Screen resolution options

What kind of graphics card are you using?

Hi Spike,

I know it's and ATI Rage card but without delving into the PC innards I can't tell you any more. In Windows Device Manager it says ATI Rage 128 and also says Xpert99/Xpert2000 ( Microsoft Corporation ) but I don't see what relevance that has to the card.

Try this to find the detected card.

Enter a Terminal (either through Applications/Assessories/Terminal or CTRL-ALT F1)

Enter this:
lspci

and post here the line with our graphic card in. (starts with "VGA compatible controller")
then we take is from there..

Hi Soeren,

This is what it says;

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage 128 RL/VR AGP

Hope it helps,

John.

Hello:

First please install the ATI drivers with the restricted drivers manager.. This link has a good description of the same...

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Gutsy_Installation_Guide

Then..

Please try to press CTRL+ALT+"+" and/or CTRL+ALT+"-" to dynamically change video frequency
or press CTRL+ALT+BKSPACE to restart graphics layer.

Reconfiguring your xserver-xorg may help you.

A) If you can view graphics Gnome desktop

Please open a Terminal from the menu Applications->Accessories->Terminal
and jump to step C

B) If you cannot view graphics Gnome desktop

Please press CTRL+ALT+F2 and make login with your user and password
and go on to step C

C)

To make a backup copy of your actual /etc/X11/xorg.conf type:

cd /etc/X11
sudo cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.bak

give your user password when requested, you don't see nothing when you type it, then press enter.

Then try to reconfigure your xserver-xorg

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

answer to the simple questions, then restart the pc.

If something goes wrong you can restore the saved copy of your old configuration, open a terminal or login to a virtual terminal by pressing ctrl+alt+F2 and type:

cd /etc/X11
sudo cp xorg.conf.bak xorg.conf

and restart the pc, type:

sudo reboot

Hope it helps

Bhavani Shankar.

Hi Bhanvani,

I seem to be having some Administration problems I think. I have tried to carry out the first part of your instructions but I cannot see how to get to the Restricted Drivers Manager, also I have read the first part of the Wiki article but I do not get the Software Sources option in System/Administration.
I tried to run the Update Manager and try an upgrade but I am being asked for an adminstrator password which I do not remember setting when I install Ubutu about 6 months ago, as you may have gathered I don't use this OS very much.

I'm thinking I will trash the drive and reinstall making careful notes on the settings and passwords as I go.

J.

Hello John

Which version of ubuntu are you using?

7.04 and I am trying to upgrade to 7.10 but am being asked for my admin password which I seem to have forgotten.

OK... Firstly to recover your password please refer:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=750882&postcount=1

and then:

please install the ATI drivers with the restricted drivers manager.. This link has a good description of the same...

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Feisty_Installation_Guide

Then..

Please try to press CTRL+ALT+"+" and/or CTRL+ALT+"-" to dynamically change video frequency
or press CTRL+ALT+BKSPACE to restart graphics layer.

Reconfiguring your xserver-xorg may help you.

A) If you can view graphics Gnome desktop

Please open a Terminal from the menu Applications->Accessories->Terminal
and jump to step C

B) If you cannot view graphics Gnome desktop

Please press CTRL+ALT+F2 and make login with your user and password
and go on to step C

C)

To make a backup copy of your actual /etc/X11/xorg.conf type:

cd /etc/X11
sudo cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.bak

give your user password when requested, you don't see nothing when you type it, then press enter.

Then try to reconfigure your xserver-xorg

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

answer to the simple questions, then restart the pc.

If something goes wrong you can restore the saved copy of your old configuration, open a terminal or login to a virtual terminal by pressing ctrl+alt+F2 and type:

cd /etc/X11
sudo cp xorg.conf.bak xorg.conf

and restart the pc, type:

sudo reboot

Hope it helps

Bhavani Shankar.

Hi Bhavani,

Not sure what happened here. I went through the change password instructions as suggested but was not sure if the password refered to was the one causing the problems during the upgrade or not.
Anyway I changed the password and after the reboot I went to System/Preferences/Screen Resolution and I now find I have two further option making 4 in all so I've selected 1024x768 which is fine.

I've tried again to upgrade to 7.10 but although it downloads the Upgrade tool it then asks me for yet another password where I put in the only one I know which is the one I use to log in with at the start and presumably the one I recently changed but if fails with the message "the uderlying authorisation mechanism (sudo) does not allow you to run this program."

So I conclude that there must be an admin password but I have no knowlege of what it might be.

As you can see I am a raw beginner with all this.

JM.

Hmm Ok..

This is a well known sudoers problem..

Refer this link for detailed info...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=180206

Hope it helps

Bhavani Shankar.

If your display was at a higher level before, there will be backup files created during Ubuntu updates that affect the xorg.conf file. The backup files will be named xorg.conf.20080606999999999 (the nines are just example, the numbers seem to be random). In it you will find and instruction to sudo a command like this:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

After restarting the computer, go to the Screen Resolution link in System>Preferences and you should have the old options available.