compaq presario 1220 help


Forum: Laptops
Topic: compaq presario 1220 help
started by: cyke1

Posted by cyke1 on Aug. 07 2006,09:45
hey guys this is the first time i've tried to install linux,  the install seems to go great until the end i think,  the laptop goes thru somethings and after a few minutes all i get is a yellowish screen,  i tried fixing the bright and contrast on the laptop but it really doesn't help. I'm not really sure about the specs on this thing since  it was given to my son.  BTW this thing has no usb's so i'm using a cd with dsl on it.  Thanks for any help.
Posted by tef on Aug. 13 2006,23:07
I've run DSL on this exact machine. It's painful! Don't you love the boot sequence's description of Processor 0 as running at "0MHz"? :-)

It sounds like you're having difficulty getting the right graphics setting for X. Unfortunately, I have the settings saved on the hard disk now and am loathe to go undo them so as to walk you through a first-time boot. However, I recall there being two factors which were "make or break" for me:

The most important, least intuitive thing is entering the right cheatcode on boot. E.g.,
Code Sample
dsl vga=788


The "vga=788" tells the machine to use a video setting which will play nicely with the Presario.

Also, when prompted to choose your X server, be sure to use "Xfbdev" instead of "Xvesa." We old school.

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By the way, if you're looking for a network card for your son's new toy, beware the "Cardbus" cards: they didn't work for me. Instead I'm using a TRENDnet TE100-PC16R.

FYI: I found some old notes suggesting I enabled sound with the following command:
Code Sample
sudo modprobe sb irq=5


In other news, I get an odd NMI plaguing my 1220. Sometimes.

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