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R5A16: "You passed an undefined [video] mode number.&qu
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Author:  jmccorm [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 10:54 am ]
Post subject:  R5A16: "You passed an undefined [video] mode number.&qu

Hardware: Dell Dimension 2400
Full Specs: Dell Product Specs
Video Output: Integrated Intel 3D Extreme Graphics
Capture: None now, just trying to get it to work.

I'm installing KnoppMyth for the very first time from the R5A16 torrent CDROM ISO image. I get to the boot screen, and press F2 for help.

NOTE: Someone needs to update the boot screen. "knoppix" and "knoppix26" are not valid options!

I figure out that I can press [ENTER] and boot, or I can type "knoppmyth" and boot. It loads vmlinuz and miniroot,.gz then tells me "You passed an undefined mode number." (I didn't pass any mode, but I ended up getting the same thing if I did a screen= command or just typed fb1024x768). It asks me to select a mode, or wait 30 second, or hit space.

My possible mode selections are:
0F00-0F03, 0F05-0F07 (all listed as 80xsomething text modes). Or I can type "scan" (with no indication of what that does). If I type scan, the screen goes blank and never returns.

So I selected a classic 80x25 mode, and installed KnoppMyth to my hard drive.

Once installed, I reboot the system. Whenever KnoppMyth boots off of the hard drive, it goes through all the normal Linux startup messages. Then it goes to a blank screen.

I hooked up a more high tech monitor, and found that it was indeed booted into a GUI, but at a 87hz refresh rate (which my little monitor could never hope to sync to). I tried some of the built-in screen mode changing options, but at 640x480, I got a ridiculous choice of "100hz" or "Any". Best I could do, bumping it up to the highest mode, was to get a choice of 85hz.

Did I do something to make this choose a crazy video mode? How do I proceed from here and correct it? 60hz is just fine with me.

Author:  Xsecrets [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 12:59 pm ]
Post subject: 

edit your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file and set the vertical refresh to 60 if you are ok with 60 (this is what you will need for tvout if you are going to go that route anyways.) otherwise find out what your monitor can do.

to get to that file you can hit ctrl+alt+F2 from the blank screen or X if you have the new monitor hooked up. login as root to edit the file.

Author:  tjc [ Fri Jun 24, 2005 8:45 pm ]
Post subject: 

This sounds more like the /etc/lilo.conf "vga=791" problem. Change it to "vga=normal" and run lilo. A search here or on the wiki will provide more detail on this FAQ.

Author:  jmccorm [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 1:39 am ]
Post subject: 

tjc wrote:
This sounds more like the /etc/lilo.conf "vga=791" problem. Change it to "vga=normal" and run lilo. A search here or on the wiki will provide more detail on this FAQ.


Bingo! Edit the lilo.conf with "vga=normal" and then run lilo. Works great now... thanks!

Author:  Xsecrets [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 8:40 am ]
Post subject: 

well yes that should get rid of the menu, but does that affect the refresh rates in X as well?

Author:  tjc [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 10:49 am ]
Post subject: 

Yeah, I think it picks a conservative VGA mode for the console rather than some EGA mode...

Author:  jmccorm [ Sat Jun 25, 2005 3:03 pm ]
Post subject: 

Xsecrets wrote:
well yes that should get rid of the menu, but does that affect the refresh rates in X as well?


I had done a reinstall and booted with hsync=65 vsync=60 flags, and that seemed to have taken care of the frame rate issue. Whew. What a PITA!

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