, 03:57 PM
I wish I can help you, but I've similar problem with my m/b build in SiS display, I can only get 800x600 on my Philips LCD which capable of 1024x768, I don't have such problem with Suse where I switched from. I think it is due to I forced it fb800x600 during installation so that my monitor will not go out of sync., I tried hard to edit the XF86config-4 but no luck, I don't know what limited that.