Dell Optiplex GX270 FIX!

I wanted to give everyone who has had issues with Knoppix and Dell Optiplex GX270 machines a heads up on what causes it. Yes, the 1MB/8MB video setting is part of the problem, but the bigger culprit is the *BIOS version*. The A01 and A02 BIOSes work just fine with all manners of Linux (including Knoppix) but the latest one, A03, seems to cause a misread of the amount of video memory regardless of the setting in the BIOS. My GX270 came with A03 installed and was exhibiting all the issues described in the various threads here. I downgraded to A02 and just now booted Knoppix with no cheat codes whatsoever to find I'm in at a decent res and working just fine. The A02 BIOS can be gotten here:

ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/gx270a02.exe

Another tip related to this fix. I'm using a GX270 with a Dell UltraSharp LCD panel and to get it to run at native res I'm using the following cheat code string with success (you may want to try it with CRT monitors as well):

fb1280x1024 xmodule=vesa screen=1280x1024 noddc xvrefresh=60

Further to this thread, it seems that the newer GX270s released with the A03 bios are locked somehow to prevent the installation of these older bios'

I spoke with Dell tech support today, and they sent me out an SEA bios - I assume this is essentially an A04 release candidate, and as such is not available for general use. It resolves the resolution problem, and I haven't found any other issues yet (not had time to do any thorough testing).

I'm reluctant to offer to email it to people because I'm not sure what restrictions, if any, apply to my use of it. You should just be able to ring dell support and get them to send it out to you. If you still can't get hold of it, then I am easily contactable on the forum in my sig, and will be happy to discuss the issue :)

[edit] hmmm - signature doesn't want to appear, anyway the forum I was talking about is here
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Also - thanks to ped for putting this thread up in an easy-to-find format. It was quite valuable in the resolution of my issues :wink:

I have updated to AO4, but Quantian distro of Knoopix failed until I chaged the BIOS Video Buffer from 1Mb to 8Mb. Now starts with no cheatcodes

have it running happily on a Dell D600 also

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neilawhite

I have updated to AO4, but Quantian distro of Knoopix failed until I chaged the BIOS Video Buffer from 1Mb to 8Mb. Now starts with no cheatcodes

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This fix worked for me as well, Optiplex GX270, Knoppix 3.4 booting fine with no cheatcodes.

Tried Gnoppix 0.8... was able to boot to X by adding xmodule=fbdev to the boot options, but the mouse isn't working :/