Very poor display resolution with RHEL 4.0 on a DL585.

[Rui Vilao]

Greetings,

I have now successfully installed RHEL 4.0 U2 x86-64 on a DL585 box.
However the display resolution is very poor… I can’t get better than 800x600!
I have installed Windows Server 2003 on a similar box and I can easily get 1024x868 and even better.

I have also already installed with success the HP ProLiant Support Pack (version 7.30). But apparently it does not include any driver for the video card.

When I run system-config-display, the current resolution is:

Resolution: 800x600 (only 800x600 and 640x480 are available for selection)
Color depth: Millions of Colors

The Video Card is “ATI Rage XL”. This seems to be correct because it is also the card identified by the identical Windows 2003 box.
The Monitor Type is set to “Unknown monitor”. When I try to configure it, it doesn’t allow me to select any of the predefined monitor types (the Ok button appears grayed). Btw the attached monitor is an hp TFT7210R.

As suggested in thread:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1007061

I have already edited and fixed in /etc/X11/xorg.conf the line:
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600"
"640x480"

But the resolution does not improve! I still have only 800x600 and 640x480 available for selection…

Any help/suggestion is highly appreciated.

TIA.

Best Regards,

Rui Vilao.

[Stuart Browne]

Do you have any error or warning lines in your /var/log/X*.log file?

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom Rui,

Log on as root at the machine's console.

On the menu of the desktop.

Applications
System Settings
Display

Display Settings window comes up.

Click the hardware tab.
Monitor Type button
Click the little triangle to the left where it says:
Generic CRT Display
Choose your resolution.

Some KVM switches interfere with this operation. In such cases follow the steps above with the KVM bypassed and the monitor directly connected.

You may also need gdm.conf from another working system of similar type and OS.

SEP

[Pau Garcia i Quiles]

Look at your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and you'll see you do not have modeline defined for 1024x768, 1280x1024, etc. That's why when you modify the Modes line it does not work.

There's a section named Monitor in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. You need to add a new line for the new modelines. After adding the new modeline declaration, you'll have something like this:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 28-64
VertRefresh 43-60
Modeline "1280x800@60" 83.91 1280 1312 1624 1656 800 816 824 841
EndSection

Now the tricky part: how do we calculate the values in that Modeline line? You may use the "videogen" utility, or you may go to one of these sites and do it online:
http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl
http://www.dkfz.de/spec/linux/modeline/

Horizontal and vertical frequencies are features of the monitor.

By the way, in case you may be inclined to install the proprietary ATI drivers: they are useless for the graphics card embedded in DL585. Do not install them.

[Craig Gilmore]

Rui,

I agree with SEP, but the TFT7210R is an LCD monitor.

The Monitor MUST be known. Choose HP LCD 17" monitor, instead of the Generic CRT. This should give you additional resolutions. 1280x1024 is the maximum resolution for your monitor.

Your manual editing is good, but you have to also set the card ID besides the resolutions. redhat-config-display will allow you to properly configure the xorg.conf file, and you don't have to manually edit.

Regards,

CG

[Pau Garcia i Quiles]

There's no need to change the monitor model, just add the modelines. In fact, the only thing changing the monitor model will do is adjust the modelines. If you have an unknown monitor, you just edit xorg.conf and add proper modelines.

[Rui Vilao]

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for your contributions.

I have already updated Red Hat to U3 and the system drivers with smartStart CD 7.4.

The problem remains! Monitor type is unknown.

I cannot change the monitor type because when I am not allowed to select any of the other predefined monitor types (the Ok button appears grayed).

TIA,

Rui.

[Pau Garcia i Quiles]

Rui, just do what I told you. Add the new modeline to xorg.conf. You did not need to update to U3!

[Rui Vilao]

Hi,

I want to thank to all for their contribution.

Pau, I have checked the sites you have recommended... However I don't know which values I have to enter in the online tool (e.g. Vertical Frequence in Hz or Dot Clock Frequence).

I have tried a few setting but without success...
According to HP, the TFT7210R monitor offers SXGA Panel providing higher resolution of 1280Ã 1024@60/75Hz.

Please find attached my xorg.conf file.

Any help/suggestion is highly appreciated.

TIA.

Best Regards,

Rui Vilao.

[Pau Garcia i Quiles]

You can find all the information you need in the quickspec:
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11857_na/11857_na.html

The values you need to enter in the modeline calculator (http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl) are:
* Monitor configuration
Horizontal Sync Rate: 30 (min) - 82 (max)
Refresh Rate: 56 (min) - 76 (max)
Dot Clock Frequency: 112

* Basic configuration
Visible Resolution: 1280 x 1024
Refresh Rate: 60
Dot Clock Frequency: 112

When you click on "Calculate", you get this line:
Modeline "1280x1024@60" 114.98 1280 1312 1744 1776 1024 1045 1055 1076

That's what you need to add to your xorg.conf file.

The problem is for 1280x1024@60, the Dot Clock Frequency is 114.98 MHz, which is higher than the theoretical limit of that monitor (112 MHz). You'll need to try that mode and see yourself if it works (I guess it will, as it's the mode HP recommends).

If that mode does not work due to the too-high Dot Clock Frequency, you may try the same (1280x1024@60), but this time interlaced:
Modeline "1280x1024@60i" 49.50 1280 1312 1496 1528 1024 1047 1053 1077 interlace