Can't get screen res working the same after HD install...

Hi, all.

Once, again, I bow to the minds who congregate here, in hopes that someone can help with an odd problem with X on a laptop...

I have a Toshiba Satellite 4000CDT which I used to run RH8 & 9 on, as well as FreeBSD 4.7... and I never had a problem running X/KDE with either of those distros.

The video chipset is a CT65555, as auto-detected by Knoppix when running from CD. When booting from the 3.3 (2003-09-24) disc, the resolution is improperly detected as 1024x768x16: the actual resolution of the LCD is 800x600 (though the external VGA can probably handle higher). The system boots fine but only shows me two-thirds of the screen. Same with an HD install (which I had to perform almost blindly).

When I start from the CD, if I use the "fb800x600" cheatcode, the system works perfectly, and utilizes the correct screensize in X/KDE.

On the HD install, I've changed the /etc/lilo.conf file to have the line "vga=791" read "vga=789", and that gets the console working perfectly. But, when trying to start X, it gives a few blinks between console and black screen, and errors out. Trying to "startx" gives me:

Code:

---

(EE) FBDEV(0): FBIOPUT_VSCREENINFO: Invalid argument
(EE) FBDEV(0): Mode init failed

---

I've added an append in lilo.conf: "fb800x600", but get the same error.

I've mounted /dev/hda1 (boot/root partition) and copied both of the XF86Config files (-4 as well) from the running boot of the CD to the HD mount, so they are the same, and I still cannot start X from the HD.

Any ideas on what I may be doing differently on the HD? I've just installed this about three days ago, and haven't even put the machine on the network, so no packages have been changed/added/updated yet.

Thanks for any help!
Dan

On my Toshiba 490CDT (different chipset) you have to use the screen=800x600 cheat code. Also after install for some reason it uses the wrong driver. Make sure the correct driver is loaded and your resolution is set in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4. Worse come to worse you can boot the cd with the screen=800x600 cheat code and simply copy that XF86Config-4 file onto your installation.

Thanks for answering back, rickenbacherus... Bass player? ;)

Using the "knoppix screen=800x600" cheatcode on my 3.3 CD yields the same problem: it's like I have a "virtual screen" which wants to scroll around to get all of a 1024x768 virtual image, but with no way to scroll around...

Here's an example (who knew I'd have to do ASCII art in this day and age?!):

Code:

---

|--------------------------|--------|
|                          |--------|
|                          |--------|
|                          |--------|
|                          |--------|
|                          |--------|
|      I can only        |-----<------- X is trying
|      see this much      |--------|    to show this
|      (on 800x600 LCD)  |--------|    much (1024x768)
|                          |--------|
|                          |--------|
|                          |--------|
|--------------------------|--------|
|-----------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------|

---

Now, if I use "fb800x600" instead of "knoppix screen=800x600", everything works fine, but ONLY from the CD-ROM boot. When everything's working then, I copy all XF86Config files from my working CD boot to my hard drive, but things stop working then.

That's my real problem; I can't pinpoint what is different from the working CD boot to the HD boot (with append=fb800x600 in /etc/lilo.conf [and yes, I ran lilo to make changes stick]).

I really liked the way Knoppix installed to my old testing tower (Celeron 366 with an SiS video card), so I was very eager to get this old Toshiba working with it, but I may have to hold off for now, until I can get this figured out.

Thanks again! Anyone else?
Dan