8 replies to this topic

[frogbong]

I'm wondering if anybody else has been experiencing constant and unpredictable screen flickering using these two (x86) distributions. My video-card is an AGP-based ATI Radeon 9800 pro and I'm almost convinced this is relevant to the issue. Maybe the video driver that these distros use just doesn't like my video card. The screen blanking at random intervals and these intervals are short so I can't these much faster distributions on my main-machine. Anyone else experience this problem?

Edited by frogbong, 22 June 2010 - 04:10 PM.

[Alk3]

I'm wondering if anybody else has been experiencing constant and unpredictable screen flickering using these two (x86) distributions. My video-card is an AGP-based ATI Radeon 9800 pro and I'm almost convinced this is relevant to the issue. Maybe the video driver that these distros use just doesn't like my video card. The screen blanking at random intervals and these intervals are short so I can't these much faster distributions on my main-machine. Anyone else experience this problem?

Unless you have found that the video driver has a legit bug in it, this can be solved quite simply. I have not used Ubuntu 10.04 or Fedora 13 but video issues in Linux usually are attributed to a misconfiguration in the X Server. Edit your xorg.conf file to match the settings recommended for your video card. The flickering will stop unless, like I said, the video driver has a outstanding bug.

AMG! http://docs.fedorapr...allation_Guide/

Hate to tell you RTFM but this is a RTFM moment.

Edited by MrAlk3, 22 June 2010 - 06:57 PM.

[frogbong]

lol, you're right. I'll check it out.

[mungewell]

My Laptop's Intel card (82852/855GM) is a nightmare under 10.04, practically unusable - not that it helps you... I'm just bitching.

You could drop to using the VESA driver, but would loose all the 3D acceleration. I find that my display is only flickery at particular resolutions (using the VGA output), so you could try alternates screen sizes.

Simon

[Alk3]

Perfect solution! Usually used on embedded systems due to lack of a proper video card. Good last resort if your video card will not function in Linux.

http://en.wikipedia....nux_framebuffer
http://www.directfb.org/

[frogbong]

I tried changing resolution to 800x600 and it worked with no screen flickering. I am unwilling to use my machine at 800x600 though, so I tried configuring Xorg from scratch with no difference(screen still cuts in and out). The problem with configuring xorg is that some of these distros use a combination of files for xorg config rather than one xorg.conf. I don't have any trouble using the same monitor with windows, so this is kind of baffling. The funny thing is, when I plug my old CRT monitor in there's no flickering whatsoever and the problem is fixed. You would think it's my refresh rates in my Xorg configuration, but I tried changing those as well. Also, within gnome's display options there is only one option for refresh rate which is 60 hertz. When I use the CRT monitor, the problem is fixed. It seems all these new distros(opensuse 11.3, fedora core 13, ubuntu 10.04) use software that likes to cut my monitor's signal in and out on me, rendering the operating system useless. What a piece. The last test is to try another LCD monitor and see if I get similar results. I'm fed up with this problem, and I can only hope to upgrade my video card for better results in the future.

Btw, thanks for all the suggestions.

[livinded]

My friend was telling me he was having some graphics issues after a kernel upgrade in Fedora 13 maybe a week ago, could be related.

[Jesus Phreak]

Have you tried the fglrx/MESA driver yet? Or is that the generic "radeon" driver? I know when I had my old Dell Inspiron 1501, it had an Xpress 1150 in it, and it would flash white and black bars scrolling up and down the screen if it went to sleep and woke up. Installing the proprietary drivers fixed all of that, and added in the 3D acceleration. Just use the VESA driver until you can get that up and running, if you're willing to use proprietary software.

[Berzerk]

Using the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro?....Bummer dude!
Same here and it's gone into Legacy under the ownership of AMD, meaning they do not update the driver anymore.
I had Ubuntu 8.04 on this box till 3 months ago and the 9800 Pro performed pretty good considering it's age.
Did a new install of 10.04 studio and the 9800 Pro was a 9800 Blow!
After much gnashing of teeth and rendering X unable to start several times I found the Vesa driver to be the best performer for this red headed stepchild of a graphics card.

I have several distros installed on the same computer with the Radeon 9800 Pro, multi-boot.
Fedora 14, same deal crappy results with the default driver.
Mepis 8.5 default install, very good.
Sabayon 5.4 works good, just not a fan of the O/S.
Back|Track 4 R2 performs ok.
Puppy 5.11 so, so.

Hope this helps.