On Board Video (SIS) Driver Problems

[Guest psudc13]

First of all let me say that I a casual user of Linux. I have installed several flavors on different PCs but usually at some point end up going back to Windows. My recent build was based around trying to construct a PC that didn't look like a PC. My wife refused to let me have a computer near our living room TV. So I gutted an old DirecTV R10 Tivo box. I bought a mini ITX board, notebook hard drive and a small 200W power supply. Everything fit fine and runs well (quiet). Unfortunately, like a true casual user of Linux I didn't check out the motherboard closely. I was more concerned with processor speed, memory type/capacity, brand and price. I bought the Intel D201GLY2 board which has the SIS 662 video chip on board. Had I googled the video chip before buying I would have skipped this board. To date I've loaded different distros and various versions of those distros with no success. I constantly have distorted vertical lines on my LCD. If I drop the resolution back to 800 x 600 it gets better but is still there. I figured loading Mandriva 09 would give me the best shot at making this work. However, I still have the same issues using the SIS driver. I have read changing to the Vesa driver is better but not a complete fix. I've also spent countless hours searching for a solution on the internet. If anyone can help point me in the right direction I would be extremely grateful. I should mention that I cannot add a video card to my setup was the case will not permit it. Yes I realize its an obstacle but I'm trying to stick my original design goals. Also, I intend to stick with Linux this time assuming I can find a solution to my problem. Thanks in advance for your help.

[Greg2]

Have you tried to use the sis_drv_src available from intel's d/l center here: Intel® Desktop Board D201GLY2

 

Welcome aboard! :)

[tux99]

Have you tried the very latest Mandriva 2009.1 RC1?

 

http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/2009.1_RC_1

 

Maybe it comes with a more up to date SIS driver

[Guest psudc13]

Greg2 - I was initially going to install the intel driver but found the file name is the same as what is already installed. I had assumed it was the same thing. Perhaps not?

 

tux99 - I have not tried that release yet but read the wiki and they mention more third party drivers as well as supporting intel products not previously supported. Perhaps I'll give that a try and see if it fixes my problem. Obviously its not a stable release yet so I may run into other issues in the interim. But this is a project so I'm ok with that.

 

Great ideas. Thanks to you both.

[Greg2]

I was initially going to install the intel driver but found the file name is the same as what is already installed. I had assumed it was the same thing. Perhaps not?

I'm not sure, it's just that I've read where some users have had more luck with that in the past.

 

If that doesn't work for you, it appears that you currently only have the vesa module available to give you a greater resolution than 800x600.

[Guest psudc13]

Ok thanks. I'll give that a try and the 2k9 RC1 load. I downloaded the .iso file earlier and created another USB key for loading the o/s. Hopefully one of them will work.

[kfoss]

I'm not sure, it's just that I've read where some users have had more luck with that in the past.

 

If that doesn't work for you, it appears that you currently only have the vesa module available to give you a greater resolution than 800x600.

 

 

I've been through this before the Intel value boards. I ended up using the VESA driver and it sucks. Yes you can see the screen with no distortion, but at a poor resolution. Moreover, by using the VESA driver, you can't get access to the necessary 2D/3D accelerations needed to play any kind of video/DVD. Unless you want this little PC to just surf the net, I'd get a Mini-ITX motherboard with either an nVidia graphics chipset or as a minimum with an Intel 945 graphics chipset.