MEPIS Community Forum

When i boot in to the Live dvd of Mepis 11 the highest resolution I can get is 800x600 when it should be 1920x1080

The system I am running is a couple of years old now so i would have thought it would be able to get that right.

here are the specs of my PC

CPU
Intel Core i3 530 @ 2.93GHz 42 °C
Clarkdale 32nm Technology
RAM
4.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 666MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. H55M-S2H (Socket 1156)
Graphics
Generic Non-PnP Monitor @ 1920x1080
NVIDIA GeForce GT 220

Yes i tried all the tips and read the manuals and all that! it has been a couple years since I used Mepis or even Linux for that matter so i have probably overlooked something

TIA

the default Mepis 11 disc only includes the Nouveau driver, and a really old one at that.

you won't get your proper resolution until you install the Nvidia-Glx driver.

Maybe check through the "View Active Topics" from the top of forum pages as I recall this being brought up from another poster in the last week or so and I believe a resolve was found. I think it was that you have to first install and then add missing drivers but don't quote me on that. Jerry
As Saist said

Only including an old driver seems stupid to me

If i boot into it aufs (I think it is called) will i be able to install that driver through synaptic to test it out? Ugh I was away too long and have forgotten so much, sorry.

don't think you can add it to the live disc... think you have to do an install first. Jerry

You may want to try adding this "cheat code" to the end of the GRUB boot line at the boot menu prompt before pressing enter and see if that gives you the correct resolution with your display:

nvidia.modeset=0

If you decide install Mepis to your hard drive, I'd just install the proprietary Nvidia driver. That way, you'll have the Nvidia Control panel with more features.

The easiest way to do that is by using the sgfxi script. See this page about it:

http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php? ... 28sgfxi.29

Basically, you just install the script, then follow the instructions on that page to run it (press CTRL+ALT+F1 to exit to a login prompt, then login in using user name root and type sgfxi and use the defaults). That script will download and install the latest stable driver for you by default (295.20 right this minute). Then, after it runs, you'll see a choice to exit (which shuts down mepis) or start desktop (I'd try that first).

I don't know if you could use it from a Live DVD with aufs or not. If you try it, make sure to use the Start Desktop versus Exit option after the sgfxi script finishes installing the driver (otherwise, you'll reboot and be right back where you were to begin with).

Just note that sometimes you may need to run the script more than once. For example, when I upgraded from Nvidia 285.05.09 to 290.10, I had to run the sgfxi script again. More recently, I upgraded from 290.10 to 295.20 and it only took one run, with the desktop starting fine using the newer driver without a reboot when using the Start Desktop option after running sgfxi. That's just a "quirk" with the way it works (sometimes needs running more than once to remove the old driver and installing a newer one).

If you install Mepis 11 to a hard drive, I don't think you'd have any issues once you install the Nvidia proprietary driver using the sgfxi script.

But, from a Live DVD, I'd try using the cheat code nvidia.modeset=0 (just add it to the end of the grub boot line) and see if that helps anything. If not, see if you can download and run the sgfxi script from a Live session after choosing the aufs option (and again, I don't know if that would work from a Live session or not).

Sorry guys but if that is how Mepis is now then it really has followed the herd of all linux and no longer stands out especially if it can't correctly identify an older graphics card with no simple fix that is obvious! mepis 8.5 i think it was could run it in vesa mode on the live CD or DVD 2 years ago so I see no reason why 11 shouldn't! massive step backwards!

I think the developers need to take a step back and have a serious think about what they are doing from a new Linux users POV as right now from the quick read i have had around the forum Mepis is heading well and truly towards the seasoned users and not the newbie friendly distro it once was!

Only problem is that the developer is a one man band who is only recently accepting more input from the community developers who are crying for just such things. Adding drivers is not that complicated and many Linux distros still have the need. M-11 is worth the effort and the community has provided easy means to update kde to 4.7.4 and the latest linux kernel is easy addition with synaptic. Jerry

Don't get me wrong Mepis was and is my favourite distro. I am aware it is a one man band and that the community has just started to input their ideas.

The point is that adding drivers through the command line is NOT newbie friendly and NEVER will be! The ability to correctly identify such an old card should not be a problem in the first place anyway! Where are the easy solutions Mepis built its base on? Why could 8.5 get it right and 11 can't?

I just booted into a live Mepis 11 session (I've got Mepis 11 on a USB Flash Drive I made with unetbootin a while back), and noticed that a proprietary Nvidia driver was already there and being used, and it recognized my GT 440 just fine and set the correct resolution for my display. Nvidia 260.19.21 was loaded, and I even have the Nvidia Control Panel. I'm typing this post from a Live session of Mepis 11 now using a GT 440 with the correct resolution set automatically.

I didn't realize the Live DVD was using the proprietary driver by default.

My guess is that your H55 chipset is probably confusing it and it's just not loading the Nvidia driver for some reason (perhaps assuming the Intel video is being used instead), since your GT 220 is a supported card: See the list of cards supported by the included Nvidia 260.19.21 driver in Mepis 11 here:

ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux ... chips.html

So, you can probably get it working with a cheat code at the GRUB boot prompt so that it knows to load the nvidia driver. Press TAB at the Live DVD boot prompt and add this to the end of the GRUB boot line and see if that solves it for you (all lower case as below).

xdrvr=nvidia confx

I didn't need to do that with my system. But, my guess is that something about your H55 chipset may be confusing Mepis 11.. You should find the Nvidia Control Panel under KMenu>Settings>More Applications>Nvidia X Server Settings so you can check to make sure it sees your card OK with settings you can change after the nvidia driver is loaded.