S3 Unichrome laptop - low-graphics mode

[jaygo]

Hi all,
I've got an older Gateway laptop with an S3 unichrome pro integrated video card. Running Ubuntu 8.10.

With default settings, it boots fine but uses 1600x1200 resolution. The monitor only does 1280x768 and so a lot of the screen is cut off. I've been trying to use my old xorg.conf which worked perfectly under 8.04 xubuntu however anytime I use it, ubuntu chokes on the video after a number of tries and outputs the error "Ubuntu is running in low-graphics mode".

I've tried trimming my custom xorg.conf down to the barebones but I haven't found a middle ground that let's me use the correct video res - 1280x768 - and actually boot. What I am able to do is kill x, switch to a tty, login, and startx from there (using my custom xorg) and everything works peachy.

Any help is appreciated.

current, barebones xorg.conf:


Section "device"
Identifier "onboard vesa"
Boardname "S3 Unichrome Pro"
Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
Driver "vesa"
# Screen 1
EndSection

Section "monitor"
Identifier "laptop"
Vendorname "Gateway"
Modelname "WXGA LCD Panel 1280x768"
Horizsync 31.5-50.0
Vertrefresh 56.0-61.0
# modeline grabbed from cvt command:
# Modeline "1280x768_60.00" 79.50 1280 1344 1472 1664 768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync
# default modeline copied from failsafe (working) monitor:
modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
Gamma 1.0
EndSection

Section "screen"
Identifier "native vesa"
Device "onboard vesa"
Defaultdepth 24
Monitor "laptop"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

[epetersons]

Thank you for this new script. I have been battling this screen resolution issue for a long time - going back and forth with many people on another thread. I had given up and returned to Windows (dread). But just recently, someone emailed me with your post. It has worked perfectly.

Many sincere thanks.
Erik