Hi,

Have been trying to install Debian Sarge on my Dell Inspiron 1100. Contrary to what I'd been told about installing Linux, this has been a very painful process so far. This is mostly down to my inexperience with Linux and Bash, I refuse to blame the machine or Debian, but I am making progress (slowly) and am determined, with your help, for which I thank you in advance, to succeed.

The chain of events (x4) goes:
1. Installed Debian Sarge using min boot cd and ftp (X Svr fails with error no screens)
2. Installed X Server 4.3 (Sarge was using 4.2)
3. Installed the 845patch - lets the BIOS know that it can use > 1024k of RAM (X Svr still fails with error no screens)
4. Manually amended /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 as shown below, new error...

(EE) xf86OpenSerial: Cannot open device /dev/misc/psaux
No such device.
(EE) Configured Mouse: Cannot open input devices
(EE) PreInit failed for input device "Configured Mouse"
(EE) xf86OpenSerial: Cannot open device /dev/input/mice
No Such device
(EE) Generic Mouse: cannot open device
(EE) PreInit failed for input device "Generic Mouse"
No core pointer

Fatal Server Error:
failed to initialise core devices

My /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file looks like:

Section "Files"
FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection

Section "Module"
# Load "GLcore"
Load "bitmap"
Load "dbe"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "record"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
Load "xtt"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/misc/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel I845GL chip"
Driver "i810"
VideoRam 16000
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "1024X768"
HorizSync 30-60
VertRefresh 50-75
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Intel I845GL chip"
Monitor "1024X768"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "Generic Mouse"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

I'm not too sure about the whole devices-directories thing in Linux. Any help would be most welcome.

Try changing "DefaultDepth 24" in your XF86Config-4 to "DefaultDepth 16" and comment out the mode line for bit depth 16 and set it (temporarily) to only 1024x768 to see if this moderate setting will work.

For clarity - change this:...toThen try startin X again.

Håkan