out of scan range

Hi Peter,

sounds like the video timings are incorrect.
What kind of monitor do you use?
Did you try to "sudo dpkg -reconfigure xserver-xorg" in order to check all parameters in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf?
Do you use the proprietary driver from Nvidia or the opensource driver ("nv")?

Best regards

Oliver

Thanks,Oliver but can't get a command line .Just the above message.My monitor is a Sony TFT LED S51R running at 1024x768x32 as a generic monitor on Windows XP.AMD Sempron 1.6Gig cpu,nVIDIA MCP61.512 meg of ddr2533 sdram.Sata dvd/cd rw and Sata 80 Gig Maxtor hdd.Need any more info?Just can not install 'Gutsy Gibbon'.Until I've solved the out of scan range problem I'm stuck in limbo.An earlier installation of xubuntu went through with only one problem.Namely could not get my wireless card recognised.That's mentioned i,n the newbie forum .Only started with linux in September this year.Very much like the look of xubuntu but am trying "GG" hoping that would cure the net connection problem.This could be a long running saga.

Hi Peter,

the wireless card is a separate issue. It might have worked with Xubuntu after installing the correct drivers. It might need some proprietary drivers that are not included in the packages on the free CD. Maybe it even needs ndiswrapper.

But let's address the video card first. Otherwise you won't have much fun with the WLAN card anyway ;-)

Form what you write I assume that you can see the Ubuntu boot screen, but when trying to boot from the CD, the display vanishes and just shows the error message, right?
Did you try to switch to a console (Ctrl-Alt-F1) ?
Did you try the "safe graphics mode" (second entry in the start menu)?

Oliver

Yes to first question.Same message after trying the second suggestion.The second question I don't know how or what to do if I get into a console.I'm a linux illiterate.The message I got when I tried "Boot options" was :- t=casper inird=casper/intrd.gz quiet splash-- ,whatever that means.Didn't try Ctrl-Alt-F1.If so when?Is a way ,maybe, to delete that message and substitute something else?

OK, with F6 "boot options" you display the options that are given to the kernel for booting the system. You can remove the last part "quiet splash--"
It causes that you see a splash screen (or maybe in your case you don't even see that) and that the boot process is "quiet", i.e there are no messages.
Next you could explicitely pick a video mode of which you know that it should work: to the end of options line please add:
vga=790
that's 1024x768x32k, or vga=771 (that's 800x600x256) or vga=769 (640x480x256). These are all standard VESA modes.

If that does not help, and if you see the error message again
press Ctrl-Alt-F1 and you will get a console with a command line ("busybox"). Here you could enter
cat /casper.log
That's the logfile with all the messages from booting the system.
The last lines of this file could possibly contain some error messags or other useful information.

Another, but remote, possibility is that you have two video ports and for whatever reason the picture is on the other port - but that's IMHO highly unlikely - the monitor should say "no signal" then and not "out of scan range".

If the above options work for you and you can boot the CD and install the system there is acertain likelihood that we will talk again soon. ;-)
I'm afraid the system does not get the correct information form your monitor, so once the Ubuntu is installed and you boot for the first time you may get the same error again. But let's get that far first....

Best regards

Oliver

I'm feeling like a mountaineer without crampons or iceax at the foot of a glacier.I can see the beautiful mountains above me but can not start to cross the ice.The guide ropes are just the other side of the ice,the help lines are there but I can't reach them.I knew the learning curve to linux would be steep but did not expect it to be this hard.Windows help files are useless,the linux ones are great.The trouble,I find is how to understand the info they give.Have tried to fing lexicon,or dictonary,of commandline terms to help me to understand .No luck so far.You who have been into linux for some time seem to have forgotten the difficulty of learning a new 'language'.Somuch much to learn,I don't mind that,as being retired I have the time;What botters me a little is that I am trying Gutsy Gibbon as I understood it was 'easy'.This problem with the "out of scan range" situation makes me think about what I see as quite some 'bug' in the system.This will not put me off as the view I've had looking at Knoppix and xubuntu give a better feel of what is in store once ubuntu is installed.From this you can gess that I'm not getting anywhere with your kind suggestions.Will try again after Christmas,when time is not so pressing.Have a very Merry Christmas,if this is your thing.Until our next comunication thanks for your help.

"is that I am trying Gutsy Gibbon as I understood it was 'easy'."
Well, it is - For most people it just works out of the box.
It's just a bit unfortunate that your computer or monitor belongs to those it chokes on - and this way throws you into depths that would otherwise have been hidden from you.
After you passed this little barrier the system will not bother you again and keep this depth hidden from you - unless you want to have a look. It's open, it will let you look inside.

"You who have been into linux for some time seem to have forgotten the difficulty of learning a new 'language'."
I know it can be overwhelming for "newbies". In order to avoid this I could just say:
"insert CD, restart computer, as soon as presented with a list of choices of how to boot the system press F6, edit the text line that now appeared at the bottom and replace 'quiet splash --' by 'vga=771', if you still see the error message...." and so on.
But that's not my way.
I'll give you the information you need to get it installed. But I'll also explain what it means I ask you to do.
Do you need that? No, not really. Will you have to apply this every day you work with Linux? Certainly not.

But you have the freedom to choose what you need. Some people only want the instructions. Some people feel better when they know WHY.
The choice is yours.
That's what Linux is about. Freedom to choose.

"Have tried to fing lexicon,or dictonary,of commandline terms to help me to understand ."
The 'problem' with Linux is that there is almost too much documentation. (Just to make sure that you have enough freedom to choose ;-) )
If you wanted to read all....
This may be overwhelming for newbies, since they don't know where to start.
A few simple ways of getting information are:
man <command> This gives you a "man(ual) page" of the specific command
info <command> For simple commands this often yields the same page, but for more complicated matters, like e.g. the grub - bootloader, the bash shell or perl, it will display a searchable hierarchical handbook with chapters, menus, a search function.

Unfortunately all this does not work in the minimal rescue environment you will get into, when you press Ctrl-Alt-F1 (as soon as the error message appears), because you haven't installed the system yet. There is only a minimal help function ("help").

For many common problems or tasks there are very good Howtos at the Linux Documentation Project http://www.tldp.org/ .
You can even install those locally - after you get the system to install.

Worth reading (besides the documentation you find on the Ubuntu web page):
http://tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/html/
http://www.linux.org/docs/
http://www.debian.org/doc/

And then there is the community...

Again: The choice is yours.

Just to stay with your picture of the mountaineer:
It is all charted.
If you ask for the best hiking trail across in the village at the foot of the glacier, they will give you maps, books - all for free, but more than you can carry!

And often, once you crossed the glacier and climbed the mountain top and you think "Wow, that was easier than I though", you will discover that there is a lift coming up on the other side. Well, you asked for the hiking trail, not for the lift, right? ;-)

Hi,Oliver,returned yesterday from a couple of weeks skiing in the French Aples.Hopre you had an enjoyable Christmas.Watched ,what to me ,is an unknown sport"Snow biking".This is sort of dpwnhill skiing on a mountain bike.Have tried a few of the newer activities on snow but at 74 this was something I don't think I'll try.Back to the reason for my being in this area.Since Ilast wrote I have read a lot and tried several things.One of the first things I had to was to geta 'useable' image of my matt black Logitec keyboard.This was neccessary as it is a French one and ubuntu (not yet installed ) recognises onlu a US one.Having spent over 40years as a professional photographer I'm used to manipulating images.What I had to do was 'invert' the image from white on black to black on white.This was mainly to save using a vast amont of black ink on my epson printer.Via the print editing program [used for inverting picture] I modified the contrass/brillance.to givebright white keys,didn't need the information on each key.Next step to print off 4 copies of subjectOnce done loaded the ubuntu CD .Got to the $ prompt an typed ever key on the keyboard.First with no extra key depressed.Copied the result into place on the printed copy.Then with the Capital Lock on,Then the Maj Right and aj Left keys.Can't remeùber what the Maj keys are called inEnglish but they the one just below the Cap Lock and the one just below the large Entere key.Now I can be sure that when I hit a key like tilde I get ~,also when the # key is pushed the correct charecter appears.Sorry to go on so ,someone may find this interesting.Now back to the subject of all our typing;When at the $prompt I typed "man man" and got a couple of dozen pages of information.The only way to save them was to photopgaph each one on my digitalcamera and print,4 to a page,both sides of the paper.Even so trhere is so much info,most of which I don't YET understand.I there some way of getting the scan range acceptable to the vinstalling ubuntu program? I can't beleave there isn't,it's just a matter of finding a solutionAwait your,or anybody elses suggestions.

Hi Peter,

good to hear that you enjoyed a nice vacation in France. Maybe you had the chance to perform some training on one of the glaciers? ;-)

Concering your problem installing Ubuntu - you now got me confused.
I thought you were unable to boot form the CD, but now I read that you were at a $prompt and tried "man man".
How did you get to the prompt? At what point does your problem actually occur?

Best regards

Oliver

> To: <email address hidden>> From: <email address hidden>> Subject: Re: [Question #20328]: out of scan range> Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:51:46 +0000> > Your question #20328 on Ubuntu changed:> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/20328> > Status: Open => Answered> > Oliver Muth proposed the following answer:> Hi Peter,> > good to hear that you enjoyed a nice vacation in France. Maybe you had> the chance to perform some training on one of the glaciers? ;-)> > Concering your problem installing Ubuntu - you now got me confused.> I thought you were unable to boot form the CD, but now I read that you were at a $prompt and tried "man man".> How did you get to the prompt? At what point does your problem actually occur?> > Best regards> > Oliver> > -- > If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us> know that it is solved:> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/20328/+confirm?answer_id=8> > If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the> following page to enter your feedback:> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/20328> > You received this question notification because you are a direct> subscriber of the question.Hi,Oliver.In answer to your question I just followed your earlier answer about what to try.Put the ubuntu CD into the dvd/cd drive.Waited until the "install" message came up.When the "out of scan range" message came up pressed the three keys Ctrl+Alt+F1.The promp " ubuntu@ubuntu:~$" appeared.Then using something I had read ,via the net,about typing "man man" I obtained the couple of pages of information.So,as you can see I can get into ubuntu but not " install".Now it would seem IO can use the "comand line" to move forwards to this point.Does that explain where I am on my journey?Thanks again,Peter.
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Hi Peter,

thanks, that carified it.
So you can get to the prompt, which means your monitor will happily display a simple VESA standard screen.
BTW: This prompt is the Linux console. It's just a command line interface that you can use in case your graphical display does not work.
Why can't you see any graphics? Apparently your monitor does not report its capabilities correctly - either it reports wrong values, or it does not report anything at all.
Is the monitor connected via the vga port of the graphics card? Or do you use some sort of adaptor?
Is it a laptop with an external monitor?
Do you hear the drums of the login screen, when you boot from CD and the screen disappears?

Have you already tried "Start Ubuntu in safe graphics mode"?
If that's the case you could still try to press F6 on the boot screen, edit the text line that now appeared at the bottom and replace 'quiet splash --' by 'vga=771' (as described above in one of my previous posts). Although this will probably not change the graphics, but only the console.

So the next you could do is to boot from CD, switch to the console by Ctrl-Alt-F1 and enter at the prompt:
sudo dpkg -reconfigure xserver-xorg
This will lead you through the configuration of the X-Server (the graphical environment). Please make sure that you choose the "vesa" driver for now, and that you enter the correct data for your monitor. There will be a "simple", "medium" and "exper " way" offered to you. If you have the HorizSync and VertRefresh values for your monitor (see your monitor manual), you can choose "expert". Otherwise choose "medium" and pick a "conservative" video mode that you monitor supports.
All the configuration steps (keyboard, mouse and so on) you can leave as it is.

If you are done you will have to restart the X-Server again:
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart
DO NOT reboot - or your new configuration will be lost. Until you installed the system to your harddrive everything is just held in your RAM.
If it does not work, you can switch back to the console (Ctrl-Alt-F1) and try the configuration again with different parameters.

Best regards

Oliver

Hi,Oliver.I n answer to your latest questions:- 1]The monitor is connected to the vga port[via the onboard nVidea graphic card;2]Yes I hear the drums at the login screen;3[Have tried "Start ubuntu in safe mode",got the same result as before;4[With regards to booting from CD and switching to console via Ctrl+Alt=F1.Typed sudo -reconfigure xserver-xorg,got a different result to what I had expected.Was not lead through the configuration of x-server but the folloxing[condensed as there were 19 pages of info]:-To run a command as administrator[user "root],use "sudo command" See "man_root" for details..NEXT LINE ubuntu@ubuntu:~$sudo dpkg -reconfigure xserver-xorgNEXT LINE dpkg:conflicting actions -e[--control]and -r[--remove]NEXT LINEType dpkg--help for help about installing and deinstalling packages[*];NEXT LINEUse 'dselect' or 'aptitude' for user-friendly package management:NEXT LINE Type dpkg -Dhelp for a list of dpkg debug flag valuesNEXT LINE Type dpkg --force-help for a list of forcing options:NEXT LINE dpkg-deb --help for help about manipulating *.deb filesNEXT LINE Type dpkg --licence for copyright licence and lack of warrenty[GNU GPL]*NEXT LINEOptions marked [*] produce a lot of output-pipe it through 'less' or 'more |NEXT LINEubuntu@ubuntu:~$ aptitude_ This gave a list of 'Installed Packages.As ubuntu is NOT INSTALLED I didn't see the point of proceeding further,although did print all the 18 pages for info.Do you have an explanation for why the instructions I type,on your instructions,appear to give a different result from that which you and I expect?

Hi Peter

Sorry, my fault. There was a typo in my previous posting. It must say:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
(without the blank after the "dpkg").
Please try again.

Best regards

Oliver

Thank you for all your past help,the problem is solved.What I ended doing was buying a Nvidea GeForce 7300 PCIE card,fitting it and disableing the 'onboard vga',via the BIOS.ubuntu could not recognise the 'onboard vga',hence the message "out of scan range".Could you have this fact added to the data basz?To repaet the mother-board is a nVIDIA MCP61[6100 nForcee405]Now ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon loads as a Live CD.Can not 'install' when I double click the icon.I get the option of choosing my language but it then just 'hangs' there.Isn't life a peach.Solve one problem,then get a different one to tackle.

Thank you very much ,Oliver,for your sticking with me for so,long.This problem is now solved.What I did was to buy a PCIE video card[MSI NX7300],disabled the onboard vga card via the bios so only the PCIE card is used.Now no 'out of scan range' message and ubuntu 7.10 loads as a 'LIVE CD'.Can not get it to install,even after 'double clicking' the install icon.Not too bothered as what I have discovered on the cd is so interesting.The screen savers are great and the rest of the contents too.Life is a peach.You solve one problem and up pops another to keep you guessing.I hope my troubles with an onboard graphics card will guide someone else out of the 'mire',Peter.

Hi Peter,

sorry to hear that you have a new problem.
You should post the issue in a new thread - this one is "cold".

After all, you might have to use the alternate install CD. Of course you can work with the live CD - but I am sure you would enjoy even more to have a "real" working installation.

Best regards

Oliver