SiS 771/671 PCIE VGA Display Issue

Michael_Mannall · **Joined:** Sat May 31, 2014 1:02 pm **Posts:** 6

I have got US4 running reasonably well on my laptop but I have found that in order to use it I need to boot into the recovery option, select the fschk option before booting up as normal.

If I don't, I get stuck with a 640x480 display which is next to impossible to use (no other screen sizes are available!).

Additionally, when on the login screen I am unable to change the language and keyboard formats to GB English (or anything else for that matter).

Any suggestions as clearly the fix would probably be fairly straight forward or the fschk option wouldn't work.

Thanks for your help

Michael

Stephen Ewen · **Posted:** Tue Aug 19, 2014 5:46 am

To save disc space, all languages besides U.S. English are are incomplete in UberStudent. You have to finish installing the language packs before you can change the default language.

Please follow these directions for language-switching in UberStudent. Doing so will quickly solve your issue and the steps are very easy.

Thanks for straightway attaching info from running hardinfo. :geek:

Based upon the info you provided, your video card is a Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 771/671 PCIE VGA Display Adapter. This is a rare video card that has not been manufactured for considerable time. As such, full support of it has been dropped from recent Linux kernels, where video drivers reside.

Also based upon the info you provided, your preferred monitor size is 1024x768.

To likely fix the issue, please run the following command in a terminal:

Code:

xrandr --output default --gamma 1:1:1 --mode 1024x768

Then from the top panel, go to Settings > Hardware > Display and the 1024x768 monitor size should now be available for you to select (from the Resolution drop-down) and set as default (tick "Use this output"). Once selected, this setting should persist across normal boots.

Does this solve the issues?

Michael_Mannall · **Joined:** Sat May 31, 2014 1:02 pm **Posts:** 6

Hi Stephen

The language issue is now sorted thanks to your help but I am still having display issues.

Quote:

set as default (tick "Use this output").

Unfortunately something else must be wrong as this option is not present.

Stephen Ewen · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:07 am

What happens when you just select the 1024x768 monitor size and close out of the Display settings? When you boot up the next time normally, does it use the 1024x768 monitor size?

Michael_Mannall · **Joined:** Sat May 31, 2014 1:02 pm **Posts:** 6

No it reverts back to 640x480 with no options to change to any other resolutions.

I therefore have to boot into recovery then straight back into the login screen for it to change to 1024x768.

Also, as stated earlier, there is no "Use this output" option to tick.

How does the recovery option manage to detect the correct setting and allow the system to use it when the kernel can't? Maybe a script or patch can be created to run just after the kernel is loaded to detect the hardware - just a thought?

Stephen Ewen · **Posted:** Wed Aug 20, 2014 9:16 pm

Michael_Mannall wrote:

Maybe a script...can be created to run just after the kernel is loaded

Sure, let's try that. Fortunately, UberStudent has a place already set to run such scripts. But before we proceed, please boot in to your machine normally, hit Alt+F2 on your keyboard, and run the following line:

Code:

xrandr --output default --gamma 1:1:1 --mode 1024x768

Even if some things appear displaced, does your screen resolution become correct?

If it does NOT, let me know.

If it DOES display correctly, please take the following steps.

1. Open a terminal and run:

Code:

sudo touch /etc/uberstudent/adjustments/100-sis-xrandr-fix.execute

2. Hit Alt+F2 on your keyboard and run:

Code:

gksu leafpad /etc/uberstudent/adjustments/10-sis-xrandr-fix.execute

3. Add the following text to the file, making sure you hit Enter once on your keyboard so that your cursor's caret is just below the last line (you should have three lines in total including the last empty trailing line):

Code:

#!/bin/bash
xrandr --output default --gamma 1:1:1 --mode 1024x768

4. Now to make the file you just made executable, open a terminal and run:

Code:

sudo chmod +x /etc/uberstudent/adjustments/10-sis-xrandr-fix.execute

Now the xrandr line will be run each time you boot up, early on.

Michael_Mannall · **Joined:** Sat May 31, 2014 1:02 pm **Posts:** 6

Tried x480

Code:

xrandr --output default --gamma 1:1:1 --mode 1024x768

after a fresh boot and login and it had no effect on the display (still 640x480) and no other resolution available in Display.

Checked the script and it was successfully flagged as executable and located in /etc/uberstudent/adjustments/

Stephen Ewen · **Posted:** Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:48 pm

It's probably running too early then. Thanks for understanding that hardware issues sometimes take some trial-and-error to work out.

Let's try moving the file and running it as a normal autostart program. Please open a terminal and run these commands:

In the below command, please replace yourusername with your actual user name.
# Copies file to your home directory autostart

Code:

sudo cp /etc/uberstudent/adjustments/10-sis-xrandr-fix.execute /home/yourusername/.config/autostart/

# Removes the file you moved

Code:

sudo rm /etc/uberstudent/adjustments/10-sis-xrandr-fix.execute

In the below command, please replace both instances of yourusername with your actual user name.
# Makes the moved file owned by the user

Code:

sudo chown yourusername /home/yourusername/.config/autostart/10-sis-xrandr-fix.execute

Now do:
# Makes the moved file executable

Code:

chmod +x $HOME/.config/autostart/10-sis-xrandr-fix.execute

# Creates an empty .desktop file

Code:

touch $HOME/.config/autostart/sis-xrandr-fix.desktop

# Opens the empty .desktop file in leafpad

Code:

leafpad $HOME/.config/autostart/sis-xrandr-fix.desktop

Now add the following in to the blank file that opens in leafpad, making sure there is an empty blank line after Hidden=false (there should be a total of 10 lines to the file). Where yourusername appears on the Exec= line, again replace yourusername with your actual user name.

# Make the .desktop file

Code:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=SiS Xrandr Fix
Exec=/home/yourusername/.config/autostart/10-sis-xrandr-fix.execute
Icon=monitor
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application;Utility;
Hidden=false

Hit Ctrl+S to save, then exit leafpad. Now make the .desktop file executable by running:

Code:

chmod +x $HOME/.config/autostart/sis-xrandr-fix.desktop

You will now see a new entry, SiS Xrandr Fix, if you go to Settings > Administration > Session and Startup > Application Autostart.

Reboot or just log out and log back in. Your login window may still be at the wrong display resolution but I suppose we will just live with that, assuming it is usable (and I am hoping it is but let me know if not).

Please confirm whether or not this fixes the issue! :geek:

Michael_Mannall · **Joined:** Sat May 31, 2014 1:02 pm **Posts:** 6

Unfortunately it made no difference - still 640x480.

I did everything via the Administrator account and it failed to solve the problem in either account.

This takes me back to the programming elements of my college computer course.

Quote:

Thanks for understanding that hardware issues sometimes take some trial-and-error to work out.

Back then we used to write COBOL programs (programming was never my strong point) which would then run on the college Mini computer and collect the printouts from our pigeon holes the following day. :roll:

If the program didn't work, almost certainly because of a missing semi-colon (or something of that nature), you didn't find out for 12-24 hours and had to correct and resubmit.

Not having internet at home (still using the library) and being 'the other side of the World' has a similar effect

Still, with all the problems in the world and the hardships faced by so many these days, a little delay is an insignificant issue I can happily ignore.

I'm just grateful for the help you're providing given how frustrating it must be trying to fix an antiquated system 'blind' (it's bad enough trying to solve such problems 'hands-on').

Anyway, aside from any potential hardware failure, this system was designed, built and programmed by humans and can therefore almost certainly be fixed. The challenge is first understanding what is wrong (and you have already found the kernel issue) and working around it.

So thanks for your help

Damion Lunin · **Joined:** Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:18 pm **Posts:** 122

Michael_Mannall wrote:

after a fresh boot and login and it had no effect on the display (still 640x480) and no other resolution available in Display.

I encountered a similar problem with display resolution in XFCE [which is UberStudent's default desktop environment]. I performed a search for an XFCE configuration file for display configuration using the regular expression '.*xfce.*conf.*display.*'

Code:

damion@uberstudent:~$ find / -iregex '.*xfce.*conf.*display.*' 2>/dev/null
/home/damion/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/displays.xml

I then needed the maximum resolution and corresponding refresh rate of my monitor.

Code:

damion@uberstudent:~$ xrandr | sed -n 2,3p
DVI-I-0 connected primary 640x480+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 519mm x 324mm
   1920x1200      59.9*+

Lastly I used the commandline editor nano to edit XFCE's displays.xml file to specify my resolution and refresh rate. (I show the result below with the cat command.)

Code:

damion@uberstudent:~$ cat /home/damion/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/displays.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<channel name="displays" version="1.0">
  <property name="Default" type="empty">
    <property name="DVI-I-0" type="string" value="GTW-LP2407 HD Display">
      <property name="Active" type="bool" value="true"/>
      <property name="Resolution" type="string" value="1920x1200"/>
      <property name="RefreshRate" type="double" value="59.9"/>
      <property name="Rotation" type="int" value="0"/>
      <property name="Reflection" type="string" value="0"/>
      <property name="Primary" type="bool" value="true"/>
      <property name="Position" type="empty">
        <property name="X" type="int" value="0"/>
        <property name="Y" type="int" value="0"/>
      </property>
    </property>
  </property>
</channel>

Note that your XFCE may not have generated a displays.xml file, so you can copy the above XML code into the commandline editor nano as a starting point and edit the lines containing name="DVI-I-0", name="Resolution", and name="RefreshRate" (and possibly other lines depending on your particular scenario).

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