Re: stuck w/ a 640 x 480 resolution - Dell 828 656 Graphics controller - Solved A04 BIOS

[Jim Cornette <fct-cornette sbcglobal net>]

Jim Cornette wrote:
> Mitch Anderson wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 2004-07-15 at 05:48, Jim Cornette wrote:
> >
> >
> > > 1) Is there a way to get the resolution corrected to do better than 
> > > 640 x 480, with this type of video card, using Fedora?
> >
> >
> >
> > Yes, it has been a known problem with some Dell models.  Seems its a
> > BIOS problem.  Setting the Video RAM buffer to 8M instead of the default
> > 1M usually fixes it.  However they "attempted" to fix the bios in an A03
> > release which made the bios fix no longer work.  You just have to force
> > 32MB - 48MB for its video ram in X.org's config.

I checked the Dell website for the Dell Optiplex GX270 today and found 
an A04 version of the BIOS available.

I had all the settings for legacy video set to 8m and the AGP video set 
to 128 meg. (Same settings as with A03 BIOS) The result with the new 
version BIOS was I'm now able to get  1280 x 1024, which is a far sight 
better than 640 x 480!

About the 640 x 480 resolution, is it possible for this setting to have 
a default or choice, to be able to follow the mouse offscreen to reveal 
the rest of whatever is clipped from a program ran under the GUI in 640 
x 480?
This feature would be good for old LCD displays, servers and for 
computers with shorted out BIOS installations. 640 x 480 resolution is 
pretty useless when you cannot pan off the screen and complete items 
that are hidden from view.

> >
>
> I recall the A03 message on the BIOS screen. Thanks everyone for the 
> advice/hints.

> > These two options have solved the problem for me, however here is some
> > more info about it:
> >
> > http://www.chzsoft.com.ar/855patch.html

I didn't try the forcing 32MB - 48MB scheme for video RAM in xorg.conf - 
The site might come in handy for other video problems. (hopefully not 
needed)

Thanks!

Jim

--
You don't have to know how the computer works, just how to work the 
computer.