Old laptop (Compaq 1625) display issue

Forum: Laptops
Topic: Old laptop (Compaq 1625) display issue
started by: JGF621

Posted by JGF621 on Jan. 11 2007,22:29

I thought I'd put it to the test, seeing if I can make use of this old laptop. Load sequence goes as expected but the GUI is a pale green with just a shadow of icons on it. I don't have enough to try and manipulate any display settings. Suggestions? I'm a novice so be gentle.

thanks

Posted by andrewb on Jan. 11 2007,23:11

Have you looked at:

< http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Vga%3Dxxx >

Posted by JGF621 on Jan. 11 2007,23:41

Thanks. I Found this in another forum. I added

"fb800x600 dsl failsafe xsetup" to boot options and display is fine.

I installed DSL onto the hard drive and now it won't boot. Flashing cursor left hand top. Install seemed to go normally. I changed the BIOS to "OTHER" from "DOS" as suggested but no go. Any ideas?

Thanks.

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Jan. 12 2007,14:39

Did you get a bootloader prompt?
Which bootloader did you try to install?

Run the install script in a terminal to see if there were any errors during installation.

Posted by JGF621 on Jan. 12 2007,21:19

I got it installed but had to use GPARTED to prepare disk. Now all is well. I am now connected to network and web using very old PCMCIA network adapter. I thought PCMCIA wasn't working but it is. Now I have to figure things out. I'm new to Linux, having just set up my desk PC with UBUNTU.

I was about ready to dump this old machine and I'm happy to see it work again. It's only got 96 mb of RAM and a 6.0 gb drive and had until yesterday Windows ME on it. DSL runs faster.

Thanks for help.