Forcing the refresh rate on Suse Linux.

[Prime]

Hi Guys. I am having a real uphill battle. How do i force the refresh rate on Suse linux? It won't go below 70hz and this is a really old monitor so it just goes awol above 60hz!

I'm trying to set up a computer for the maids son. I has suse 10.1 on it. I originally set it up on my 22inch LCD and have managed to configure it to a 14 in monitor that will be attached but i can't get the 14 to work properly because the frequency is to high. The monitor works normally at start up...

I'd have put xp on but as noone is pying for the machine, i can't afford to, and i'm not going the illegal route

The graphics card is a radeon 7000 so there are no proper drivers for it either,

[RuadRauFlessa]

Drivers for the card can be found on nVidia's website. Also have a read here regarding 3D accelerated graphic drivers.

Regarding the refresh rates you might want to read here. I know it is for Ubuntu but both ubuntu and SuSE uses xOrg so it should work.

[Prime]

Drivers for the card can be found on nVidia's website. Also have a read here regarding 3D accelerated graphic drivers.

Regarding the refresh rates you might want to read here. I know it is for Ubuntu but both ubuntu and SuSE uses xOrg so it should work.

Thanks, i'll check that out. Lol, its an ATI card. They don't have a linux version of the dirver specifically for this card, its really old.

[RuadRauFlessa]

Sorry missed the actual radeon in fornt of the 7000

In that case just dump the 3D accel and get the refresh rate down. The config file is an a kind of arbitrary path though so you might have to search a tad to actually find it. Also I have previously found the need for it but if I don't have to I would avoid tinkering with the values in that one specific config file. It can sooooo easily break.

[Prime]

Heck the drver install looks complex I have no idea what half of it means

[Prime]

Sorry missed the actual radeon in fornt of the 7000

In that case just dump the 3D accel and get the refresh rate down. The config file is an a kind of arbitrary path though so you might have to search a tad to actually find it. Also I have previously found the need for it but if I don't have to I would avoid tinkering with the values in that one specific config file. It can sooooo easily break.

Lol, ok, how do i do that?

[RuadRauFlessa]

On dandy.dl

[RuadRauFlessa]

Check FixVideoResolutionHowto
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FixVideoResolutionHowto (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FixVideoResolutionHowto)
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingXAutoconfiguration

Integrated Intel graphics card?
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=27029
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=24923
http://www.x.org/X11R6.8.2/doc/i810.html

Problems with login screen refresh rate?
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p= ... ostcount=3


Backup your configuration file
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup

How to edit xorg.conf file
Run in terminal or console:
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf online help in nano: ctrl+g (ctrl+x exits)

How to edit or add HorizSync and VertRefresh lines
Find your monitors manual (manufacturers website and Google are useful).
Look for hozizontal sync and vertical refresh rates, also if bandwidth or maximum dot clock / pixel clock is mentioned, write it down.

Edit xorg.conf and put correct values to your xconf.org's Monitor section. Something like this:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "CM752ET"
HorizSync 31-101
VertRefresh 60-160
EndSection
Be sure that Identifier is same as the Monitor line in Screen section.


Adding custom modeline
Now, if you know what your monitor can do, for example 1024x768@75Hz (edit: choose decent resolution / refreshrate), you can open another terminal window (keep xorg.conf open in gedit) and enter:

gtf horizontalresolution verticalresolution refreshrate
for example:
gtf 1024 768 75
Copy paste the output to your Monitor section.


# 1024x768 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 60.15 kHz; pclk: 81.80 MHz
Modeline "1024x768_75.00" 81.80 1024 1080 1192 1360 768 769 772 802 -HSync +Vsync


Watch that the hsync is in range with the HorizSync on the same section (in this example the range is 31-101 and this modelines hsync is 37.65, so we're safe). Also the VertRefresh and the refresh rate you selected (75Hz in this example) should match - in this example VertRefresh is 60-160 and modeline is 75Hz, so that's all good.

Now you can select the defaul resolution and colordepth by tweaking the Screen section. It should look something like this:

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "NVIDIA Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200]"
Monitor "CM752ET"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display":
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection


Monitor name here (CM752ET) matches the Identifier on your Monitor Section. Device line here matches the identifier on your Device section - you get the idea? It ties together some settings for your screen - the graphics card and your monitor. You may have more Subsections here, but only one is needed.

Change the DefaultDepth to what you would want it to be, 16 (65536 colors) or 24 (16M colors). Change the Modes line to match the resolutions you want to use - Depth must match DefaultDepth (here it's 16).

Save the config. If you're in X, hit CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE to restart X (if you're running logon manager like xdm, kdm or gdm). Change between virtual consoles with CTRL + F1 F2 F3 and so on - your X should be on F7.

Starting the X:
startx OR sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start (in KDE it's kdm)

If that doesn't work, try fixing the xorg.conf or get back to your original by copying the backup over your changed one with:
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf

When you're back in X, you can cycle through different modes by pressing CTRL+ALT++ (plus sign on numpad), or go to System->Preferences->Screen Resolution.

[Prime]

Ok, i see that but i can't save my edit to the file

[Prime]

I'm way to tired to look at this now. i'll look at it in the morning. Night dude! thanx for your help so far

[RuadRauFlessa]

Did you use sudo
Is x.org running

[RuadRauFlessa]

You could also just run sax2 from the console

[RuadRauFlessa]

Start up in console mode. Log in as root. Type:

Code: Select all

/sbin/init 3

Type:

Code: Select all

/usr/sbin/sax2

After making your changes Type:

Code: Select all

/sbin/init 5

Voila you should be fixed.

[Prime]

Ok, i shall try this but i discovered the tab that will let me manually lower the refresh rates, its in some obscure place

Si i'll try this and let people know