[TriLUG] X Problems

[Matt Matthews]

On Sun, Jun 30, 2002 at 08:38:49AM -0700, rob wildermann wrote:
> Background -- I am a more or less complete noob trying
> to get Gentoo running on my system. I have an ATI 3d
> Rage Pro (8MB) and an ADI LM-1764 monitor (Micron
> branded, 5+ years old). I am using XFree86 version
> 4.2.

Were you using 3.3.6 before?

> X is coming up with the top third of the screen
> wiggling more or less constantly, about every five or
> six seconds the whole thing goes blank, then the
> pattern repeats.

Do you have a color depth and resolution that your card can handle? I presume
you're just shooting for whatever was on your Mandrake setup, but I figured
it was worth asking. An 8Mb card should be able to handle 1024x768 at 32-bit
color with double buffering (IIRC) but probably can't get 1152x864 at 32-bit
with double buffering (that's right at 8Mb).

> I assume it's not hardware because this combo works
> fine in Mandrake 8.1 in another partition. (Although
> the XF86Config file doesn't work when pulled over--
> 3.3.6 vs. 4.2 differences?)

I think 3.3.x config files are completely incompatible with 4.x files.

> I have tried the more common, brain-free methods of
> writing XF86Config, including XFree86 -configure and
> xf86config, both produce the same results. I've tried
> tweaking the h sync and v refresh values, always
> staying well within my monitor specs, with no success.

How about xf86cfg? One of those, xf86config or xf86cfg, actually uses X to
configure X, so it might be interesting to see what the graphical version 
gives you, if anything.

You used to have to actually add resolutions and, if desired, a default color
depth and so forth to the config file that is given to you by XFree86
-configure for it to work completely. If you want to send me (as opposed to
the list) a copy of the file I can take a peek at it and see whether there's
anything obvious you'd need to add.

Now that I think about it, that you get some wiggly semblance of X in the
first place perhaps says I'm completely off base on this.

Have you another monitor you could try?

I actually have a Rage Pro here that I could test with, if it came down to
that. I've spent more time playing with X than I care to admit, so perhaps
going through the motions again would make me remember something that needs to
be tweaked.

Oh, and one last question: are you enabling DRI? I think that the Rage Pro
cards are just getting 3D support with DRI and I'm not sure if a preliminary
version is in 4.2 or not. If the card is setting aside memory for 3D, then you
will run dry on memory before you think you should (by just calculating using
screen size, color depth, and buffering). Something to consider...

Regards,
matt

-- 
Matt Matthews     \ ph: 919.660.2811        \ Use GNU/Linux  _o) w00t
Duke Univ., Postdoc\ jvmatthe at math.duke.edu  \____________   /\\
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