F10 analog refresh rates not working, samsung syncmaster 226cw

[jdelisle]

I've just upgraded to 10 from 9.

The installer (including the blue media check screen) will not work with my monitor, as it keeps using an unsupported refresh rate when connected via VGA.

I worked around this by using DVI for the installation, but would prefer to use VGA day to day.

Can anyone suggest how I can force it to use the correct refresh rates? I assume this is all related to some x windows stuff, but I'm an x windows noob.

Thanks for any advice.

[glennzo]

I would imagine that you could put the refresh rates into the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. The file doesn't exist by default in F10 so you will need to first run system-config-display --reconfig to generate it.

Edit: What are the refresh rates for your monitor?

[jdelisle]

I've included the specs from the manual below. Via DVI, it works fine. Via VGA, problems.

General
Model Name SyncMaster 226CW
LCD Panel
Size 22 " Wide Diagonal (55 cm)
Display area 473.8 mm (H) x 296.1 mm (V)
Pixel Pitch 0.282 mm (H) x 0.282 mm (V)
Synchronization
Horizontal 30 ~ 81 kHz
Vertical 56 ~ 75 Hz
Display Color
16.7M Colors
Resolution
Optimum resolution 1680 X 1050@60 Hz
Maximum resolution 1680 X 1050@60 Hz
Input Signal, Terminated
RGB Analog, DVI Compliant Digital RGB,
0.7 Vp-p ± 5%,
Separate H/V sync, Composite, SOG
TTL level (V high ≥ 2.0V, V low ≤ 0.8V)
Maximum Pixel Clock
146 MHz (Analog,Digital)
Power Supply
AC 100 - 240V~ (+/- 10%)，50/60Hz ± 3 Hz

[Hlingler]

You can check currently available resolutions and refresh rates with the xrandr utility:
xrandr -q

and change on-the-fly with, for example:
xrandr -s ABCDxDEFG -r XY.Z

But that may well change if you change the monitor.

V

[petzhd]

I've experienced a similar issue when attempting to run the F10 LiveCD: it was with Ubuntu earlier, now it's Fedora 10. I would very much like to try a modern Linux distribution, but so far haven't had much luck getting past the booting.

My display is Benq G900WA (31-83 kHz Horiz., 55-76 Hz Vert., 1440x900 native resolution, analog-only input). This is the kind of picture I eventually get on the monitor when the LiveCD completes the boot sequence:
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/4017/benqg900wabw4.th.jpg (http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=benqg900wabw4.jpg)

I tried xdriver=vesa and vga=791 boot options but with no effect except for a slightly different pattern of the garbled picture. It seems like my Benq's refresh rates need to be set in xorg.conf. However, as glennzo noted, the file is not present in F10 by default. How exactly do I go about the system-config-display --reconfig procedure to generate it? Typing the string at the console prompt didn't produce the result.

I'd really appreciate a practical advice.

Peter

[jdelisle]

Bad news - you're screwed. There's no way to set the refresh rate prior to the installer starting.

No way I've found at least. Based on conversations with people on #fedora IRC, you can't modify the x config used by the live or installer CD, and you can't pass refresh rate via the boot prompt.

I had to find a DVI cable, install, and am now looking for a solution to allow me to continue using the LCD via the VGA port (my primary system uses the DVI - I have two inputs, one VGA, one DVI, and I alternate between them).

Maybe find an old analog monitor and install with that?

I've experienced a similar issue when attempting to run the F10 LiveCD

I'd really appreciate a practical advice.

[petzhd]

Interesting.

Is there a sure way to install F10 with this "incompatible" monitor — rather than run the LiveCD — and then adjust the refresh rates? Say, a text-only display option during the installation with subsequent edit of the xorg.conf from the command line without starting X?

[jdelisle]

Interesting.

Is there a sure way to install F10 with this "incompatible" monitor — rather than run the LiveCD — and then adjust the refresh rates? Say, a text-only display option during the installation with subsequent edit of the xorg.conf from the command line without starting X?

Yea, look at the F1/F4 help keys in the boot menu. I think you just append "text" to the boot prompt.

[petzhd]

Well, I took a more radical route to see if my off-the-shelf, consumer grade box would embrace a modern Linux distro. I'm screwed indeed. SUSE did produce a picture on my Benq G900WA but only 1024x768 with the x11failsafe boot option.

The amount of tinkering that seems to be necessary (and, most of all, the navigating through disparate, incomplete, incoherent mans and how-tos) will really divert me very far from any productive work. I can see why the designer of VMS (and NT afterwards) just hates UNIX; on strictly technical merits of cohesive OS design, I might add. And then the tools of my trade (DTP, multimedia, linguistics) available under GNU are nothing but laughable. Seriously: they are either non-existent or of such an amateur nature that precludes them from being used in any serious project.

Apparently, one day's work of a full-time, focused programmer cannot be replaced with fifteen minute contributions spread over a week by 32 loosely associated aspiring coders. Like they used to joke about Soviet semiconductor industry: the lag behind Japan is not 30 years but forever.

[jdelisle]

Got it working!

It wasn't X, it was the new Plymouth graphical boot loader. Added nomodeset to the boot prompt, and it went text-mode. X started and works PERFECT.

Stupid new boot loader... =(

[jdelisle]

Well, I took a more radical route to see if my off-the-shelf, consumer grade box would embrace a modern Linux distro. I'm screwed indeed. SUSE did produce a picture on my Benq G900WA but only 1024x768 with the x11failsafe boot option.

The amount of tinkering that seems to be necessary (and, most of all, the navigating through disparate, incomplete, incoherent mans and how-tos) will really divert me very far from any productive work. I can see why the designer of VMS (and NT afterwards) just hates UNIX; on strictly technical merits of cohesive OS design, I might add. And then the tools of my trade (DTP, multimedia, linguistics) available under GNU are nothing but laughable. Seriously: they are either non-existent or of such an amateur nature that precludes them from being used in any serious project.

Apparently, one day's work of a full-time, focused programmer cannot be replaced with fifteen minute contributions spread over a week by 32 loosely associated aspiring coders. Like they used to joke about Soviet semiconductor industry: the lag behind Japan is not 30 years but forever.

Wow, that's one whiny *****y post.

I've discovered that adding nomodeset to the boot prompt resolved this for me. May work for you too.

What I can almost guarantee is that the only reason I was ABLE to resolve this is because it's an open-source product, and because I was able diagnose this myself. Also, because of this, chances are it will be corrected VERY quickly and won't happen to other new F10 users.

So, you keep on complaining, but I'm going to go submit a bug report so that team of "32 loosely associated aspiring coders" can patch this and get the fix out.

And one final note, if you don't like it, do something constructive. Don't come here to vent, please FOAD instead.

[oryan_dunn]

jdelisle,
After you submit the bug report, could you post a link here? I will add my data to the post and will test possible fixes as well. I have not been able to test the "nomodeset" param, but it does seem like that may work for me as well. I failed to realized that F10 was using a different boot setup than Ubuntu. Mods, will you merge this thread with this one: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=205271

[petzhd]

You must understand that the experience was quite unlike anything I usually get from my machine. For an entire day. Even longer. I (my family) kind of "lost" several hundred bucks in the meantime as a result of this downtime. Hence the "whining". I agree that I was not constructive. Mine is a case of a direct and somewhat emotional realization that knowledge is power and time is money.

All in all, the promise of free software is not merely a promise but a reality in many areas of computing. I personally use an open source CMS that has a very active community around it. But, man! A display issue! In an OS that is supposedly "modern"! There MUST have been a way to prevent this from happening. I tried 4 distros! We need to file a bug report.

[jdelisle]

Bug report:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=464896

There have been many others experiencing this same issue - see that bug report.