FC5 and ATI install problems

[cfoland]

I have read though the forums and noticed a great deal of problems when installing FC5 with an ATI card. My problem is that during install, as soon as the graphics mode starts up, the screen is real big and therefore I can only see the top half. Im assuming this is because of the lack of driver support. Is my only option do to a text based install? Im somewhat of a noob and therefore this would be a lot of trouble for me. Is there anyway to slipstream the drivers into the install cd? What about FC6 test1? Would that have better support for me? Another option would be to change video cards. If I bought a Nvidia card would I have better luck? Thanks in advance for any suggestions or comments.

[LAzYbONEz]

Hallo

I didnt have any troubles installing my ATI card out of the box. Follow the ATI section of this.

http://stanton-finley.net/fedora_core_5_installation_notes.html

Just make sure you update your kernel from the original one on the DVD

Lb

[LAzYbONEz]

The other thing to try is to update the Monitor section of your xorg.conf with your monitor specs (vrefresh and hsync etc) that might sort it out. I doubt its a driver issue

[cfoland]

Thanks for the replies. Ive attached an image to show my problem. Im still not sure what to do. How do I edit my monitor config?

[scotta3234]

Can you change the picture size on the monitor itself to solve your problem? It looks like it's workin, it's just that you can't see anything.

[cfoland]

Its DVI so theres no way to change the size. Plus the mouse stops there at the bottom, it wont go down past the screen.

[LAzYbONEz]

Use this as a guide http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/xorg-config.xml#doc_chap4 but only for the "Setting your resolution" part. Using anything else in that will most probably stuff ur config up completely. I only did a quick google search to find something similar to what you need.

To edit this file you need to be a root user and the file is /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Good Luck!

[scotta3234]

I would look into doing a text install, or finding another monitor for at least the install, then afterwords you could edit your xorg.conf to work with that monitor. Unless there is a kernel boot option you can pass before you begin the installation.

[LAzYbONEz]

aaaaahhhh whoops...i missed the "install" part of your problem :confused:

Don't listen to me... scotta3234 has the right idea.... :D

[cfoland]

OK, I used a VGA cable instead of DVI and got it installed. I then hooked the DVI back up but I can only get a resolution of 640*480. I will edit the xorg.conf tonight and see if that helps. Thanks for the replies.

[cfoland]

I changed my xorg.conf and added my prefered resolution. I then rebooted and chose that resolution. I rebooted again and it shows that Im running a resolution of 1680x1050 but as you can see in the screen shot it is closer to 640x480. Any ideas?

[scotta3234]

post your xorg.conf so we can take a look at it to make sure you added everything correctly. Looks like you finally got it installed! Have you checked the preferences/display (which i believe is different than the display settings in your picture, and yes i know that fedora is weird like that and puts resolution in two places) but yeah check that other "display" menu.

[cfoland]

I was using Administration/Display and not Preferences/Screen Resolution. When I get home I will test this and if it doesnt work Ill post my conf file. Thanks for the help.

[cfoland]

OK, I tried to change it under preferences and still no luck so I updated my ati drivers using the guide on stanton-finley.net. After reboot Im stuck in the same spot so Im posting my xorg.conf below.

Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, a font server independent of the X server is
# used to render fonts.
FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
Load "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Dell 2005FPW (Digital)"
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
HorizSync 30.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 75.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "radeon"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "ATI Technologies Inc R430 [Radeon X800 XL] (PCIe)"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1680x1050" "1280x800"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1680x1050"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group 0
Mode 0666
EndSection

[cfoland]

I also noticed my refresh rate looks way off. It says its at 28651Hz. Is this high?

[SickOfWindows]

I noticed your xorg.conf file says that you're running the "radeon" driver. Is your card better supported by the "fglrx" driver provided by ATI? Maybe something to look into. You can find the release notes here (https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/linux_8.26.18.html#173867).

Hope this helps.

[cfoland]

You were right. I installed the fglrx and all is well. I wasnt aware there were 2 different ones. Thanks.