On Mon, 10 Apr 2000, Austin L. Denyer wrote:
> Hi.
>
> I seem to be getting closer to the solution, but I'm not sure what it is. I
> tried Adrian's logging trick and got the full log this time (thanks,
> Adrian!). However, I couldn't see anything obviously wrong.
>
> So, I then tried switching between monitors (to try out Adrian's idea of the
> wrong monitor being used), but with no success.
>
> Then, I accidentally made a discovery. Whilst trying the monitor swap
> (special hot key on this laptop), I hit the wrong key, and hit the suspend
> to disk key. For a moment, just before the suspend status screen appeared,
> the display came back! When I resumed from the suspended system, the
> display worked fine!
>
> This is repeatable - boot Linux into text console mode, run startx, lose
> display, suspend to disk, resume, et voila! I have my display back.
>
> Does the above give anyone any pointers?
>
> Thanks for your help so far.
>
> Regards,
>
> Austin Denyer.
>
Did you try function-key swapping with a monitor attached? On mine, LCD->CRT->TV,
does nothing under both Linux and Winblows other than switch back to the LCD,
though I haven't tried with an external monitor. My PB has lost a beam and is
so crappy I dare not attach it to my precious laptop.
The fact that the display comes back after suspend suggests to me that this is
a problem of XFree86 not enabling the LCD (though it may mean something else to
other people). Here's my thinking. XFree86 is not apm aware. This causes
problems on many systems as XFree86 does not know the display has changed (via
BIOS). The way BIOS saves and restores the video state varies, on some peoples
laptops a suspend/resume restores to a scrambled screen (BIOS restores the video
to a basic, i.e. text console state, but XFree86 isn't aware of it and still
streams out at 1024x768 or similar). On mine, a suspend/resume restores the
screen (the BIOS apparently saves the screen state and restores it) but XFree86
has lost "focus" and requires a console switch and back. My point is that to me
it sounds like XFree86 is setting up the display but not enabling the LCD out.
The BIOS then saves the screen state (and other info), turns off the ports
(LCD, hard drive, ect.), and shuts off power. On resume, the BIOS restores the
info, and then reenables the ports (turning on the previously off LCD). This
leads me back to my previous email. Did you try the "intern_disp" option in
your XF86Config file?
If your up to it, try downloading the source and building a new XFree86 with
the "DEBUG" option enabled. This give alot of extra info on startup and may
point you to a fix. Other than that, you may be out of luck. Maybe politely
email the driver author and ask for help.
Sorry for the rambling long-windedness.
Adrian
--
- I just tried this on my old Packard Bell 486/66 w/4MB (Hey ...
- shut-up! I was young, ignorant, and didn't know anything about
- hardware or quality manufacturers.).
