Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

[rogerduncan100]

I've got a new feature request! :P

Is anybody getting above 800x600 on a Toshiba Satellite 1800?

If so, please tell me how!

[rogerduncan100]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

I'm running Kubuntu 8.04.1 with KDE 3.5.10 on a newly acquired (cheap) Toshiba Satellite 1800 laptop, 20 gig hard drive, only 128 megs of RAM, intel celeron and 995 MHz.

Windows XP pro service pack 3 works fine, all the drivers were there.

[Snowhog]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

What display controller does this laptop have? In a console type:

lspci | grep Display

Easiest to just copy and paste the command above. Copy and paste the output in your reply.

[rogerduncan100]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

Snowhog, I have not yet been able to try the command because the laptop was spending a number of hours doing the 250 or so upgrades.

Now the plot has thickened. It seems an upgrade caused stress on the display card and the screen went black! It seems as though something in the software update caused the display card to malfunction.

The laptop is now having a "rest" and I hope it will soon be "back to its old self".

[rogerduncan100]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

Or maybe it was just a coincidence that it overheated right after I booted after the 250 or so updates.

[rogerduncan100]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

It's probably a hardware problem for now. I'll be taking it apart and checking over a few modules to see if I can get it up and running again. I am hoping the problem is a loose connection and not something burned out that has to be replaced.

Once I fix it I will try the command to see what display card it contains.

[rogerduncan100]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

Hardware problem solved, no need to take laptop apart, I just have to jiggle the little thing that sticks up and retracts when the screen is folded down. Just dust in the switch.

I tried the command but there was no output. Is it the right command?

rogerduncan100

[Snowhog]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

lspci | grep Display

Easiest to just copy and paste the command above. If you are going to type the command, then:
lspci - That's a lower case L
| - This is a 'pipe' symbol and is produced by pressing shift+\

[rogerduncan100]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

According to system settings/monitor & display/hardware, the graphics card is a Trident CyberBlade (generic). Is there a better driver for this display controller?

[rogerduncan100]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

Snowhog, that is what I did. I copied and pasted but got no output.

[Snowhog]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

Okay. You can redo the command and omit the | grep Display (just type lscpi)

Open Adept Manager and check to see if you have the package xserver-xorg-video-trident installed.

[rogerduncan100]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

Sheesh, all I did was play around a bit and now my resolution has dropped to 640 by 480. The package xserver-xorg-video-trident had already been installed so I decided to reinstall it. I used adept to uninstall it and it also uninstalled xserver-xorg-video-all. First, I reinstalled the trident package and then my resolution fell to 640 by 480 and I reinstalled the all package and my resolution is still lower than what I originally had, 800 by 600. I also tried a few other drivers from the system settings GUI but no luck.

What to do?

Any suggestions will be much appreciated!

rogerduncan100

[Snowhog]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

From a console:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Answer the questions. Pick your driver and select the resolutions your screen is capable of displaying.

[rogerduncan100]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

Thanks for your quick reply!

I'll give it a try and let you know how it went.

[rogerduncan100]

Re: Toshiba Satellite 1800 video driver

No dice. Here's the output.

roger@roger-laptop:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg
xserver-xorg postinst warning: overwriting possibly-customised configuration
file; backup in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.20081129013429