Thanks for the reply Per, On Tue, 2006-08-08 at 08:16 +0200, Per Jessen wrote:

Dave Barton wrote:

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SuSE 10.1 install appears to go fine until it gets to setting the video. The monitor and card are detected OK and a reasonable resolution is suggested, but the "sax2 test" just produces a black screen until it finally drops out. Setting the resolution to the lowest possible level (eg. 640x480 vga) makes no difference. The Ethernet is detected, but I have been unable to configure it to access my network dsl router. The port light on the router just sits there slowly flashing.

Dave, do you use DHCP or static addresses? Exactly what is it that isn't working? Maybe post the output of lspci and ifconfig.

My own boxes on this router use DHCP. I can't post any output at the moment, because my friend has said I can try reinstalling "when this Linux stuff actually works" (his words - not mine). At this stage I am more interested in getting a GUI working on that box, because I can always throw another known-to-work Ethernet card in to get the networking up and running.

The X problem sounds like a driver issue - the lspci output will probably help someone identify the right driver. (I don't dabble much with X myself, so ...)

/Per Jessen, Zürich

I am sure it is an nVidia driver issue, but surely the nv driver Yast installs should work for any nVidia card. Regards Dave

On Tue, 2006-08-08 at 09:24 +0200, Clayton wrote:

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SuSE 10.1 install appears to go fine until it gets to setting the video. The monitor and card are detected OK and a reasonable resolution is suggested, but the "sax2 test" just produces a black screen until it finally drops out. Setting the resolution to the

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I am sure it is an nVidia driver issue, but surely the nv driver Yast installs should work for any nVidia card.

What monitor is connected? A CRT? A TFT?

Tried both CRT and TFT monitors that I use on a couple of my other SuSE 10.1 boxes. Max sync of the CRT is 120Hz.

Have you checked the xorg.conf file to see if the frequency ranges it's trying to use are actually within the real frequency ranges the monitor is capable of?

Checked xorg.conf which showed the max frequency of 75Hz.

I've had issues with SAX guessing/using the wrong frequency ranges - especially for TFT monitors. The result is... blank screen... because the TFT turns itself off. That's nothing to do with any problems with the nVidia card or the driver itself.... assuming that's the problem.

In this case SAX appears to be making a reasonable guess.

So, the solution to the video problem might be as simple as either using SAX and customizing the freq settings, or opening the xorg.conf file in your favorite text editor and changing the horiz and vert freq settings to match what the monitor really can support.

C.

Problem is that by the end of the install process even SAX will not start from init 3. After 6 attempts at reformat and clean install, I will just have to accept that SuSE is never going to work on this box. Is there a hardware (in)compatibility list somewhere that I can add the details of this junk? Thanks for your time. Dave

On Tue, 2006-08-08 at 22:53 +0900, Masaru Nomiya wrote:

Hello,

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In the Message: [suse-linux-e ML: No.278738] with the date of Tue, 08 Aug 2006 23:30:08 +1000 [Dave] == Dave Barton has written:

Dave> Tried both CRT and TFT monitors that I use on a couple of my other SuSE Dave> 10.1 boxes. Max sync of the CRT is 120Hz.

It's a vertical sync, isn't it?

Hsync = 85Hz SAX sets max 75Hz

For setting X, the max value of horizontal sync is important, not the vertical sync. And you must inform us of which resolution you tried to use.

Already stated that I tried minimum possible (ie. 640x480 VGA @ 60Hz)

Then, we can estimate the refresh rate for the CRT/LCD display, and might ditect your problem.

Regards,

Thanks, but having tested with 5 high performance monitors I am 99.9% convinced that this is not a monitor/frequency issue. Dave

On Tue, 2006-08-08 at 11:37 -0400, Jerry Feldman wrote:

Here is some information on you board http://www.nintek.com.au/x/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=5140

Thanks, I got the details before purchasing the board.

You probably need to download the nVidia drivers directly from nVidia.

I am sure you are correct, but I need to convince the person I built the box for that this is the answer before they let me try again. Of the several hundred Linux installs I have done over the years, this board has been the most problematic.

On your LAN chip, CICADA8201 Gigabit LAN PHY chip, you might need to do some additional research on that. You may need to use ndiswrapper with the 64-bit Windows driver.

I am getting to be like a dog with a bone over this one. So I will definitely be doing some more research.

The problem here is that there is a lag between the time some hardware comes out and when Linux supports it.

Understood, but the really weird thing is that I could successfully run live CD Knoppix 4 (no network), but Knoppix 5 failed to display in graphical mode. Go figure :\ Thanks Dave

On Mon, 2006-08-14 at 19:07 +0200, Matthias Hopf wrote:

On Aug 09, 06 09:19:17 +1000, Dave Barton wrote:

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Understood, but the really weird thing is that I could successfully run live CD Knoppix 4 (no network), but Knoppix 5 failed to display in graphical mode. Go figure :\

Given the remaining description, Knoppix 4 probably configured the vesa driver (which worked), which Knoppix 5 (and 10.1) used the nv driver which didn't work at that time with the 7300 on some mainboards...

Wild guess ATM, but I remember there was something... Maybe an update to 7.1 helps. But I'm not really sure.

Matthias

Thanks for the info. Probably I should have done a bit more homework on my choice of hardware for this box. I am not clear what you mean by "update to 7.1". What update are you referring to? Dave

On Aug 08, 06 23:30:08 +1000, Dave Barton wrote:

Problem is that by the end of the install process even SAX will not start from init 3. After 6 attempts at reformat and clean install, I will just have to accept that SuSE is never going to work on this box.

What do you mean with 'even sax will not start from init 3'? What happens? Does it bail out with an error or give you a black screen? Did you try 'sax2 -r'? Are you using the open source driver nv or the binary drivers from NVidia? If these comments don't help, please open a bug report: http://en.opensuse.org/Bugs:X Matthias -- Matthias Hopf __ __ __ Maxfeldstr. 5 / 90409 Nuernberg (_ | | (_ |__ mat@mshopf.de Phone +49-911-74053-715 __) |_| __) |__ labs www.mshopf.de

On Aug 15, 06 09:26:51 +1000, Dave Barton wrote:

No I didn't try "sax2 -r".

I was doing a simple, straight forward install, so I was using the nv driver, which I would have expected to work @ 640x40 60Hz.

I just (re-)found a discussion in Bugzilla about 7300 and nv not working with it in an older version.

Unfortunately, I no longer have access to that box, so I am not in a position to reproduce the issues and submit a worthwhile bug report.

You probably don't have to. It's a known issue.

You win some and you lose some.

Right :-( Matthias -- Matthias Hopf __ __ __ Maxfeldstr. 5 / 90409 Nuernberg (_ | | (_ |__ mat@mshopf.de Phone +49-911-74053-715 __) |_| __) |__ labs www.mshopf.de