Summary: Resetting VGA Resolution

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Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 07:44:03 -0700 (PDT)
To: TRU64_List <tru64-unix-managers@ornl.gov>

Thanx to Thomas Sjolshagen, Kris Smith, Dr Thomas.Blinn, John Lanier,
Nilesh M. Virani, and Denise McCracken for your replies. Their replies
are listed below. It's somewhat lengthy, but there's alot of good
info.

*** Summary ***

It turns out that my problems are hardware related. The 433au at work
has a PowerStorm 4D50T graphics card. I found the latest driver (for
5.1a) at http://www.support.compaq.com/open3d/sw4d50t.htm. It would
not install on 5.1b, so I installed 5.1a, installed the drive (looking
good), upgrading to 5.1b removed the driver and I was back to 640x480.

My home machine is actually a 433a. It has an AccelGraphics card, for
which I could only find NT drivers.

*** Replies ***

*** Thomas Sjolshagen

Some of the PWS's had graphics cards where you had to set the
resolution
by way of a turnable switch at the top (the part of the card facing up
from the PCI slot itself)...

*** Kris Smith

        The change that you are looking to make will be in the
/usr/var/X11/Xservers.conf file. You should find a section in that file
that refers to your video driver. It will look something like:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
! you specify command line arguments here
args <
! PowerStorm 300/350 Server args start
! -pn -vclass PseudoColor -su -bs -nice -2
        -pn -vclass PseudoColor -nice -2
! PowerStorm 300/350 Server args end
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        To change to a different resolution from default, change the
arguments to
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
! you specify command line arguments here
args <
! PowerStorm 300/350 Server args start
        -pn -su -bs -nice -2 -screen 1024x768 -vsync 60
! PowerStorm 300/350 Server args end
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        You will want to make sure you do not set the scan rate and
resolution too high for the monitor or the card or you could damage the
equipment. The documentation is a bit spread out in terms of the X
Windows system on Tru64. Try the man pages for X, xdm, Xserver and
Xserver.conf for the details. The command line switches and flags from
above are explained in the man pages for Xserver.conf. You may also
want
to refer to the documentation for your graphics cards for better
insight
into the settings and a description of the driver. Hope this helps.

*** Dr Thomas.Blinn

If I recall correctly, the PWS 433au is an EISA system. As such,
it has an EISA bus and the keyboard, mouse, and so forth are all
connected to that bus. I have no idea what your system has for
a graphics interface (you didn't say). But it sounds for all the
world like your graphics interface (and maybe more) simply isn't
being recognized by V5.1B as supported hardware. You're getting
basic VGA support and it sounds like no X server is starting up.

Assuming that you even got the X bits loaded during installation,
using the "sizer" command should show you what the system thinks
you have for graphics support and the resolution that should be
used by default. "sizer -gt" shows the "graphics type" and if it
does show something, "sizer -gr" should show the resolution that
is native support.

If you've got one of the older 3D graphics cards that doesn't have
any support in the V5.1B, then you will need to find a card that is
supported to get X to run on it. That may be the problem.

With EISA bus systems, you need to make sure that the EISA database
in the console is correct; there is a weird utility program called
the "ECU" for "EISA configuration utility" that is only available
on a floppy disk and that is used to maintain the database; if your
database is messed up, then things like graphics support may not
work correctly.

I suspect the real problem is that you have an unsupported (and maybe
not supportable) graphics card in these systems, but that's just a
guess.

*** John Lanier

Here is something I have sent to customers in the past:
=========================================================

"Changing Graphics Resolution Or Vertical Refresh Rate under Tru64
UNIX"
 
 
 
The steps necessary to change the Xservers graphics resolution differs
 
depending on which X Windowing System is in use, XDM/Motif or the new
 
standard CDE (Common Desktop Environment).
 
 
 
Change the Resolution and Refresh rate on CDE GUI
 
 
 
1) Login to the system as "root".
 
2) Check to see if the directory /etc/dt/config exists, if not create
it
as
 
follows.
 
 
 
Example:
 
# mkdir /etc/dt/config
 
# chmod 755 /etc/dt/config
 
3) Copy the Xservers file from the path /usr/dt/config to the path
 
/etc/dt/config.
 
Example:
 
# cp /usr/dt/config/Xservers /etc/dt/config/Xservers
 
4) Edit the file /etc/dt/config/Xservers and add the appropriate
Xserver
 
Option, "-screen0" and or "-vsync0" to the line that starts the
Xserver.
 
This line is generally the last line in the file Xservers.
 
 
 
Example line from the Xservers file used with CDE:
 
:0 Local local@console /usr/bin/X11/X :0 -screen0 1280x1024
 
 
 
Xserver Options:
 
        -screen[screen] WxH
 
            Set screen (W)width and (H)height.
 
        -vsync[screen] Hz
 
            Set screen (Hz) Vertical refresh rate
 
    NOTES on adding Xserver options
 
 
 
These are device dependent Xserver options and not available for ALL
 
graphics options please refer to the Graphics options
Owners/Installation
 
Guide for supported Resolutions and Refresh Rates.
 
 
 
Both the Width and Height should be specified in the "-screen" option
and
 
not just the Width. On some Xserver graphics devices setting ONLY the
Width
 
will cause the Xserver to fail.
 
 
 
The [screen] number need not be specified if only 1 screen exists or if
the
 
user wants all screens to use the same values. The [screen] value is
generally
 
'0' as shown in the example below.
 
Example: -screen0 1280x1024
 
                          ^
 
                          |_ [screen] value
 
 
 
Anything added after the "-I" option will be ignored by the Xserver and
 
passed on to the DDX, Device Dependent X layer of the server, i.e. the
 
driver. Generally this option is used to pass "ffbdodma" settings for
the
 
graphics device. The "-screen" and or "-vsync" option(s) should precede
the
 
"-I" option. The "-screen" and or "-vsync" option(s) should precede the
 
"-I" option.
 
 
 
5) Restart the CDE GUI.
 
    For Digital UNIX V4.* systems use:
 
 
 
            # /sbin/init.d/xlogin stop
 
     # /sbin/init.d/xlogin start
 
 
 
Examples of some typical Resolution and Refresh rate settings using
CDE:
 

Set the Screen Resolution to 800x600, common on the AlphaStation 1000
systems using the Cirrus Logic graphics controller.
 
:0 Local local@console /usr/bin/X11/X :0 -screen0 800x600
 
Set the Screen Resolution to 1024x768 and the Vertical Refresh rate to
60Hz. Commonly needed on the AlphaServer's using the S3Trio cards and
monitors that do not support the cards default resolution of 1024x768
resolution at 70Hz.
 
:0 Local local@console /usr/bin/X11/X :0 -screen0 1024x768 -vsync0 60
 
Set the Screen Resolution to 1280x1024 and the Vertical Refresh Rate to
72Hz. Commonly setup on systems with the S3Trio64 2MB Video controller
(PB2GA-JB/JD). This higher resolution is NOT supported on the S3Trio
1MB
Video Controllers (PB2GA-JA/JC).
 
:0 Local local@console /usr/bin/X11/X :0 -screen0 1280x1024 -vsync0 72
 

*** Nilesh M. Virani

Just boot kernel through genvmunix and rebuild the kernel.

P00>>> b -file genvmunix

#doconfig

I had faced the same situation once and the problem got resolved by
this.

*** Denise McCracken

        Did you check to make sure that your video card is supported with
5.1b? If you look at the startup messages (uerf -Rr 300|more or dia
-R|more
if you have Decevent, or /var/adm/messages), you will see which video
driver
was loaded at the last boot. If it's the standard VGA driver and not
the
one specifically for your card, then it will come up in 16-color
640x480.

        
                
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