HOW TO: Fix video problem on the Dell Latitude C600/C500

[SomeGayDude]

After a lot of hair pulling, cussing and no help I figured out a fix for the Dell Latitude C600/C500 video problem.

This is a ATI Rage 128 Mobility graphics card. The problem is not with the drivers, bit with X configuration.

1) Start with the clean install of ubuntu. This will give you 800x600 screen resolution.

2) Download the xorgconf24.txt to you desktop. This is at the bottom of the message under Attached Files Note: As suggested by other users, I have included resolution depth of 16. If the depth of 24 is undesirable, repeat all the steps but download xorgconf16.txt instead.

3) Start Terminal (Applications/Accessories/Terminal)

4) Enter the command cd /etc/X11/ (This is case sensitive as in capital X and has a space between the cd and /etc/X11 To paste in the Terminal use Shift+Ctrl+V)

cd /etc/X11/

5) Enter command sudo gedit xorg.conf

sudo gedit xorg.conf

6) Enter your root/Admin password. (The text editor will open the problem file.)

7) Click the Open button.

8) Open the downloaded xorgconf.txt file that was saved to the desktop.

9) Delete all the contents of xorg.conf (Problem file)

10) Copy all contents from xorgconf.txt (Working file)

11) Paste all contents to xorg.conf (New Working file)

12) Save xorg.conf

14) Reboot the laptop.

When the laptop restarts, it will be in the 1024x768 screen resolution.

I know their is a lot of instructions here.
If you have questions, easer steps, or find a mistake or misspelling please let me know. This is a work in progress.

[rose3694]

I wanted to say thank you this worked perfect on my Dell C600 with an ATI Mobility 128 card.

Thanks,
Rose3694

[dumpy]

so i tried this on my c600 (with ati graphics) and it did change my resolution, but now i have the "split screen" effect going on. I'm thinking possibly a driver issue.

Anyone have any ideas?


Thanks!!

[SomeGayDude]

It should not be a driver issue. Something is messed up with the xorg.conf file. Could you please post the file and I will take a look.

[moejoe]

Thank you very much, your how-to finally fixed my problems on the C600

[SomeGayDude]

I am glad that this worked for all of yous.

[WinonaVaughan]

I have a Dell Inspiron 5000e that I've been setting Kubuntu up on and it corrected the split 600 x 800 display that I previously had perfectly. The new 1024 x 768 resolution is obviously much better to work on as well. Thank-you too very much. Good work!

[dhack21]

Definitely a helpful post. Worked great on my Inspiron 4000 as well.

[ttmontoya]

Thanks man this really worked
You Rock!!!

[PierreDeKat]

Awesome! Worked for me, too.

Just a note to folks running Xfce or Xubuntu, you will have to enter

sudo mousepad xorg.conf

on step 5 instead of

sudo gedit xorg.conf

We don´t have the gedit text editor on Xfce/Xubuntu, so we need to use mousepad. But other than that, it works like a charm.

Thanks, SomeGayDude!