Cannot Access Display Settings after hdd install

[Coolnat2004]

I just installed knoppix/debian as a bual boot with the helpful assistance of the people in the chatroom.

But since the drfault resolution is 800x600 i wanted to change it. I went into control center and i cant get to the display settings!

It just tries to opens and times out and stops trying.

I also get a "Video mode undefined" at startup and I have to hit enter twice..help?

[m_yates]

The problem is you have to be root user to change the display settings. You can do this two ways:

1. Logout of KDE and login as root user, then try to change display settings using KDE control center.

2. To do it without logging out, open a terminal and enter "su", then you will be prompted for a password. Enter the root password, then you will be root in the terminal. Enter the command "kcontrol" to open the control center as root and make the display change.

Good luck.

[Stephen]

I just installed knoppix/debian as a bual boot with the helpful assistance of the people in the chatroom.

But since the drfault resolution is 800x600 i wanted to change it. I went into control center and i cant get to the display settings!

It just tries to opens and times out and stops trying.

I also get a "Video mode undefined" at startup and I have to hit enter twice..help?

To fix the undefined video mode you need to edit the file /etc/lilo.conf and change the vga=791 line to vga=normal to do this open a console window (clam shell icon on taskbar) and type in su and the enter key type in your root password and then enter key again you are now root. Next gvim /etc/fstab then enter key once more make the required change and save the file to write the changes to LILO type /sbin/lilo -v and enter key. For the resolution we need to know the video card and monitor you have in the system and you need to post the contents of the file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file.

[m_yates]

When you edit lilo.conf and put vga=normal, it will give 640x480 resolution for the text that scrolls by during boot up. If you want higher resolution, you can try the following mode numbers:

Colors 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
------------------------------------------------------
256 | 769 771 773 775 796
32,768 | 784 787 790 793 797
65,536 | 785 788 791 794 798
16.8M | 786 789 792 795 799

For example, vga = 788 will give you 800x600 resolution with 65,536 colors. You may have to do trial and error to find one that works. My nforce2 motherboard with integrated graphics also didn't support vga = 791, but I changed it to vga = 788 and all is well. Now I see the pengiun on my screen during boot up!

[Coolnat2004]

can't I just set the resolution in KDE and It'll change it when it runs? Because I don't care about how big the boot text is

Oh, and I realised the loggin in as root thing last night, my mistake to not try that.

One other question: Is it worth logging into a personal account or should I just always log in as root. Since I am the only main user of the computer, you know. I noticed the root account doesn't have the hard drive icons on the desktop as the personal account does (by default any way). Until then I'm logging into my personal account

EDIT: and about the undefined video mode, I'm reinstalling linux through the knoppix-installer script. I think it just takes your cheatcode settings from when you boot knoppix and puts them in the lilo config automatically. So I used vga=normal this time and it should work.

[Coolnat2004]

nevermind..i do that and now i have to use the text/shell with no GUI. I use the Intel 840 something integrated chipset. the card wasnt listed on the control panel so i left it..hopefully ill be able to set it back through this. perhaps intel has some linux drivers?

[m_yates]

You should be able to change resolution in KDE, but that will not change the resolution during boot up, it only changes the resolution used after X windows starts. If you don't care about boot up, vga=normal should work. If you used vga=normal as a cheat code, it should stay that way after hard drive install also.

It is not a good idea to always log in as root. There are no safety warnings (like "are you sure?" in windows) and you can really screw things up by mistake when you run as root.

[m_yates]

The configuration file is XF86Config-4. Your old one should be backed up. Open a terminal, "su" to become root and try:

cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.kxconfig.backup /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

That will overwrite the new configuration file with your old one. You can now try starting KDE with the command "startx" or "startkde". You can try running kcontrol again and selecting "generic" drivers and select the driver "i810" and see if that works. It may take some trial and error to see if it works.

Another option is to boot up with the Knoppix CD using a cheat code for resolution (like screen=1280x1024). If that works, you can copy the Knoppix generated file is /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 to your hard drive and overwrite the current XF86Config-4 file on your hard drive with it.

[A. Jorge Garcia]

Colors 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
------------------------------------------------------
256 | 769 771 773 775 796
32,768 | 784 787 790 793 797
65,536 | 785 788 791 794 798
16.8M | 786 789 792 795 799

OK, I changed vga=791 to vga=normal in lilo on my knoppix-installed as debian box. This got rid of the boot errors. My Dell Optiplex GX270 has the onboard intel video chip (i810). When in WIMxP, I can get 16bit (65536 colors) and 24bit (16.8 million colors) color depth at 800x600 and 1024x768 resolution. These are the only video modes available on this chip.

So, in lilo:
I tried vga=788 for 800x600x16, no joy;
I tried vga=791 for 1024x768x16, no joy;
I tried vga=789 for 800x600x24, no joy;
I tried vga=792 for 1024x768x24, no joy.

In every case I get the video boot errors back and kcontrol reports only 640x480x8. The res is low, but it looks better than 640x480 (maybe 800x600). How do I get 1024x768??

BTW, I got my res to work off the liveCD with the following cheat: vga=normal screen=1024x768 xvrefresh=60

TIA,

[Coolnat2004]

Somehow, using Knoppix cheatcodes, I got a XF86Config-4 file that gets me at 1024x768 resolution (not sure bout the colors I think its 24 bit, not sure)

Well, actually I used this

boot: knoppix screen=1280x1024

and thats all, although it gave me 1024x768 (odd)

Well, I'm using the onboard intel i810 too, on my Dell Dimension 2350, so it should work for you. btw, when you get knoppix running at a good resolution, in the KNOPPIX menu select root shell, and enter this.

mount /dev/hda2 [linux install partition] /dev/hda2 [matching hda number, hdb, etc]
cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /mnt/hda2/etc/X11/XF86Config-4

make sure that it's not mounted through the desktop because then you can't mount it with RW permissions from the root shell.

Anyway, that should get your X Window session at the same resolution as it is when you boot from the CD (wow and I'm a Linux n00b as of December 3rd!)

Worked for me, although I can't get 1152x864 or 1280x1024 while those modes are available and working in Windows.
Any ideas for upping that? When I try to change them it just runs at 640x480x8, the lowest, must I say "safe-mode" setting.

Oh, and I have my current XF86Config-4 backed up in 3 different places hehehe