Cannot even get 1280x1024 through DVI (but yes on VGA!)

Issues related to hardware problems
Post Reply
jgoulet
Posts: 1
Joined: 2011/07/29 19:21:40

Cannot even get 1280x1024 through DVI (but yes on VGA!)

Post by jgoulet » 2011/08/01 13:14:06

Despite a new Linux OS (CentOS 6) and new video cabling (DVI) on a new PC, I cannot even get 1280x1024 through DVI. But it works when I switch over to VGA (but that's somewhat fuzzier, hence the incentive to stay with DVI). Or, going to Ubuntu 11, the problem does not exist. After 8 long hours of every conceivable test I can think of for CentOS (short of source code analysis/recompilation), I'm here asking for your experience.

We have three new HP Z210 workstations (i7-2600) with the default onboard graphics output (Sandy Bridge Integrated Graphics Controller, as seen by lspci -v) and a single DVI connector. When I connect analog video (through a DVI-VGA adapter to some Dell Ultrasharp 4:3 displays (1901FP or 1800FP) on the VGA input), I can easily get the desired native resolutions of these monitors (1280x1024) using

gnome-display-properties
xrand
system-config-display

However switching over to pure digital video (DVI-D), Linux refuses, complains, and just fails at providing this very basic resolution.

Tried on:
CentOS 5.6 (32 bits): This is our main corporate OS that I have to get it working on
CentOS 5.6 (64 bits)
CentOS 6 (64 bits)

and it's the same problem on each of them. They go up to 1024x768, but nothing more.

On Windows 7, there is no such problem. Likewise on Ubuntu 11. Therefore it is absolutely a CentOS problem.

I made endless attempts at changing /etc/X11/xorg.conf followed by gdm-restart, endless xrandr commands, cvt and gtf commands, and even modifying grub.conf with kernal arguments (vga=795 should give 1280x1024@24bpp). And did so much analysis of Xorg.0.log which basically leads me to believe that CentOS is not sufficiently aware of this new Sandy Bridge Integrated Graphics Controller, in that VESA detection is not any good.

My ultimate question is, has anyone successfully driven an LCD screen at >1024x768 with DVI using CentOS 5.6 on a machine with the Sandy Bridge Integrated Graphics Controller? If so please reveal your secret (xorg.conf, etc.).

Perhaps this is a known problem that will be addresses shortly with CentOS 6.1? I hope the solution will somehow be easily applicable to 5.6 too (meaning, not recompiling an endless series of things).

pschaff
Retired Moderator
Posts: 18276
Joined: 2006/12/13 20:15:34
Location: Tidewater, Virginia, North America
Contact:

Cannot even get 1280x1024 through DVI (but yes on VGA!)

Post by pschaff » 2011/08/01 17:14:48

Welcome to the CentOS fora. Please see the recommended reading for new users linked in my signature.

You are probably lucky to get anything working with Sandy Bridge - many reports seem to be about a black screen in the installer. There will be [url=http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/6.1_Release_Notes/desktop.html]better support in 6.1[/url]. The [url=https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=586117]disappearance of system-config-display[/url] in RHEL6 also represents a significant impediment. While waiting for CentOS-6.1 you might see how [url=http://www.scientificlinux.org/download/]SL-6.1[/url] works on the hardware.

Post Reply