usrerco
April 5th, 2010, 01:28 AM
I found the default install of Ubuntu 9.04 on my Lenovo "IdeaCenter" desktop would only come up in low res graphics modes (eg. 800x600).
The only choices in System > Preferences > Display was 800x600, and I think 640x480, either of which makes the window manager very limited.
The Display program seemed unable to detect the monitor correctly, and thus only offered limited resolutions.
At first I thought it was a graphics driver issue, and spent hours with that, all in vain.
In the end, I found the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file just needed a little tweak in the "monitor" section (first saved a copy of my working lores xorg.conf file!), and just added these lines to the 'Section "Monitor"':
HorizSync 30.0 - 60.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 160.0
So for example, before the change, it read:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection
..and after the change, it read:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
HorizSync 30.0 - 60.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 160.0
EndSection
With those changes, I found I could choose better display resolutions, which made the machine usable.
You can crank the max values in those sync lines higher to get higher resolutions (e.g. 60.0 -> 70.0, and 160.0 -> 170.0) Just watch you don't set it to high; some old CRT monitors can literally fry with the wrong settings.
I found it was useful to test my changes to the xorg.conf file quickly by restarting the window manager with ALT + PRINTSCREEN + K (ALT has to be the right hand ALT key). This totally *kills* the window manager (closes your windows!) and restarts it, so that it re-parses your changed xorg.conf. This is apparently ubuntu's equivalent key sequence for the older CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE, which seems to no longer work.
I also found (CTRL) + (ALT) + (PLUS) was useful to cycle through the various screen resolutions. (The (PLUS) being the plus key on the numeric keypad) During testing I sometimes found the OS would pick a resolution too high for my monitor and it would go black.. but typing CTRL-ALT-PLUS while the black screen was up would let me cycle to lower screen resolutions until I found one the monitor likes, then later fix things correctly using System>Prefs>Display settings, and lowering the max sync ranges in the xorg.conf.
Hope that helps..
The only choices in System > Preferences > Display was 800x600, and I think 640x480, either of which makes the window manager very limited.
The Display program seemed unable to detect the monitor correctly, and thus only offered limited resolutions.
At first I thought it was a graphics driver issue, and spent hours with that, all in vain.
In the end, I found the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file just needed a little tweak in the "monitor" section (first saved a copy of my working lores xorg.conf file!), and just added these lines to the 'Section "Monitor"':
HorizSync 30.0 - 60.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 160.0
So for example, before the change, it read:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection
..and after the change, it read:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
HorizSync 30.0 - 60.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 160.0
EndSection
With those changes, I found I could choose better display resolutions, which made the machine usable.
You can crank the max values in those sync lines higher to get higher resolutions (e.g. 60.0 -> 70.0, and 160.0 -> 170.0) Just watch you don't set it to high; some old CRT monitors can literally fry with the wrong settings.
I found it was useful to test my changes to the xorg.conf file quickly by restarting the window manager with ALT + PRINTSCREEN + K (ALT has to be the right hand ALT key). This totally *kills* the window manager (closes your windows!) and restarts it, so that it re-parses your changed xorg.conf. This is apparently ubuntu's equivalent key sequence for the older CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE, which seems to no longer work.
I also found (CTRL) + (ALT) + (PLUS) was useful to cycle through the various screen resolutions. (The (PLUS) being the plus key on the numeric keypad) During testing I sometimes found the OS would pick a resolution too high for my monitor and it would go black.. but typing CTRL-ALT-PLUS while the black screen was up would let me cycle to lower screen resolutions until I found one the monitor likes, then later fix things correctly using System>Prefs>Display settings, and lowering the max sync ranges in the xorg.conf.
Hope that helps..