I spent at least 3 hours yesterday trying to get my display to work on Linux simply because I had changed my monitor! On Windows one wouldn't even think twice about this but with Linux it's apparently a BIG deal!

I wanted to use my old Acer AcerView 33DL 14 inch monitor instead of my regular 17 inch Hyundai monitor (which I am unable to use at the moment).

Anyway, to make the 3 hour long story short, here's what I had to do to fix my messed up display in Linux:

Search the web for information on your monitor
I searched high and low for information about this particular monitor, AcerView 33DL, which was not easy since it's very old! But, after some digging, here's what I collected -

Boot into Linux in TEXT mode
Since your display is effectively screwed, you have to boot into Linux in TEXT mode somehow if the default is "Graphical / Multi User" mode like mine is.

This is where I struggled for a good while; but the good news is you don't have to (if you use the GRUB Loader, that is): How to boot Linux in text mode with GRUB Loader

Edit the XF86Config file
Once in text mode, get to the folder /etc/X11, look for the filenamed: XF86Config because you will need to edit this file. To edit, I used vim.

Look for the bit that looks like this and update the information, e.g.

Further down this file, look for a section as in the example below and update it too:

Save the file and you're done! Type exit and you should have no problems with your display again...

I've ran into problems like this with Linux since I started to use it. Thank god I never tried to change the monitor. I love Linux I've liked it ever since I started to use it. But there are times when I be sitting around and just think to my self thank goodness for Windows. Please don't shoot me. But sometime just plugging it in and going is a great thing. Especially when you’re talking about a monitor.

Yeah, I have had problems like this before. But first of all, this is not a *linux* problem, but a XFree86 problem. There is a lot of discussion about getting a replacement to XFree86 because of the difficulty in configuration.

Second, this is not as common a problem as it may seem. Unless you switch between greatly varying monitors. You will notice that the HorizSync and VertRefresh are both a range and *most* similar monitors operate in a similar mode.

Also, if you use xdm on boot up and get a garbled screen, you should be able to hit ctrl-alt-F6 to get to a text login screen where you can console your heart out.

Finally, while we are on the topic, a more complicated setup is where you want to use a special resolution in XFree86. For example, I have a widescreen laptop that uses 1920x1200 resolution. Not only do I have to modify the HorizSync & VertRefresh, but I have to add a modeline entry into XFree86 to tell it how to handle 1920x1200 resolution for my laptop. This is actually pretty dangerous as if you get these modelines wrong, they can fry a display! If anyone is using the Dell UXGA+ 15.4" displays in linux and needs these modelines let me know.

One more side note. This has been problem with linux and always will be until linux use becomes extremely popular. Hardware manufacturers have no need to work with linux in auto-detection or drivers. To me, this is where the blame lies in a lot of cases.

Where were you 3 months ago?

My Linux days are temporarily over for at least another couple of months, but I hope you stick around for my third attempt at using Linux.

Sorry for the replies to the older messages. I didn't actually realize that they were older until after I commented on them, but hopefully they will be of some use to somebody in the future.

No, I didn't mean that the thread was old, it's because I can't use the information now.

On GIDForums™, we actually encourage the updating of old threads / topics with new and/or relevant information.

What we normally frown upon is the digging up of old topics with replies like "Oh! that's nice...", "Have you tried searching Google?" or in extreme cases, "RTFM... doofus!"

Okay, this is extremely specific information. If you are running linux on a Dell Inspiron 8500/8600 with 15.4" WUXGA display capable of 1920x1200 resolution, here is how to get this brilliant display to work.

DISCLAIMER: Messing with modelines is very dangerous and can physically damager your hardware. Use this at your own risk

That being said, this worked like a charm for me!

In your XF86Config file, the monitor section should look like this:


and the screen section should have the following as a min.

Modelines are only needed for special cases. In most cases, the generic settings should work. Also, for most modern setups, alot of items will be automagically detected with:


But if you know that your display is capable of more, you can visit here to find the modelines to use for your configuration.

One last thing, if you do have a laptop with a special configuration, take great care when you dock it. Your external monitor is going to be a lot different than your laptop display. I am going to make a start up script for mine, that will check to see if the computer is docked and change the settings if it is. Once I have something that works, I will post it here.

Cheers.

I just installed Fedora and I dont know how to change the settings. Please help me.

Hello rpjr. First of all welcome to GIDForums™.

What settings are you trying to change and what hardware are you using?

Are you just trying to get a different resolution on a std. monitor or do you have something that you need to put the scanlines into?

Thanks for the speedy reply. Im having a hard time getting the fedora
to boot in the command line. I tried to alter the inittab but it says
I cant wrtite to a read only file. I even used the :w! command. Im
new to linux but I want to learn.

Also I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop with 64 mb nvidia geoforce fx go5200
1680x1050 pixels and when I go to the command line, its in a very
small box of like 4 inches by 4 inches. What command do I need to use
the entire screen. Im not talking using the scretch option in the
dell menu option.

Any help would be thankful

Richard ~