Check out http://www.tru64unix.compaq.com/linux/documentation.htm It may be the X configuration settings. What monitor are you using? The MBR on many Compaq PCs point to a diagnostic partition that contains some basic utilities. I have my Armada 7400 set up for RH Linux and Windows. My MBR points to the Compaq diagnostic partition. I originally removed that partition without a problem. However, I later decided the diagnostics were worth 12/15 MBs. I used the Compaq diagnostic floppy (or download from their site) to create the diagnostic partition and load the diagnostics. Linux fdisk knows about the Compaq partition. Bob -----Original Message----- From: wlug-admin@mail.wlug.org [mailto:wlug-admin@mail.wlug.org]On Behalf Of Jim Stith Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2001 11:09 AM To: wlug@mail.wlug.org Subject: [Wlug] compaq deskpro well here goes... i got an old compaq deskpro (yes, a stupid mistake... but it was cheap) and wanted to load red hat 7.0 on it and possibly use the deskpro as a intranet server so that i could learn how to set a server up. everything loads fine but when the system tries to go into x and give me a login screen, the monitor makes a poping sound and the screen goes blank. same thing with mandrake and caldera. the screen stays blank. i have gone into the bios and disabled pnp and energy saver but that does not help. i have been going through the faq's and the only thing i have found out is that compaq did some strange things around the mbr. i have no other options open to me and would appreciate any help anyone can give concerning this. thanks jim s. _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

Hi

everything loads fine but when the system tries to go into x and give me a login screen, the monitor makes a poping sound and the screen goes blank.

As several responses have indicated already, you are probably driving the monitor at the wrong frequency. This can be very dangerous (you can cook a monitor this way) but perhaps not in your case since that "popping sound" is probably the monitor being new enough to cut itself off when mistreated. In any case, what you have to do is find out the allowable hsync and vsync frequencies of the monitor. Since the computer is second hand (I assume) you may not have the manual. In that case, look on the monitor for some sort of manufacturer/model number and feed that into google. With luck and a bit of poking around you should be able to find a spec sheet or table and get the hsync and vsync frequencies (I found Compaq was not too shabby when faced with the same issue with my daughter's computer and a Linux install). Once you have those values, you can tell the install program what to use (I don't use Red Hat, so I can't give you chapter and verse here; XF86Config is more generic but a tad cryptic. If you have to go the latter route, feel free to touch base with me (probably directly to save traffic to the whole group) and we can, if necessary, walk through the various steps in XF86Config. Incidentally, I vaguely remember that my daughter's Compaq (a Presario) had a bastard video chip which confused SuSE 6.3 but which 7.0 was able to deal with. I suspect your box is old enough that this will not be a problem. Finally, Compaq is good about providing manuals. I went into google and entered compaq deskpro and got to the Compaq site which, in turn, had a link to a downloadable pdf manual. I suspect you may have to be a bit more specific as to model of compaq deskpro but you should be able to get the equivalent for your particular box. Ditto for monitor. This way you can give the install program hints as to both the video chip and the sync frequencies. Hope this helps a little.

i have been going through the faq's and the only thing i have found out is that compaq did some strange things around the mbr.

I don't think this is anywhere near the mbr. doug PS I agree with John Huber's point that X is unnecessary (and perhaps even in the way) on a server. However, I can also understand why you might want to get X going simply because, like Mount Everest, it's there :-) -- Douglas R Waud 17 Lantern Lane, Shrewsbury, MA, 01545-2006 http://www.ummed.edu/pub/d/drw/