Screen resolution problem is independent of window managers

I am booting from the CD and I don't have the option of installing to the hard drive. No matter what cheat code(s) I use, the screen resolution won't change. I have booted into seven different window managers with the same results. Because of that, I assume the problem is with X and my video card and/or monitor.

I can only see about a 463x198 piece of a 1600x1200 desktop. If I have an open window, I have to hold down <Alt> and drag the window around with the mouse just to see what is on it. When KDE and some of the other window managers are loading, the cursor appears as a large "X", but once the window manager is loaded the cursor changes into a tail-less arrowhead. I have tried different screen sizes using the cheat codes and I have tried changing settings in XF86Config-4, but nothing makes a difference. Changing settings in KDE's control panel and using <Ctrl><Alt><+> and <Ctrl><Alt><-> also does nothing.

Another possible clue is that when I boot, the only way I can get past the error message "No suitable X-server found for your card" is to include the cheat codes "knoppix xserver=XF86_SVGA vga=normal".

I have a ViewSonic VG181 LCD monitor (native resolution 1280x1024 with a 60Hz vert. refresh) with an ATI Fire GL2 video adapter (chip type: IBM RC1000 256-bit / IBM GT1000).

I have searched the Knoppix forum repeatedly, and have looked in other Linux forms, but I haven't found anything that has solved my problem especially since I'm booting from a CD (version 3.2-2003-04-15-EN). But I'll keep looking. By the way, the CD is fine. I validated the md5sum of the ISO before burning the CD and I have verified the CD with the cheat code "knoppix testcd". Thanks in advance for any help. One bright side to all of this is that I'm sure learning a lot along the way.

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I don't know if this will help or not but here is the output from "sudo lspci -v":

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82850 850 (Tehama) Chipset Host Bridge (MCH) (rev 02)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company: Unknown device 124b
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Memory at f8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 2.0

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82850 850 (Tehama) Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 64
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=64
Memory behind bridge: f0000000-f41fffff

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA/DB PCI Bridge (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 00004000-00004fff
Memory behind bridge: f4200000-f42fffff

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801BA IDE U100 (rev 02) (prog-if 80 [Master])
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company: Unknown device 124b
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
I/O ports at 1800 [size=16]

00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM USB (Hub #1) (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company: Unknown device 124b
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
I/O ports at 1820 [size=32]

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM SMBus (rev 02)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company: Unknown device 124b
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 9
I/O ports at c100 [size=16]

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Audio (rev 02)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company: Unknown device 124b
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 9
I/O ports at c300 [size=256]
I/O ports at c400 [size=64]

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: IBM: Unknown device 0170 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Diamond Multimedia Systems: Unknown device 0172
Flags: fast Back2Back, 66Mhz, medium devsel, IRQ 10
Memory at f4000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64M]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=256K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 0
Capabilities: [70] AGP version 2.0

02:0a.0 SCSI storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic 53c1010 Ultra3 SCSI Adapter (rev 01)
Subsystem: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic: Unknown device 1030
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 72, IRQ 5
I/O ports at 4000 [size=256]
Memory at f4204000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Memory at f4200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

02:0a.1 SCSI storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic 53c1010 Ultra3 SCSI Adapter (rev 01)
Subsystem: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic: Unknown device 1030
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 72, IRQ 11
I/O ports at 4400 [size=256]
Memory at f4204400 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Memory at f4202000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

02:0b.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 6c)
Subsystem: 3Com Corporation 3C905C-TX Fast Etherlink for PC Management NIC
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at 4800 [size=128]
Memory at f4204800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2

> Another possible clue is that when I boot, the only way I can get past the error message "No suitable X-server found for your card" is to include the cheat codes "knoppix xserver=XF86_SVGA vga=normal".

--Try this:
' knoppix xserver=XF86_SVGA vga=normal screen=1280x1024 xvrefresh=60 '

--If that doesn't work, try:
' fb1280x1024 ' or ' fb1280x1024 xvrefresh=60 '
( Note, the ' fb1280x1024 ' is used instead of ' knoppix '.)

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried all of them, but they didn't change the screen resolution.

However, I noticed that when I booted using "fb1280x1024" and then chose video mode 2, Knoppix gave me a message saying it had attached my "scsi disk sda at scsi1". That doesn't happen when I include "xserver=XF86_SVGA vga=normal".

Sounds like the modeline in XF86Config-4 is all wrong. Try to boot into text mode and modify it(say by comment out all the Modeline entries).

the file is : /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I booted with "knoppix 2" and commented out all of the Modeline entries from the XF86Config-4 file. I then tried to open KDE using "/etc/init.d/xsession start", but I just got an error message saying "No suitable x-server found for your card."

So I rebooted using "fb1280x1024 screen=1280x1024 lang=us depth=32 xserver=XF86_SVGA vga=normal" and repeated the changes to the XF86Config-4 file. I also changed the default color depth to 32 (it was on 16). When I started KDE the resolution was still the same. I tried changing the screen resolution in the Control Panel, saved it, closed out of KDE, and then restarted it. Again, no change to the resolution. <Ctrl><Alt><+> didn't change anything either.

However when I reopened the XF86Config-4 file, I noticed that a new modeline with the correct resolution had been added --I assume KDE added it -- but the x-session doesn't seem to recognize it. So I still can only see about a 463x198 piece of a 1600x1200 desktop.

Thanks anyway for the suggestion.

1)Just to clarify- to change resolution from the desktop environment it is

CTRL+ALT+ +/-

2)Did you boot like this:

xmodule=ati

3)If all else fails, get your monitor specs, boot w/ expert and try your hand at configuring XFree86 yourself.

Quote:

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1)Just to clarify- to change resolution from the desktop environment it is

CTRL+ALT+ +/-

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Yes, that is correct -- Hold down the "Ctrl" key and the "Alt" key at the same time and then while still holding them down, press either the "+" key or the "-" key on the key pad in order to cycle through the available screen resolutions.

Quote:

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2)Did you boot like this:

xmodule=ati

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Thanks for the suggestion. I tried including this cheat code when I booted, but unfortunately it didn't help.

Quote:

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3)If all else fails, get your monitor specs, boot w/ expert and try your hand at configuring XFree86 yourself.

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I checked the "XFree86 Video Card and X server list" at http://www.xfree86.org/cardlist.html but my video card (ATI Fire GL2 with the IBM RC1000 256-bit / IBM GT1000 chip type) isn't listed. Is there a way to find out which version of XFree86 is used in the current release of Knoppix? In order to configure XFree86 myself, is it just a matter of modifying the XF86Config-4 file or are there other files that I would also need to change, and if I change them, would those changes be restored when I reboot using the knoppix CD and the cheat code "floppyconfig" (provided of course that I've saved the configuration)? I found a site http://koala.ilog.fr/cgi-bin/nph-colas-modelines that has a script which "will compute many possible values for the graphic modes of Xfree86, to be put in the ModeLines section of XF86Config", but I haven't tried it as yet. Thanks again for your suggestions.

I found this article about your card. I haven't had time to read it but here's a quote:

"The Fire GL 2 and Fire GL 4 use the same closed-source driver"

ruh ro raggy!! Looks like maybe ATI isn't playing nice with your high dollar card amigo.

Oops- almost forgot.

X -version

Look here