On Mon, 2011-03-14 at 11:40 -0400, James Knott wrote:

Forgot to mention, that computer has a Nvidea Vanta /Vanta LT.

James Knott wrote:

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I've just installed 11.4 on an old Compaq computer. One problem that was immediately obvious is the monitor goes black every several seconds. Also, where the heck are the video settings? I can't seem to find them anywhere! This computer previously ran 11.3 without issue.

Hi, just want to add in that I am having the same issue after replacing 11.1 with 11.4 on a pentium4 system with an nvidia 6200 graphics card. Mark -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On 2011/03/14 12:16 (GMT-0400) Mark Misulich composed:

On Mon, 2011-03-14 at 11:40 -0400, James Knott wrote:

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James Knott wrote:

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I've just installed 11.4 on an old Compaq computer. One problem that was immediately obvious is the monitor goes black every several seconds. Also, where the heck are the video settings? I can't seem to find them anywhere! This computer previously ran 11.3 without issue.

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Forgot to mention, that computer has a Nvidea Vanta /Vanta LT.

just want to add in that I am having the same issue after replacing 11.1 with 11.4 on a pentium4 system with an nvidia 6200 graphics card.

I've traditionally stuck to only MGA, Intel & ATI in my test and production systems. Consequently, I pay little attention to NVidia threads, but do remember recently noticing one somewhere (here? xorg? opensuse-xorg? fedora-test? cooker?) describing what Mark & James are seeing. A few days due to https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?GoAheadAndLogIn=1&id=675793 I decided that I need a test box with nvidia too. The first thing I noticed after starting KDE in 11.4 with a TNT2 and nv driver was flashing/blinking/blanking for no apparent reason. I subsequently changed that box to a GeForce2 MX400, after which I've not seen it. I searched kernel & freedesktop Bugzillas quickly without finding anything filed in last 5 months about blinking, blanking or flashing on subject, so maybe it's openSUSE only. -- "How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver." Proverbs 16:16 NKJV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 18:27, James Knott wrote:

Felix Miata wrote:

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I've traditionally stuck to only MGA, Intel & ATI in my test and production systems.

This Compaq is my test system.  I test all new distros on it, before installing on my other systems.  Had it worked OK, my next victim would have been my ThinkPad R31, followed by a Netfinity server and my main system, a 64 AMD system, with nVidea GeForce 7300 GS & 1080p monitor.

BTW, is there anything comparable to SAX2 in 11.4?

To do what? For the most part anything to do with X config is all automagic now. Any display tweaking can usually be done in randr - in KDE4 you have a Monitor module in the System Settings window that you can sue to tweak your display. In Gnome you have similar tools. On most single display systems, there is nothing you need to do. There are of course cases where these config tools don't work (and a manual config is necessary), but those are becoming less and less. C. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 21:18, James Knott wrote:

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BTW, is there anything comparable to SAX2 in 11.4?

To do what?  For the most part anything to do with X config is all automagic now.  Any display tweaking can usually be done in randr - in KDE4 you have a Monitor module in the System Settings window that you can sue to tweak your display.  In Gnome you have similar tools.  On most single display systems, there is nothing you need to do.

You must have a different 11.4.  I'm running KDE and I don't see any "randr" and the only monitor I see in System simply shows running tasks etc.  There is the "Display and Monitor" in Personal Settings, but there's nothing there that I can change.

I didn't say to try and find randr in the System Settings, or intend to imply that you should look for randr there... randr is a command line tool. The path to get to the Monitor setup module in KDE4 is: Geeko > Configure Desktop > Hardware > Display and Monitor (I assumed you could find it without the explicit path - sorry for that) Gnome is similar, but I don't have Gnome running at the moment to spell out the GUI config path. This usually does everything most users need to config their monitors. Some multi monitor setups have issues (although I've never had an issue on multi monitor configs) as well as some older CRTs that seem to be detected incorrectly - this has been discussed a lot here on the mailing list in the past 12 months or so.

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There are of course cases where these config tools don't work (and a manual config is necessary), but those are becoming less and less.

Well, there's certainly a problem with 11.4 on this system that worked with 11.3

There is, from what I read, an issue with some recent changes in X which is affect ing nVidia and ATI video cards. It's being discussed here on the mailing list in another thread.. or three. Fiddling in System Settings > Monitor won't fix it. Take a look at this bug report -> https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=678732 Is that the same issue? Possibly related... https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=678264 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=664533 C. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 22:07, James Knott wrote:

C wrote:

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I didn't say to try and find randr in the System Settings, or intend to imply that you should look for randr there... randr is a command line tool.  The path to get to the Monitor setup module in KDE4 is:

   Geeko>  Configure Desktop>  Hardware>  Display and Monitor (I assumed you could find it without the explicit path - sorry for that)

No, as I mentioned, I already found that, but couldn't configure anything with it.  I also assumed randr was a command but couldn't find it, even when root. I even tried using find to see if it was anywhere on the system.

Ah the wonders of typing text in emails... miscommunications are too easy :-P I don't know what you mean by you can't configure anything with the Display and Monitor thing... What is you're trying to do? If you're running the nVidia binary drivers, you can use the nVidia config tool (nvidia-settings) to do some advanced setup... but that's unusual to have to run that application... at least under most circumstances. C. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On 2011/03/14 13:27 (GMT-0400) James Knott composed:

BTW, is there anything comparable to SAX2 in 11.4?

Automagic doesn't work with your hardware? It's supposed to work for most, though I well know that's far too often a fantasy. At least 80% of my hardware requires at least some configuration in /etc/X11/ somewhere. AFAIK, for cmdline/runlevel 3 setup, nothing ever did or does come close to SaX2. xrandr only works in startup scripts or from cmdline in running X, if you can figure out which part of automagic isn't working for you and how to overcome that obstacle from the xrandr man page. krandrtray gives xrandr a GUI interface, but won't necessarily cause changes that stick across session startups. Once you get what you want via xrandr(tray) or trial & error, you can pick necessary bits out of the resulting Xorg.0.conf, and put them into appropriate file(s) in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/, or if more than a trivial amount are required, assemble them in xorg.conf. -- "How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver." Proverbs 16:16 NKJV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 17:01, James Knott wrote:

Well, I guess I'm stuck with this problem with the display going black.  Fortunately, I normally access this system via XDMCP from my main system and that still works.

Stuck is a bit dramatic :-) The display going black is a known issue... see the bugs I linked earlier in this thread: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=678732 and https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=664533 C. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 18:31, James Knott wrote:

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issue... see the bugs I linked earlier in this thread: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=678732 and https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=664533

Yep, it's a known fault.  However, I don't see any fix for it.  Fortunately, this isn't my main system.  That one also has a nVidia card, but it's connected with DVI.

And I'll be stepping into the fray sometime tonight... as I'm updating to 11.4 on my main system... which has a nVidia card, and is connected via VGA, not DVI. Why do i have a bad feeling about this? Ha. On the up side, 11.4/KDE4 is working very very well on my laptop (with intel video)... it's noticeably faster (or more responsive) than the default 11.3/KDE4 is on the same machine. If this little video niggle can be sorted, then life will be good... well at least with respect to openSUSE 11.4 :-) C -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 19:41, James Knott wrote:

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On the up side, 11.4/KDE4 is working very very well on my laptop (with intel video)... it's noticeably faster (or more responsive) than the default 11.3/KDE4 is on the same machine.  If this little video niggle can be sorted, then life will be good... well at least with respect to openSUSE 11.4:-)

Let me know how knetworkmanger does on it.  I'm planning on updating my ThinkPad from 11.0 to 11.4 soon.  One thing I've done this time is make a full image backup of the hard drive, in addition to the usual /home, /local and /etc.  This is because I'm not quite sure if 11.4 will work out and I want to be able to reinstall 11.0 on it, if necessary.

I've got no problems at all with KNetworkManager (in the default KDE4.6). The laptop uses the Linux ath9k WiFi driver, and works fine. I can sleep the laptop (close the lid or sleep with the Fn key combination) and when it wakes up, the WiFi connection is ready and active within a second or two of the display coming on. Configuring VPNs is easy and they work fine as well. Basically, I've had zero issues running 11.4/KDE4 on the laptop. C -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

C wrote:

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 18:31, James Knott wrote:

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issue... see the bugs I linked earlier in this thread: https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=678732 and https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=664533

Yep, it's a known fault. However, I don't see any fix for it. Fortunately, this isn't my main system. That one also has a nVidia card, but it's connected with DVI.

Small update on this... I've now installed openSUSE 11.4 on my main computer, and am not seeing the screen flicker issue that's described in the linked bugs, and this thread.

- openSUSE 11.4 76 bit (default install, updated to standard 11.4 repos) - KDE4.6 (default install, updated to standard 11.4 repos) - nVidia proprietary drivers, version=270.30 (Nouveau driver blacklisted, nVidia driver manually installed)

A few things that may or may not be key here... 64 bit install vs 32 bit (I thought I saw something that suggested it may be a 32 issue?)... and using the latest nVidia Beta drivers instead of the older stable drivers from the openSUSE repository.

Maybe it's worth trying the latest Beta drivers? They seem to be working without fault for me. You can find info about the nVidia Beta drivers here: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=122606

C.

My main (64 bit) system, uses DVI and apparently that connection type doesn't have this problem. I'm experiencing the problem on my test system, an old Compaq computer with nVidia Lanta video. There are no drivers on the nVidia site for that one. I'm not too worried (yet) about my main system, as I have spare drives, so I can remove the existing system and install 11.4. If it doesn't work properly, I can put the old drive back in to return to where I am now. I also have a Netfinity server with S3 video but my immediate concern is my ThinkPad. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Felix Miata wrote:

A neighbor with old Compaq and W2K was having video trouble, so I took out her nVidia card (TNT and/or Vanta IIRC), and either put in another old video card or used the onboard Intel, I don't remember which, but in any event solved her problem.

Lots of AGP & PCI video cards cheap on eBay. I'm sure something newer than yours, GeForce or Radeon, would be a reasonable solution, and a better performer. Maybe even a local puter shop has a junk box full that you could pick through for $10 or less.

It has worked fine with Suse versions prior to 11.4, so it's not likely a hardware issue. Also, according to the bugzilla reports, it's a common problem with more than just nVidia. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

James Knott wrote:

I've installed 11.4 on my ThinkPad R31 and it's completely DOA. I get to the login screen and enter my ID and password. It then progresses for a while an then there are video problems, with the colours washing out to yellow-white. It's a good thing I saved a disk image, so I can go back to 11.0. Further on this:

I can start failsafe mode and also run TWM or ICEWM. If I start with init 3 and then startx, I get some error messages: 'xauth: file /home/jknott/.serverauth.1931 does not exist' 'Fatal server error: Cannot move old log file "/vr/log/Xorg.0.log" to "/var/log/Xorg.0.log.old' -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 09:41:12AM +0100, Will Stephenson wrote:

On Wednesday 16 Mar 2011 18:56:39 James Knott wrote:

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James Knott wrote:

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I've installed 11.4 on my ThinkPad R31 and it's completely DOA. I get to the login screen and enter my ID and password. It then progresses for a while an then there are video problems, with the colours washing out to yellow-white. It's a good thing I saved a disk image, so I can go back to 11.0.

Further on this:

I can start failsafe mode and also run TWM or ICEWM.

If I start with init 3 and then startx, I get some error messages:

'xauth: file /home/jknott/.serverauth.1931 does not exist'

'Fatal server error: Cannot move old log file "/vr/log/Xorg.0.log" to "/var/log/Xorg.0.log.old'

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=632737 removed the setuid bit from X, for security - startx is apparently deprecated.

If you still want it, you can restore the setuid bit locally via /etc/permissions.local add the line: /usr/bin/Xorg root:root 4711 and run SuSEconfig --module permissions -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

David C. Rankin wrote:

On 03/14/2011 10:35 AM, James Knott wrote:

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I've just installed 11.4 on an old Compaq computer. One problem that was immediately obvious is the monitor goes black every several seconds. Also, where the heck are the video settings? I can't seem to find them anywhere! This computer previously ran 11.3 without issue.

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=678264

Different problem. It doesn't pixelate. It goes black and then returns to normal. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org