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Topic: Xfree86 trouble

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curaga

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Joined: Feb. 2007

Posted: Mar. 04 2007,16:50

Just installed XFree86.dsl on my hd-install comp. I made a base XF86Config-4 with XFree86 -configure. Tweaked it and it should be 'near perfect'. My video card is S3 Trio 64 pci (Diamond Stealth something as a marketing brand).

The problems:
lspci shows it has 8mb of memory, Xfree only recognizes 2mb.

Xfree doesn't recognize the card correctly, even though it set the Driver part to "s3" in -configure, it falls back to vgahw, which causes the only possible resolution to be 640x480. That sucks....

And third: it claims my monitor is only capable of 640x480. Xvesa used it happily 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and 1280x1024 with about 74Hz refresh rate, 60Hz on the last two ones...

The low res causes me to be unable to close most programs any other way than xkill or killall..

Some pros too: Apps load faster, though Xfree does use more ram than Xvesa

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There's no such thing as life. Those mean little jocks invented it ;)
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Windows is not a virus. A virus does something!

Juanito

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Posted: Mar. 05 2007,03:54

The XFree log (can't remember the name) in /var or /var/log might give some hints as to what the problem is?

Jason W

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Joined: Nov. 2006

Posted: Mar. 05 2007,03:58

In XFree, the s3 driver is "s3virge". Also, what does the "Monitor" section have to say about the HorizSync and VertRefresh settings?
I use in my "Monitor" section:
HorizSync 30-95
VertRefresh 50-160

for all my monitors, and they range from 7 to 10 years old, so those settings should be safe for most anyone.

Hope this helps.

^thehatsrule^ Offline

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Joined: July 2006

Posted: Mar. 05 2007,04:37

Quote

The XFree log (can't remember the name) in /var or /var/log might give some hints as to what the problem is?

its /var/log/XFree86.0.log

Quote

lspci shows it has 8mb of memory, Xfree only recognizes 2mb.

Is this memory shared? If it is, check your BIOS. (If not, I think you can manually override the memory)

But since you aren't using the correct driver yet... I'd suggest checking out the logs and the s3virge advice.

curaga

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Posts: 2163
Joined: Feb. 2007

Posted: Mar. 05 2007,06:30

BIOS says nothing, since it's a pci card. I don't think the mem is shared, since it's not away from the base ram. I've also checked the log many times, that's where I got all this info..

According to xfree.org site, the correct driver for trio64 is s3...

And the monitor was made in 1993, google finds nothing about it's refresh rates, so I don't have the rates in xf86config, I just let Xfree to probe for them..

--------------
There's no such thing as life. Those mean little jocks invented it ;)
-
Windows is not a virus. A virus does something!

14 replies since Mar. 04 2007,16:50

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