gfx problems since upgrade to 'etch'

[wasabee]

hey im a total nuwbee, but nobody expects migrating to linux to be a walk in the park.. freedom has never come easy has it?

well i managed to upgrade to etch from sarge. my sarge install was from the network, with the basic desktop setup, on top of the 2.6 kernel.

i hadn't been able to use any video accel on my S3 Inc. VT8375 [ProSavage8 KM266/KL266] card, as i didn't find a kernel module for it in modconf so i was just using the generic 'vesa' driver.

dvd playback worked fine with totem, but now it doesn't. i see a green pixelated screen with a somewhat diagonal pattern. the app window appears to operate normally except for what is displayed as the video content itself; ie. movie file names all correct, seek bar moving along as it should, etc.

i should mention that the install had problems, but i ran dpgk --pending --configure and it seemed to be sorted out. apt-get no longer reports problems, but i wonder is my installation fubar? should i reinstall or what?
or are my problems a result of something else?

thanks in advance

ps oh yeah, i have emachins t2341 and after the upgrade it seems i am having trouble with the power button.. it turns on, but when i power down, it won't turn on again unless unplugged for a few seconds.. but i'll experiment more to confirm the problem

[wasabee]

sorry to repost here but this may help, after running totem, when i exit the x session (kde, gnome, or enlightenment) and return to the console the screen shows screwed vertical stripes, it looks almost like 320x200 res or perhaps pixels not quite that big. but it is a weird mode..

i can't see a prompt or any text whatsoever, but i can still log in and start a wm and once x starts everything looks riight again (xcept for totem).

[anon]

Have you tried the savage driver (xfree86 drivers aren't kernel modules)?
man savage
Will tell you what cards are supported, but they list them under diffrent names/numbers so I can't tell if yours is.

<ctrl><alt><f1> gets you into console, login as root and do:
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86
select the savage driver (previous selections are preselected)
then:
dexconf
/etc/init.d/gdm restart
<ctrl><alt><f7>
And you're back in gui.

(for a beginner, it's quite impossible to know which packages to dpkg-reconfigure, but there's an easier way, run configure-debian and select from a grouped menu).

[anon]

Sorry the:
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86
should of course be:
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

[wasabee]

thnx for the help, my display is operating well now with the 'savage' driver, though 's3' doesn't work for some reason..

hey i tried dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg but it says the package is not installed. i tried to search for it in aptitude but didn't find it..
..here is my /etc/apt/sources.list:

Code: Select all

#deb file:///cdrom/ sarge main

deb http://debian.yorku.ca/debian/ testing main
deb-src http://debian.yorku.ca/debian/ testing main

deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main

i am about to add the marillat repository to get dvd stuff etc, but for now this is what i have. it is the default file the sarge net install gave me, only i changed all 'stable' to 'testing'. then i ran 'apt-get update' then 'apt-get dist-upgrade' to upgrade to etch.

i was wondering, shouldn't xfree86 be replaced with xorg? i thought i read that somewhere..[/b]

[wasabee]

hmm,

looks like upgrading to testing this way does not really install an updated testing system, but more or less upgrades all existing packages to testing, assuming dependencies are fulfilled.

in any case, installing xorg solved the problem. 1 hard disk later, i installed etch from the beginning on top of a 2.6 686 kernel, and not only is the boot much faster but everything works.

now if i can only get gnome to do what it did before..