Need to get 1600 x 900 monitor working properly

English Hardware
1

Hi All,
Ive been dabbling with Linux for a few years on and off and
have always been left disappointed because I can never get
the syetm to send the correct resolution and
aspect ratio to my monitor.

I’m now trying to get a (admittedly quite old) hardware
setup to work properly with openSUSE. The Display and
Monitor settings offer a disappointingly small and useless
set of “Sizes” none of which suit my monitor.

Can any one tell me how to get the system to send 1600x900
24bit pixels to my monitor, in a simple step by step
fashion?

This harware was used together with XP and worked perfectly
before I dumped it for Ubuntu/Unity (didn’t like
it/wouldn’t work) then SUSE/KDE.

My Monitor is a Benq G2020HD

Other details are as follows…

OS: Linux 3.4.11-2.16-default i686
System: openSUSE 12.2 (i586)
KDE: 4.8.5 (4.8.5) “release 2”

HP Compaq DC7100 SFF(PC923A)

Processor (CPU): Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Speed: 2,994.35 MHz
Cores: 2

Graphics card
Vendor: Intel Corporation
Model: 915 G
2D driver: intel
3D driver: Unknown classic (8.0.4)

Many thanks. Any help greatfully received!

Gil.

As per some advice I received elsewhere, I have made a file in /etc/X11/ called xorg.conf
that looks like this…

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "Benq"
        ModelName    "G2020HD"
        DisplaySize  443 248
        HorizSync    30.0 - 83.0
        VertRefresh  56.0 - 76.0
        Option      "dpms"
EndSection


Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Videocard0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1600x900"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

But it doesn’t seem to do anything except make all text a bit smaller

lspci -nnk output looks like this…

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 82915G/P/GV/GL/PL/910GL Memory Controller
Hub [8086:2580] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:3006]
Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 82915G/GV/910GL Integrated
Graphics Controller [8086:2582] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company DC7100 SFF(DX878AV) [103c:3006]
Kernel driver in use: i915
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation 82915G Integrated Graphics Controller
[8086:2782] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:3006]
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI
Express Port 1 [8086:2660] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI
Express Port 2 [8086:2662] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB
UHCI #1 [8086:2658] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:3006]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.1 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB
UHCI #2 [8086:2659] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:3006]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.2 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB
UHCI #3 [8086:265a] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:3006]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.3 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB
UHCI #4 [8086:265b] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:3006]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.7 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2
EHCI Controller [8086:265c] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:3006]
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge [8086:244e] (rev d3)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6
Family) AC’97 Audio Controller [8086:266e] (re
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company DC7100 SFF(DX878AV) [103c:3006]
Kernel driver in use: snd_intel8x0
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FR (ICH6/ICH6R) LPC Interface Bridge
[8086:2640] (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE
Controller [8086:266f] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:3006]
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
00:1f.2 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FW (ICH6/ICH6W) SATA Controller
[8086:2651] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:3006]
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus
Controller [8086:266a] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
40:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751 Gigabit
Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1677] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company DC7100 SFF(DX878AV) [103c:3006]
Kernel driver in use: tg3

2

You could install and try sax3.
It’s a graphical tool to configure xorg.

3

What does it look like without the xorg.conf? I’d say you’d need a modeline too, which tells what the Mode should look like. I googled a bit but I didn’f find much more than your post on linuxforums. I’ve had some serious issues with Benq monitors, i.e. they never worked properly out of the box.

4

It looks virtually identical, except all fonts display a tiny bit smaller - I guess because the system knows from the conf file the physical size of the monitor; it can display point sizes correctly.

Can you tell me how to write a modeline?

I tried sax3 as suggested above and it resulted in the system hanging when booting - even in safe mode. I’m not skilled or experienced enough to operate the command line from the install disk recovery mode (can’t find simple and clear instructions on how to mount the hard drive) so I had to reinstall the OS!

This is a problem I continually come across with Linux - SERIOUS lack of easy transparent support for various monitor sizes and resolutions. Come on guys, there must be a solution. MS can do it, Apple do it, why can’t the open source community? Getting a simple monitor to work is a most, most, most basic requirement, surely?

Sorry! Bit frustrated. Any help gratefully received.

Gil

5

I do understand your frustration. OTOH I’ve contacted the BenQ helpdesk in the past, and stopped at the “Hey, listen, where does it state we make monitors for linux systems”. You simply cannot blame everything on the linux world.

These days xorg.conf is deprecated, that’s why I asked you to remove it. A single option in the file can be enough to keep the system from getting to desirable results. Could you please take a look at the available resolutions in Yast - System - Bootloader - GRUB options? Or is the resolution OK at boot, and does it lower when entering the desktop session?

6

You never mention to what res. it is defaulting. What is the output of the command “xrandr” ? (use code tags)

Also, without a xorg.conf file, what is the output provided by your xorg log file ? (use SUSE Paste and provide the link) … (what is the output of xrandr under this condition too?)

I can understand the frustration, but its misplaced. By use of “community” I suspect you are greatly overestimating the number of people actually doing development work – its but a handful, whereas there are indeed lots of users. Second, its not like your adapter hasn’t proven problematic under other OSes too (google “Intel 910GL 1600x900” and the top links are all from frustrated Windows users).

In likelihood, a modeline will be required.

7

spacecruiser wrote:

>
> Knurpht;2502824 Wrote:
>> What does it look like without the xorg.conf? I’d say you’d need a
>> modeline too, which tells what the Mode should look like. I googled a
>> bit but I didn’f find much more than your post on linuxforums. I’ve
>> had some serious issues with Benq monitors, i.e. they never worked
>> properly out of the box.
>
> It looks virtually identical, except all fonts display a tiny bit
> smaller - I guess because the system knows from the conf file the
> physical size of the monitor; it can display point sizes correctly.
>
> Can you tell me how to write a modeline?
>
> I tried sax3 as suggested above and it resulted in the system hanging
> when booting - even in safe mode. I’m not skilled or experienced
> enough to operate the command line from the install disk recovery mode
> (can’t find simple and clear instructions on how to mount the hard
> drive) so I had to reinstall the OS!
>
> This is a problem I continually come across with Linux - SERIOUS lack
> of easy transparent support for various monitor sizes and resolutions.
> Come on guys, there must be a solution. MS can do it, Apple do it, why
> can’t the open source community? Getting a simple monitor to work is a
> most, most, most basic requirement, surely?
>
> Sorry! Bit frustrated. Any help gratefully received.
>
> Gil
>
>
To find a suitable modeline (if your display refresh rate is 60Hz)
cvt 1600 900 60
or, alternatively
xmode -x 1600 -y 900 -r 60

Check the manpages for more info.

–
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8

In the event that the advice given does not work, information that I would like to have, in order to determine if I could help, would be the following (and I think this information would help others understand your problem):

  • without the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file in place, boot the PC, and then copy the contents of the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log to the openSUSE paste site : SUSE Paste , after the paste is done press ‘create’ on that site, and then copy the URL/web address given and post it here, so that we can examine that Xorg.0.log file’s contents
  • advise what happens when you boot with the boot code ‘nomodeset’ in the grub menu

I have been away from the forums for a while, and not so active on openSUSE, but my recollection is that for older graphic hardware, what works some times is to use an older ‘legacy intel’ driver. This can be specified by an appropriate entry in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf file with something like:


Section "Device"
  Identifier "Default Device"
#
#  #Driver "radeon"
Driver "intellegacy"
#
#  ## Required magic for radeon/radeonhd drivers; output name
#  ## (here: "DVI-0") can be figured out via 'xrandr -q'
#  #Option "monitor-DVI-0" "Default Monitor"
#
EndSection

Save that (root permissions would be needed), reboot and test.

Do NOT keep backup files in /etc/X11/ directory nor in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d directory, but keep them elsewhere, as there is a risk the backup file can be run by the GNU/Linux operating system by mistake.

Note if a graphic driver does not work, it should not be necessary to re-install. Instead one should only need to boot to run level 3 and then fix the offending files with a text editor in full screen terminal mode (run level 3). The editor I recommend for those not familiar with full screen terminal work is midnight commander, called ‘mc’. So install ‘mc’ before you do anything. Then when needed, run it by typing ‘mc’ in a terminal and use the Function Keys to control - mc provides user friendly guidance for its functionality.

As for booting to run level 3, with the old grub version, one would just type ‘3’ in the grub menu options line. But the default boot manager has changed since I was last watching the forums in any detail, and I do not know off the top of my head how to boot to run level 3 with the newer grub2. Hopefully someone else on this thread can post that useful information.

Good luck !

9

Moving to runlevel 3 when using systemd and GRUB2 is done by

systemctl isolate multi-user.target
10

Hi Guys. Sorry for the delay getting back here.

I have a quick update on this, and an apology!

I tried all the things mentioned above with no success - a huge thanks to everyone who spent time on it for me.

However, I’m sorry and I take it all back - the problem was all due to a monitor lead with a missing pins! I installed OpenSUSE on another virtually identical setup expecting the same problem but it all went swimmingly and just automagically worked perfectly. It got me to thinking about the differences so I examined the monitor leads and noticed the one on the problem setup had two missing pins. When I replaced the lead for one with the full compliment of pins, again, just switched it all on and it worked perfectly.

So if anyone comes here with similar issues - get them to check their monitor lead. The lead in question is not damaged - it was designed and made this way - it’s a well made, good, heavy, probably quite expensive lead. I’ve scoured the place for similar leads and found a few more like it. They’re now in the bin.

Again, many thanks for all the time you spent helping me.

Gil

11

On 11/18/2012 03:46 PM, spacecruiser wrote:
> a monitor lead with a missing pins!

just to repeat an old story:

a long time ago (like last century) an old man (with IBM main-frame
experience in the '60s) said to me (something like):

“Always suspect the cables first!”

now, i believe he was talking from back in the day when one ‘programmed’
the machine by plugging the cables in this way or that way depending on
what you wanted to do…so…

but, still it is often good to change with a known good cable before
buying that replacement harddrive, monitor, CD/DVD player, etc etc etc

–
dd