Guest jmtquiroga Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 (edited) Boot-up screen, crystal clear. KDE starts up... I get four of them, all semi-transparent, partially overlaying each other and earthquaky. Can´t read any of menus in "Welcome to Mandrake Linux" window to try to solve this. Be merciful, please! Edited June 8, 2004 by jmtquiroga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sud_crow Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 (edited) Do you mean you have refresh rates problems (like rain all over the screen or lines going up and down)??? It would be good if you could post some info on your system... video card, the monitor model (551v, 753s/dfx, 953df...).... The problem is with your XF86Config file, you should run xf86config and have your monitor and video card manuals at hand when you do it... If you want to do it at hand... have a look at my monitor and video sections in the XF86Config file (it may be called XF86Config-4 also), you can find the file here: /etc/X11/XF86Config # ********************************************************************** # Monitor section # ********************************************************************** # Any number of monitor sections may be present Section "Monitor" Identifier "Samnsung550v" # HorizSync is in kHz unless units are specified. # HorizSync may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a # comma separated list of ranges of values. # NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S # USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS. HorizSync 30-50 # HorizSync 30-64 # multisync # HorizSync 31.5, 35.2 # multiple fixed sync frequencies # HorizSync 15-25, 30-50 # multiple ranges of sync frequencies # VertRefresh is in Hz unless units are specified. # VertRefresh may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a # comma separated list of ranges of values. # NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S # USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS. VertRefresh 50-100 EndSection The comments are all from the file, the two lines not commented are the ones i wrote, that is the range for the horizontal and vertical refresh rates... your monitor manual should say the lowest and highest (if you dont have the manual, check the website). later! Edited June 6, 2004 by sud_crow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jmtquiroga Posted June 8, 2004 Report Share Posted June 8, 2004 (edited) Thanks very much, Sud_Crow! By the way, I switched monitors to an Acer 77e, and the problem is the same. I don´t know how to get into a configuring mode, in order to check the problem out. It´s not rain, and and it´s not lines up and down all over the screen. I can see the KDE desktop booting up, only there are eight of them, overlapping, and semi-transparent, and shaky. Then, I get that old color TV "off the air" striped color pattern, and Mandrake comes up, eight screens of it. I almost can´t see where the Start Menu is to turn it off. So, I guess my question is, how can I get into the xf86config file without going into booting up KDE? Thanks again! Edited June 8, 2004 by jmtquiroga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpatrick Posted June 8, 2004 Report Share Posted June 8, 2004 You can boot to a command line login by rebooting and as soon as you see the lilo boot selection screen hit the "Esc" key. That will take you to a boot prompt at which you type: linux 3 and hit the Enter key. You will then boot to a command line login(i.e. nongraphical mode) at which you login with your username and password and run this at the command prompt: $ su <enter root password> # XFdrake XFdrake is the mdk ncurses graphic config utility from which you can reconfigure your graphics set up. You navigate the menus using the keyboard keys as there is no mouse support and you can test your changes from within XFdrake before making them permanent. XFdrake is more user friendly than xf86config. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streeter Posted June 8, 2004 Report Share Posted June 8, 2004 Once you are booted up and have your unreadable screen, press control, alt and F1 all at the same time. You will then be presented with a login prompt. Type in root as a user name, followed by your root password. Then type "cd /etc/X11" This will take you to the folder containing your XF86Config-4 file. Edit it with your favourite text editor. If you are very new - here's how to use the user unfriendly vi: (follow carefully!) Type "vi XF86Config-4" (case is important in Linux) You will be presented with said file. Use the arrow keys to go to the line you wish to edit. Press the i button (for insert text - switches to edit mode) Type what you need. Lines can be commented out with a # as the first character. The delete key works as you would expect when in edit mode When happy with your editing, type esc then w then q one at a time (command mode, Write, Quit). Then you can type control, alt, F7 all at the same time to get back to your garbelled screen. Press control, alt backspace to restart the X server, and hopefully all will be well... You can reboot from the text scren if you want by typing "reboot" Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streeter Posted June 8, 2004 Report Share Posted June 8, 2004 Looks like we overlapped with our replies - either method, or a combination will do :) Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jmtquiroga Posted June 8, 2004 Report Share Posted June 8, 2004 Thanks, all of you gracious tekkies! I really do appreciate it. Ever since a friend mentioned Linux to me years ago, I have been curious about it. Now that it is newbie-friendlier, I'm anxious to learn. I'll try your suggestions tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jmtquiroga Posted June 9, 2004 Report Share Posted June 9, 2004 A friend just got it to work for me. I saw how he did it, but he went too fast for me! I WILL learn! Thanks again for your advice! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzatch Posted June 10, 2004 Report Share Posted June 10, 2004 Have him explain it a bit for you. maybe even have you do it again just to make sure. Tell him you want to know how so that you don't have to call him anymore with the little things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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