Have you simply tried running Xorg without any /etc/X11/xorg.conf file at all?

Adam

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What, renaming the .conf file and rebooting? No, I just installed like it told me to and rebooted when it told me ... other than running XFdrake when I couldn't change the resolution, I've done hardly anything other than the straight up installation.

So, I'll try that. And ... it worked!! It didn't even recreate the xorg.conf ... I didn't know it could run without one.

Okay, so that obviously would have never occurred to me, so I thank you greatly. I now have 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768, with the last being the default. So I guess it's all working now. Is there anything else I should look at?

So something in your xorg.conf file was causing X to limit your resolutions to a maximum of 640x480. These days, many people have no need for an xorg.conf file, so I'd just leave it alone. Does your monitor support more than 1024x768?

Adam

Who knew? Shows how out of touch I am ...

Will do. <salute>

Ah. Good question. It's been so long since I had X working on this old piece o' crap that I've forgotten. Well, here's a page which suggests it can go as high as 1600x1200. Hardly an authoritative source, but I think I had it up to 1280x1024 at least. I think it was the first machine I ever managed to get to that resolution, IIRC. So ... would I need a monitor driver? need to find the refresh rates? What do you think?

BTW, yet more thanks for helping me through this. If it wasn't for you, and this site, I certainly would be a lot worse off right now.

So xrandr only lists up to 1024x768? Based on your previous log file, it does look like the video card driver detects that your monitor goes as high as 1600x1200. What if you try:

xrandr --newmode "1280x1024_60.00" 109.00 1280 1368 1496 1712 1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode VGA-0 "1280x1024_60.00"
xrandr --output VGA-0 --mode "1280x1024_60.00"

Adam

So xrandr only lists up to 1024x768? Based on your previous log file, it does look like the video card driver detects that your monitor goes as high as 1600x1200. What if you try:

Adam

Right.

Interesting:

I say "interesting" because it doesn't say the screen can't be larger than 1024x768 (which is a) what it is now and b) the maximum listed by xrandr), but that it can't be larger than ... 1024x1024? I'm almost tempted to set it to that just to see what it looks like.

When I work with an unknown display I google the model number, which usually leads me to the manufacturer's WEB site. I then can (usually) either get the owner's manual (in pdf form), or view it's specifications on a WEB page. If the specifications are listed on a WEB page, I copy and paste the information to a text file for future use.

This does not always work, but I thought that perhaps doing so may help . . .

I was under the impression that ATI's drivers where finally made easier to install.
this all sounds very complex, is it easier on some distros?
I'm only asking because I have a nvidia card and it's only a few steps and it all works.
I have been thinking of getting an ATI card, but if it's crazy to install I'll stay away
p.s. I use suse

It's quite easy to install, just use your distrubutions packaged version.

Well, to be fair, that's all I did, and it didn't work for me. I mean, I didn't try to do anything outside the standard install until after it didn't work.

Any further thoughts on getting the res bumped up a notch? I've been working on recovering my data from having been eaten by an Anaconda, so I haven't been concentrating on this issue, but I would like to get there eventually.

Thanx for all your help thus far!

Well, to be fair, your distribution shouldn't have let you install the proprietary drivers in the first place :-)

Anyway, I did forget about your problem for a few days, there. Let's see if we can increase your maximum resolution by generating a fresh, brand new xorg.conf file with 'Xorg -configure'. Then please attach it or post it here. We'll add a Virtual command to it that should let you get as high as 1600.

Adam

(1) GET MORE RAM. 370MB is ridiculous for any GUI setup. It is not even within the minimum specs for Mandriva.
I am sorry but that is the way it is. Text mode(init 3) will work for 512MB, even 256MB ... but GUI needs that overhead provided by 1GB to work at normal speed with usable resolutions(800x600 or greater).
(2) XFCE4 is not the XFCE from Mandrake days. It is not the "lightweight" DE anymore(has not been for years). For GUI with such little RAM the LXDE or, possibly, IceWM are best choices(tho' IceWM is very close to same as XFCE4). Others like Blackbox and clones should work. But honestly, none will work very good until that RAM is over 512MB.
(3) Chances are VERY HIGH that the driver absolutely will not allow any resolution greater than 1024x768 with such 1990's RAM. It might ping at 800x600 which, in my experience with Mandrake, with 384MB and a (really small) 14" diag monitor is what you should shoot for using( and be happy you can use 800x600 ).

SEVEN years ago the RADEON 9200 PRO( 275/550MHz for core/memory, AGP 8x, 64MB of DDR SDRAM, D-Sub, DVI-I, TV-Out connectors, DirectX 8.1 ) was a good card but even then it required 64/128MB of system RAM just for itself. Also, back in those days, ATI on Linux was really a terrible combination.
Clearly, the situation has not improved.

In short, you are trying to put a square peg into a round hole. The solution is to either make the hole bigger or get a round peg.

Did it? I didn't see any evidence that the proprietary drivers were ever installed ... maybe you did. All I did was run the standard Mandriva install, and I ended up with 640x480 as my only choice.

No worries. Real life takes its toll.

Oh, I have to exit X to do that, don't I? Okay, give me a second, and I'll come back and edit this post and attach the .conf.

So you at least installed part of the fglrx driver :-) It may be unrelated to the problem you've been having, but I don't know what other packages installing dkms-fglrx might have pulled in.

In any case, I think we're pretty close to getting everything working properly for you.

Adam