Fedora 3 on Compaq P667/810 with integrated video

[bonehead48118]

New to Linux.

I'm having problems with a Fedora Core 3 install on a Compaq DeskPro P667/810.
It has Windows 95/98.
Intel 810
Integrated Intel video
10GB WD Hdd
128 MB Memory

This came from a network and only 2GB of the HDD were formatted, so I'm guessing it came with W95 and was upgraded to Win98. I bought it used.

I ran the install in graphics and it didn't work. I then saw that I should run it in text mode if I had 128 or less of memory, so I did that. It worked -- sort of.

It sometimes boots and sometimes doesn't. I think there are two problems. It sometimes goes all the way to the GUI, but there's something wrong, I assume. If I select a menu and then a submenu, I have to drag my mouse pointer over the screen to get the menu selections to appear. This happens in popup windows, too. Something's not right.

It has booted all the way to the GUI, but at other times it hangs and I get a screen with two colored columns down it. This will blink four times and then hang. I can warm boot. I went into interactive mode and found that this happened when it tried to load the Ether() service.

I found that if I went into interactive mode and said No to loading the Ether() service, I could boot all the way to the GUI, but I still had the same problems. There is an ethernet card, but it's not connected to anything. I don't need it right now and could just remove it, but I may want to use it later to create a little home network.

OOo doesn't load right; the frame comes up but the video is all off. Nothing really works right. My guess is that the problem is with the video drivers.

I don't know much about loading, reloading, reconfiguring or doing anything with Linux drivers. I don't know anything about Linux editors for that matter. I really don't know how to start.

For instance, should I try to flash the BIOS? I don't really know what that will do as far as Linux is concerned nor how to do it really. I don't know how to get to the Linux console for that matter. I've perused this and other sites, but I never seem to find a starting place.

Pity me, please.

Mark

[erique51]

I'm using an HP e-Vectra with the same Intel 810 integrated graphics. I see to be coming across the same problems with regards to the frames coming up improperly. I also cannot get my Ethernet (3c905x) up and running... I'm wondering if they are related?

[bonehead48118]

Are your video problems consistent? Do they always happen the same way? Mine are not. Sometimes it locks up during boot; sometimes it goes to the desktop and then just behaves strangely. The frames of the windows form, but there's nothing in them. The window won't go away when you close it. That sort of thing. Those problems in the desktop seem reasonably consistent, but the behavior during boot-up is not.

Everything is painfully slow, too, but I don't know what that compares to. The machine is new to me and so is Linux. It has Win98 as well (overtop of Win95), but no software, so I haven't done enough with it to know how the machine compares to others I'm more familiar with. I've played with notepad and solitaire a little bit
and it doesn't seem slow.

I tried removing the network card and when I booted, it did pretty much the same thing that it did the first time I loaded Fedora. At some point it showed 4 different full screens of scrambled color. In other words, it showed a screen with colors smeared all over it for a minute, then blanked out and came back with a different screen with colors smeard all over it, and so on. It did this four times and then when blank and locked up. I was able to control+alt+del and reboot, but the same thing happened again. In fact, I couldn't get around it. Now the machine locks up every time. I tried going to Interactive and not loading Kudzu. That didn't help.

When I get back from Kalamazoo, I'll try putting the NIC back in.

How much memory do you have?

Mark

[mlai]

I think there are known problems of the X11 off the FC3 installation disks. You need to boot into runlevel 3 and edit the videocard section xorg.conf and add the following line:

Options "noaccel"

(Check this..... It has been a while since I did this the line may have spellng mistakes)

After this, GUI should load fine. login, su - and do a yum update x* to update the x component which rectifies the graphics component.

Do a search in the forum. This is a known problem of installation with I810/I815 chipset videocard/onboard video.