Sunday, December 16, 2007

How to get a monitor working in BT3 Beta HDD Real Install!!
Some people have tried to get their monitor to work using xorg.conf file, and this has not helped them
This is what helped me. As such it may or may not be any help to you.

DISCLAIMER: Remember that if you use the information and something goes wrong don't come kicking and screaming on the forums!
Remain calm and all can be fixed!

You will also need some info before you start. You will need to know the horizontal and vertical sync ranges of your monitor, and the resolutions that it supports.
You will also need information about your graphics card, the chipset and Internal DAC and memory on the card itself. How to find out this info is beyond the scope of this tutorial.


First we need to boot up the computer, once done logon as root.
Next DON'T type startx or xorg.conf
but rather type in
# xorgconfig
this presents alot of info about the xorgconfig file. read it then hit enter to continue.
next xorgconfig will ask you to verify you have set your path correctly. It should be fine where it is at so hit ENTER.

Next the screen will change to show information about a using a mouse.
I used option 1 auto to allow the OS to define the information about the mouse (which is a synaptics touch pad).
More info is available at www.slackbook.org

Next we get to the information about configuring your monitor.
xorconfig should present you with information about the horizontal sync of your monitor

NOTE: it is very important that you have/know the information before making any changes to this file.
Using bad info could damage your hardware!!

In the horizontal sync section it asks you to enter the sync range for your monitor. To start configuring your monitor press ENTER.
You will see a list of monitor types - choose one of them. or your can choose option 11 and enter your own info.
I chose 11 and used the info from my monitor documents.
You have to input the range as Hertz (Hz).

Next you need to specify the vertical sync range for your monitor. This should also be in the monitor's documents or on google.
again you have several choices to use and of course option 5 which is to enter your own.
Again I chose to use 5.

Next xorgconfig will ask you to enter strings to identify the monitor type in the xorg.conf file.
You can enter anything you want on these 3 lines or nothing at all just hit ENTER

Next you are presented with a screen to configure your graphics card.
You need to have some info about your card before you begin
The screen will present you with a database of cards to choose from.

NOTE: Slackbook says that if you don't see your exact card then you can choose one that is close (i.e. generic) from the list.
however the xorgconfig tells you that you have to use an exact match.
I chose to use the ATI Radeon (generic).
Next you have to tell xorgconfig how much RAM you have on your card
and insert some more descriptive text about your card. or you can just hit enter and leave the next three lines blank.

Next your are asked which display resolutions you want to use.
You can use the defaults to start out with or you can enter the info that you want ( Actually this should also come with your monitor documents)
later on if the defaults don't work or you want to make changes than you can use the /ect/X11/xorg.conf file and rearrange the modes give so that the one you want is the default.

At this point, the xorgconfig program will ask you if you'd like to save the current configuration file. Answer yes, and the X configuration file is saved, completing the process. You can now start X with the startx command.