Xfree86 troubleForum: X and Fluxbox Topic: Xfree86 trouble started by: curaga Posted by curaga on Mar. 04 2007,16:50
Just installed XFree86.dsl on my hd-install comp. I made a base XF86Config-4 with XFree86 -configure. Tweaked it and it should be 'near perfect'. My video card is S3 Trio 64 pci (Diamond Stealth something as a marketing brand).The problems: lspci shows it has 8mb of memory, Xfree only recognizes 2mb. Xfree doesn't recognize the card correctly, even though it set the Driver part to "s3" in -configure, it falls back to vgahw, which causes the only possible resolution to be 640x480. That sucks.... And third: it claims my monitor is only capable of 640x480. Xvesa used it happily 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and 1280x1024 with about 74Hz refresh rate, 60Hz on the last two ones... The low res causes me to be unable to close most programs any other way than xkill or killall.. Some pros too: Apps load faster, though Xfree does use more ram than Xvesa Posted by Juanito on Mar. 05 2007,03:54
The XFree log (can't remember the name) in /var or /var/log might give some hints as to what the problem is?
Posted by Jason W on Mar. 05 2007,03:58
In XFree, the s3 driver is "s3virge". Also, what does the "Monitor" section have to say about the HorizSync and VertRefresh settings?I use in my "Monitor" section: HorizSync 30-95 VertRefresh 50-160 for all my monitors, and they range from 7 to 10 years old, so those settings should be safe for most anyone. Hope this helps. Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Mar. 05 2007,04:37
But since you aren't using the correct driver yet... I'd suggest checking out the logs and the s3virge advice. Posted by curaga on Mar. 05 2007,06:30
BIOS says nothing, since it's a pci card. I don't think the mem is shared, since it's not away from the base ram. I've also checked the log many times, that's where I got all this info..According to xfree.org site, the correct driver for trio64 is s3... And the monitor was made in 1993, google finds nothing about it's refresh rates, so I don't have the rates in xf86config, I just let Xfree to probe for them.. Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Mar. 05 2007,06:52
Haven't checked the site, but first google result: < http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/linux/axp/2003-q3/0038.html >Never hurts to try :P Posted by Jason W on Mar. 05 2007,11:34
My bad. Posted by curaga on Mar. 05 2007,15:30
thehatsrule, do you mean I should try buying a radeon card xD?I've read posts like that, that's why I said Xfree 3.3.6 in my thread (replacing Xvesa with Xfree) but all the chips on the card read S3, so I thought it has a S3 ramdac, which is supported by 4.3.0.. I'll try it with the vesa driver (Is it going to be the same as Xvesa, but with more libs and a longer loading time?) Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Mar. 05 2007,19:15
Posted by curaga on Mar. 06 2007,13:17
< My earlier thread about X >I didn't say I was using 3.3.6, I said I probably would have to use it 'cause of better S3 support. How do I find out the RAMDAC? lspci doesn't show it, all the chips read only S3, X logs don't show it (when it had loaded the RAMDAC module it printed only some info about it, like clock rates. No name) Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Mar. 06 2007,17:45
You'll probably have to find your retail box/manual, etc. or open up your case.4.3.0: < http://www.xfree86.org/4.3.0/Status29.html > 3.3.6: < http://www.xfree86.org/3.3.6/S31.html > Anyways, you didn't report if you tried 4.3's "s3virge" yet? Posted by curaga on Mar. 07 2007,06:22
I'll try s3virge and vesa today. I think I opened the case when I looked at the card's chips and saw they all had the S3 logo.. I don't have the box/manual or something.. Posted by curaga on Mar. 07 2007,16:23
Meanwhile, here's the relevant part of lspci:VGA compatible controller: S3 inc. 86c764/765 [Trio32/64/64V+] memory at fb000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [Size=8M] The card is Vesa VBE 1.2 (maybe not important) Edit: s3virge gave me a fatal server error: no devices detected Edit 2: vesa works great, better than Xvesa and the S3 driver. It lets me have a high resolution with 75Hz refresh rate, but it too recognizes only 2mb of memory. And it doesn't have acceleration.... I could use the 3.3.6 for acceleration, but I remember that it needs modelines (How do I figure those out?) Anyway, I'm happy with vesa for now. For others in same kind of situation, here's a readily compiled 3.3.6 server with all drivers: < http://www.milanosbar.com/xfree86/knoppix_svga.tgz > (got it from < this > thread..) Posted by curaga on Mar. 07 2007,17:25
A final question: How can Xfree with vesa be so much faster than Xvesa? It's slower on boot and shutdown, but many programs start seconds faster. It cannot all be from already loaded libs, can it? I mean, it's the same driver in both afterall..Oh, I'm too getting these errors while starting X: error opening security policy file /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xserver/SecurityPolicy Couldīt load XKB keymap, falling back to pre-XKB keymap Are some xkb keymaps dropped from the extension? Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Mar. 07 2007,23:39
Your first error is just a debian-specific patch for privileges - shouldn't affect your usage, but you can create that file if you want. I think those keymaps aren't included... if you need special keys or w/e you might need to grab xkbcomp |