FW: Install problems Fedora Core 3 - Dell OptiPlex....

[Jim Cornette]

Irving, Dave wrote:
>  
> Hi,
>  
> Im trying to install Fedora Core 3 on an old Dell box which was, until
> today, running Win NT (Dell OptiPlex GX110).
> During the (GUI) install process, I noticed that the screen wasn't
> refreshing very well (e.g, was not repainting properly if I scrolled the
> help menus). I thought this might sort itself out after the install.
> However, after the install completed (successfully according to the install
> tool), the screen just went mad (random colour lines all over the screen) -
> moving the mouse or pressing keyboard buttons did nothing.
> So I rebooted, and at start up (the usual starting this, starting that
> console messages appeared), but then the screen blew again.
> I have no idea what to do next.
> Can anyone help?
>  
> Many thanks,
>  
> Dave
> 
> This e-mail and any attachment is for authorised use by the intended recipient(s) only. It may contain proprietary material, confidential information and/or be subject to legal privilege. It should not be copied, disclosed to, retained or used by, any other party. If you are not an intended recipient then please promptly delete this e-mail and any attachment and all copies and inform the sender. Thank you.
> 


The problem is that the driver for the 810 and 815 Intel videocards was 
busted when FC3 was released. The driver is now fixed, so the next 
release should be fine. (FC4)

What you will probably have to do is a text install. As you found out, 
you have to type (linux command or option. To get into the text install 
you type the below at the first prompt.
linux text

This is not as pretty, but is not that hard to figure out. Also, the GUI 
programs will be installed, you are just doing the install in text mode 
until you can fix the GUI problem post install.

A program that I recommend that you install is mc (Midnight commander). 
It is under system tools. The program is an editor, ftp, visual file 
manager and a whole lot more. The program is similar to Norton Commander 
and uses a lot of the same keystrokes. Why the program is not installed 
on default installations is a mystery to me. Anyway, with this program, 
follow the steps below.

After the text install is completed, reboot your computer. When the grub 
screen shows (blue menu screen), hit any key to show the menu. Once the 
choices are visible, highlight the Fedora kernel choice and press the a 
key. This will display the boot line and you can backspace out the rhgb 
quiet entries and enter a spacebar, then the number 1. This will bring 
you to a terminal only in a single user mode. You will be the admin 
user, so be careful.

Type mc then press enter. The visual shell (mc) will display. Navigate 
to the directory called /etc/X11/ and locate and highlight the file 
xorg.xonf.
Press the F4 key to allow an editor screen to appear. Now, press F7 
(search feature) and type driver or scroll to the driver section entry 
in the file. Then arrow down to the last line in the driver section of 
the file and add an option called "NoAccel" to the file. This shuts off 
some features of X that are busted within the FC3 distros version of 
xorg-x11.

Section "Device"
         Identifier  "Videocard0"
         Driver      "i810"
         VendorName  "Videocard vendor"
         BoardName   "My Favorite Videocard"
	Option "NoAccel"
EndSection

After you get your entry looking like you want it to look, Press F2 to 
save the file with edits. Then press F10 to exit the file editor, then 
F10 again to exit the visual shell.

After you exit the visual shell, type reboot to get your system to 
reboot. The system should then start up in graphics mode and give you 
the first boot screen, where you create your regular user and stuff.

If anyone can add to this explanation, it might be helpful. I believe I 
got everything here.

Jim

NOTE: If you happen to botch something up during editing the file, press 
F10 to exit the file being edited. Do not answer yes to save changes, 
answer no instead. Then if you want to try editing the file again, press 
F4 and repeat the steps above.
The lines look like these lines