Hi Jeff Hartmann!

I have been looking at the agpgart module trying hard to make my new Laptop 
(Dell C400 with an intel i830M)
work properly with X version 4.2.0.
I saw you were listed as an author of this module, so I hope that you can 
help me out here.. if not I am sorry for bothering you!

The main problem is that the amount of �Stolen memory� is forced by the Dell 
BIOS to be only 1MB, not enough for the 1024x768x16, and the amount of 
stolen memory cannot be modified by the user in the BIOS setup � the problem 
is specific for Dell C400, other computers with the i830M chip seem to work 
according to the XFree mailing lists.
I have been playing with the XFree driver module, and it seems that even if 
you make the driver ignore the inadequate amount of stolen memory, the BIOS 
simply refuses to switch to the desired video mode in the final int10 call 
to change the video mode.

The best solution would be if Dell released a BIOS upgrade,- this does not 
seem likely though.

What I would like to ask you is, do you know of any way to alter the amount 
of stolen memory, for instance from the initialization inside the agpgart 
module ? See e.g.
http://xfree86.org/pipermail/xpert/2001-December/014388.html which 
unfortunately does not work... What I mean is that since Windows is able to 
change to the desired video mode, it should be possible to persuade the BIOS 
post-boot.

Thanks!!
Ulrik Kjems
Development Engineer
Oticon, DK-2900 Hellerup, Denmark


More detailed summary of the problem:
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~chak/linux/c400.html

Early report of the problem: [Xpert]i830M: Missing BIOS Mode Info
http://xfree86.org/pipermail/xpert/2001-December/014075.html

The problem is identified to be BIOS related: [Xpert]i830M: Missing BIOS 
Mode Info
http://xfree86.org/pipermail/xpert/2001-December/014190.html

Reference to intel white paper on i830 video memory [Xpert]I830M 
memory/bios/vidmode problem?
http://xfree86.org/pipermail/xpert/2001-December/014324.html

Experiment with the agpgart module
http://xfree86.org/pipermail/xpert/2001-December/014388.html





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