Screen resolution loop [help!]

[David Armour]

Leonard Chatagnier <lenc5570 <at> sbcglobal.net> writes:

> 
> I think the command is nvidia-xconfig and should be run with sudo.
> 
<snip>
> 
> 

Thanks to Leonard and Rashkae for their replies. Here's what I tried 
yesterday:

System>Admin>Hardware Drivers>
	- lists two options, *both with red light radio buttons*, i.e. not installed?
		* 'highlight' Nvidia accelerated (96)[1] [Recommended]
		* select Activate

[1] a live-CD boot of Mandriva 11 also lists Nvidia 96 as the appropriate 
	driver

sudo nvidia-xconfig (As it happens, I mis-typed my Friday up-date as 
'nvidia-config' when I had actually used 'nvidia-xconfig'.) ... produced
an unfamiliar error message:

After "Using X config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf", the system displayed:

PARSE ERROR: line 35 of Module section
	"Disable" not a valid keyword [2]

Backup xorg.conf as xorg.conf.backup. Newfile: xorg.conf.

[2] line 35 of xorg.conf reads: Disable "DRI"
I believe that placing a "#" at the start of the line would work?

*******
soft reboot
*******    ...
'thermometer' GUI...
CLI log-in prompt?
	black screen...

*******
hard re-boot
workhorse log-in:
	black screen...

recovery mode
	resume 
	workhorse log-in
	black screen...

Live-cd trials of openSuSe, mandriva11, fedora 9 ensued.
 
Desktop effects, however, weren't enabled in Fedora, either; mandriva 
also had video display issues (screen re-writes, for example, were so 
patchy that the live-cd was essentially unusable); and I couldn't see how
to enable multiple 'desktops' with openSuse, a 'deal-breaker' for me.

Booted Puppylinux 4 live-cd which offers a selection between xorg and 
xvesa x-window servers, and having selected xorg, lists a number of
LCD resolutions, with subsequent horizontal/vertical refresh rates, along 
with useful warnings such as "Unconfirmed MAXIMUM for monitor; OK
for card".  I chose LCD 1280x1024x16, with h:31.5-67/v:50-75 refresh rates, 
and found myself confronting a screen of breathtaking beauty seconds 
later. The clock showed the correct time, even.

[Warning! Kids! Don't try this at home!]

Since I have yet to make sense of the arcana and incantations necessary 
for a working home network, I then emailed my wife's computer with 
attached copies of puppy's xorg.conf, and xorg.conf.NVidia files, intend-
ing to patch their relevant and clearly functional sub-sections into this 
Ubuntu's buggered and knackered xorg.conf, to see if that produces a
usable display. Excelsior!

Thanks again for your continued help in working out this mystery.