Problem with Slackware with SyncMaster

Hi All,

Problem: The GUI crashes in Slackware older versions (older than 11) for Samsung Syncmaster 17'' monitor.

Finer Details: I dont know how many of you still use the old monitors with a picture tube fixed to it. I meant that this is the age of LCD and Flat Screen monitors. But people like me who unfortunately could not pay to LCDs in the earlier years of 2000, and especially lucky to have got a Samsung SyncMaster, oh my.....

Solution: Slackware is known for stability. You may did not think that the recent Slackware 12.2 still uses KDE 3.5.x and not KDE 4.0

I refer here in this post to Slackware versions 10 and earlier to them.

I did install the OS as usual (For newbies dont try Slackware without guidance; I would be posting a Detail post of how to install Slackware. For people who cant wait, Get the March Month Issue LFY and do read the article that explains how to install Slackware 12.2. Thanks to Abhijit for a great writeup.).

In Slackware by default, the GUI does not pop up for logging. By GUI I mean the KDM or the GDM.
You have to login to root after install or create another user using the 'useradd' command. Then you have to use the command 'startx' or just 'X', which starts the Xsession of Xorg.

The Problem lies in:

The very moment you issue the command startx or X, the OS tries to load the GDM or KDM without success. This was a big problem to me especially using the Samsung SyncMaster, the series being 773 or so.

The solution lines:

Dont try to issue the command startx multiple times when the GUI load fails. Be careful, since you may burn your picture tube.

Try to restart your system.

Then when you again get the console login screen, do the following:

1. Login to root a/c.
2. Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf by this command vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
3. Go to the Screen section.
4. Find the lines Modes, Default Depth and Depth.
5. Try giving different Modes like "1240x840" , "1024x768" , "800x600", different Default Depths like 24, 16 and Different Depths like 16, 8 and so on until you succeed.
6. Then type startx or X. All the best for the GDM/KDM to start.

Please send me your Monitor details and the Slackware OS you are trying to use, if you face this peculiar problem. Then I will send you the exact configuration for these 3 values.

PS: Concepts taught to Ananth Gouri by Deepak, my Linux Guru, who is also a Java Developer in IGate.

Have a happy weekend,
Ananth Gouri