Strange monitor problems.

[runtime_error]

Hi,

I´ve got a nice little Dell subnotebook (Latitude C400 if anybody wants to know) that I got via ebay, little used. Right now, it´s running Kubuntu Dapper and so far everything seems fine, except one problem I had from the start - for the first time, there was Ubuntu Breezy, then Xubuntu Dapper, so it doesn´t have to do with KDE: There seems to be a hardware support problem with the screen: When booting up and shutting down, it just goes haywire, showing weird striped and mashed-up screens, alternating with a perfectly normal boot/ shutdown splash. Since it only does that before displaying the logon window and when shutting down and it doesn´t impede the function, I´m not worried, but anyway.
I've got an Intel i810 graphics card, the "VGA compatible controller" and "Display controller" are both intel 82830 CGC.
Since the problem is not persistent, I guess it´s not something in the xorg.conf - any ideas? Might there be a specific hardware problem with the model I have?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Regards,

runtime_error

[dibl]

Re: Strange monitor problems.

I'm thinking we now know why it was offered for sale on EBay!



Seriously, it sounds like a hardware glitch -- xorg settings aren't invoked until the boot process is complete, so it's something about the first signals to the graphic system from BIOS and the main chipset. Sounds like when xorg is running the display, everything works correctly.

[MoonRise]

Re: Strange monitor problems.

I posted this on another post, maybe this will help"

This is a long shot guys, but worth a try. Edit your menu.lst and add the "vga=xxx" statement right after the splash statement (add a space between first). I had to do that on two machines to get the Splashes to work, maybe it will help in this case. Again, long shot. The below table are the values for vga:

Color depth   | 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024
-----------------+-------------------------------------
256    (8bit)| 769   771    773   775
32000   (15bit)| 784   787    790   793
65000   (16bit)| 785   788    791   794
16.7 Mill.(24bit)| 786   789    792   795

[runtime_error]

Re: Strange monitor problems.

Hi MoonRise,

well, that's definitely worth a shot. I have to edit this in the /boot/grub/menu.lst? I'll try.
Regards,

runtime_error

[MoonRise]

Re: Strange monitor problems.

Yes, that is the file. Let me know if that works or not.

[runtime_error]

Re: Strange monitor problems.

Hi MoonRise,

well, first I have to find out about the resolution and colour depth of my monitor. Should be in the control center or maybe in xorg.conf afaIk. Let's see...

Regards,

runtime_error

P.S.: Okay, my resolution is 1024x768 and if I've read the xorg.conf correctly, colour depth is 24 (that's what's in the "Default Depth" statement, I guess the following subsections are all the possible alternatives?
Only, in the /boot/grub/menu.lst, I can't find the "splash statement" you mentioned. What exactly does that statement say?

P.P.S.: Hmm, I just realized, at the end of the "kernel" argument in the default boot option, it does say "quiet splash". Can I just delete that? Moreover, there are about five boot options mentioned in that list (different kernels), but I've only got one. So maybe I should find out which kernel version is the one I'm using and delete the rest?

[MoonRise]

Re: Strange monitor problems.

OK, here is the first entry in my menu.lst. The reason you have multiple entries is because some of the older kernels are still present and GRUB and Kernel updates will rescan to rebuild the menu.lst, therefore, it will place the older ones back in. The first entry is usually the most recent. Any way here is mine from one of the machines I edited (please be aware that this is from Feisty, but yours will not be that different other than the kernel version):

title		Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic
root		(hd0,2)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=33e11446-ef1c-443b-83f7-1a8b48e33318 ro quiet splash vga=792
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic
quiet
savedefault

If you delete those statements, you will not see the Kubuntu Boot Splash but everything the system is loading.

[runtime_error]

Re: Strange monitor problems.

Hi MoonRise,

thanks! I did this - the nr. for me should have been the same as for you as I had 1024x768 and Color Depth 24 - but when I entered this and restarted, the system complained of an "undefined mode number" or so. I'll delete it again.
In the meantime, I have deleted all the old kernel versions, so now in the menu.lst, there's only the current one, recovery mode and memtest.
The bootsplash - that is, the display of the modules currently being loades - works fine and the shutdown splash also. I really think those weird displays - like stripes and rectangles popping about here and there, meshwire columns and stuff - is a hardware fault, maybe about this particular notebook model.
I'll see if I still have the adress of the guy I got it from. He told me it had been like this when he had it. Maybe he remembers what it had been like with Windows running. If it had been the same there, then it's definitely a production fault or something.
Well, nothing to worry about too much as everything else is working as it should.
Thanks for the help!
Regards,

runtime_error

[zero1]

Re: Strange monitor problems.

i have similar problems with Feisty on my laptop.

sometimes i get those weird characters, colors or a white screen on shutdown/restart.

many times when it says "will now halt" or "will now restart" it stops right there. nothings happens.

the same thing happened 2-3 times when i tested out my Compaq Presario V3000 with a Kubuntu 6.06 (?). it won't shutdown properly. you have to press the button for a few seconds before it shuts down.

just when i was about to like this distro very much, i might have to go back to freakin' Windoze! although i don't like it, at least everything seems to work without a hitch. this kind of weird shutdown/restart behavior might make the life of my laptop shorter than expected. i don't wanna take the risk on my laptop coz i'm not rich at all.