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Xpost to .setup & .hardware

As a first foray into installing Linux, I've tried to install RedHat8 on
old machine. The install seems to go fine (using the X interface), but
the X server won't seem to start. Running xstart comes up with "no
screens found". At the beginning of the install when it probes, it
finds the card, but below that, it says "Probing for monitor type:
unable to probe". I wondered if it was the (old) monitor (Dell V1728E),
so put a newer monitor on which did yield a result to the probe, but
still wouldn't run the X server after installing. I think it's the
card:

S3 Trio64 V2/DX (86C775)

Had a trawl through google which suggests the video card may be the
problem, but nothing I've found has yielded a result. On the install,
I've tried various arguments (as suggested by various postings) to no
avail.

Can anyone help?

Would upgrading to RedHat9 help?

Thanks (appreciatively)

Allan in North Yorks

In <40CF0E23.D87D9E28@me.freeserve.co.uk>, Allan Gould wrote:

> Xpost to .setup & .hardware
>
> As a first foray into installing Linux, I've tried to install RedHat8 on
> old machine. The install seems to go fine (using the X interface), but
> the X server won't seem to start. Running xstart comes up with "no
> screens found". At the beginning of the install when it probes, it finds
> the card, but below that, it says "Probing for monitor type: unable to
> probe". I wondered if it was the (old) monitor (Dell V1728E), so put a
> newer monitor on which did yield a result to the probe, but still wouldn't
> run the X server after installing. I think it's the card:
>
> S3 Trio64 V2/DX (86C775)
>
> Had a trawl through google which suggests the video card may be the
> problem, but nothing I've found has yielded a result. On the install,
> I've tried various arguments (as suggested by various postings) to no
> avail.

Your video card should be supported by the X server in RedHat 8 (XFree86
4.2 or 4.2.1 I think). Try to see if you can configure your monitor
manually; it should ask you for some horizontal and vertical sync ranges,
which you can find for in your monitor's manual or from the manufacturer's
web page, if the installer does not have a list of monitors to choose from.

The "no screens found" error can result when any number of devices are not
configured in the XF86Config file, such as pointing devices, as well as
the video card and monitor. If you cannot get anything else to work you
might post your copy of /etc/XF86Config-4 and the startup log
(/var/log/XFree86.0.log) to give a better idea of what is going wrong.

If you want to try a newer distribution, Fedora Core would be the logical
choice -- it is the community-supported successor to the old consumer Red
Hat distributions, which are not supported anymore.

--
Not to have been a dupe, that will have been my best possesion, my best
deed, to have been a dupe, wishing I wasn't, thinking I wasn't, knowing
I was, not being a dupe of not being a dupe.
--Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable

Allan Gould wrote:

> Can anyone help?

.... record the keyboard, mouse, video card, and monitor
make/model (including horiz and vert frequency ranges)
and execute 'xf86config' to configure. that should get
you a working xfree
..
--
<< http://michaeljtobler.homelinux.com/ >>
If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing
a couple of car payments. -- Earl Wilson

In comp.os.linux.setup Allan Gould <allang@me.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> the X server won't seem to start. Running xstart comes up with "no
> screens found".

So the X server is not running?

> At the beginning of the install when it probes, it
> finds the card, but below that, it says "Probing for monitor type:
> unable to probe".

Don't worry about it. First get the server running, then worry about
your monitor. Edit the config file by hand after generating a generic
one with XFree86 -config or whatever your X config gerenator is or
uses.

> S3 Trio64 V2/DX (86C775)

I'm not sure that's supported in newer X releases. Look it up in the
release notes for your X version and change card if not. You can always
run using the vesa driver anyway.

Peter

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 16:05:06 +0200, P.T. Breuer <ptb@oboe.it.uc3m.es> wrote:
> In comp.os.linux.setup Allan Gould <allang@me.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>> the X server won't seem to start. Running xstart comes up with "no
>> screens found".
>
> So the X server is not running?
>
>> At the beginning of the install when it probes, it
>> finds the card, but below that, it says "Probing for monitor type:
>> unable to probe".
>
> Don't worry about it. First get the server running, then worry about
> your monitor. Edit the config file by hand after generating a generic
> one with XFree86 -config or whatever your X config gerenator is or
> uses.
>
>> S3 Trio64 V2/DX (86C775)
>
> I'm not sure that's supported in newer X releases. Look it up in the
> release notes for your X version and change card if not. You can always
> run using the vesa driver anyway.

It should work with the standard SVGA server, there is just no
accellerated server for it in X version 4 (X version 3 had accellerated S3
server for Trio64). So I suspect he just needs to set HorizSync and
VertRefresh for his monitor (or pick one closest to it).

But my old PC with S3 Trio64 died, so I cannot test current Linux versions
on it.

--
David Efflandt - All spam ignored http://www.de-srv.com/

Allan Gould wrote:
>
> Xpost to .setup & .hardware
>
> As a first foray into installing Linux, I've tried to install RedHat8 on
> old machine. The install seems to go fine (using the X interface), but
> the X server won't seem to start. Running xstart comes up with "no
> screens found". At the beginning of the install when it probes, it

[snip]

Thanks for all the helpful input & replies.
I got hold of a copy of RedHat 9 and it seems to install OK, and the X
server seems to start.
All's well that ends well!

Allan