Delay in startup of X

[eridu]

Every time I startx I have to wait for ages while the system finds a mode it likes. I read somewhere how to speed the whole process up a while ago, but now I've gotten round to doing it I can't find the information. Can somebody help?

Cheers

Steve

[redhattigger]

Have you looked in the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file to check the resolutions that the card thinks it can provide? I'd guess that it's starting at the finest and working downwards until it find one that works.

Delete those above 1024x768 or 800x600, or whatever max resolution you want.

Andy

[bwkaz]

Don't delete lower resolutions unless you know for a fact you'll never want to switch to them. Games, for example, do this frequently -- LBreakout2 runs in 640x480, as does the menu for Descent 3. If you don't have 640x480 in your config file, the XVidMode extension won't be able to switch to that resolution, and the menu will be contained in a little box that's 640x480, with the rest of your desktop behind it.

Besides, I don't have that problem, and I've got every resolution from 1280x1024 down to 640x480 in my config file. A ton of people here have had that problem with GF4 MX cards, though. I don't remember a solution, but maybe searching for "MX420" or "MX440" would find what you were looking for?

[eridu]

I have a Geforce 4 MX so I can be added to the list of people with problems (computer ones too!).

I thought I'd seen somebody capture the output of XF86's attempt to find the right modeline and then used those that were found acceptable in the XF86Config file to speed up the process.

[redhattigger]

XFree86.0.log should show what happened on run up. (/var/log/XFree86.0.log, I think)

Andy

[mat185]

Hi,

I am also in the row of people having this problem; I posted it several times, but nobody could propose a helpful solution to it. Instead, many users reported of the same problem and that they have not been able to solve it either.
Here is my XFree86.0.log in the hope anyone can tell me where there is s.th. wrong in it...

mat

(I use SuSE 7.3, kernel 2.4.10 and XFree 4.1.0)

[Bliv]

Make sure your machine can resolve its host name!.

or add its host name to /etc/hosts

hopefully that will fix the problem :)

Good luck.

[mat185]

Hi,

could you please describe how to do this? I have no idea about hosts and have not been using Linux for so long...


mat

[bwkaz]

First, find out what hostname -f prints.

Then, find out what hostname prints (it should be everything from hostname -f, except for stuff after the first dot -- in other words, hostname -f prints the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), and hostname just prints the hostname).

Then, add a line to /etc/hosts looking like:

192.168.2.2 beta.localdomain beta

Where you will have to change the IP address to match your IP (this is harder if you have DHCP; I don't on my internal network, which is nice at times), and change the "beta.localdomain" to be your FQDN from hostname -f, and change "beta" to be just your hostname.

[Bliv]

Doh, beaten me to it, was rushed when i posted the first response, sorry :)

[nholling]

I have the same problem as well.

I do remember a time when the delay didn't happen. I have been downgrading my Nvidia driver to try to find a version that works better.

Right now I am using 2314 and the delay isn't as long.

I have found posts about the Nvidia driver trying to Bios Post the card before it uses it for X. But that was for driver 0.9-6 (a LONG time ago).

Diamond Viper V550 (TNT 16MB)
Asus A7V (VIA KT133)

[mat185]

Hi,

thank you for your help and reactions.
In my /etc/hosts, such a line as you mentioned already exists! So this cannot be the problem. Now I believe it can only be a problem with the BIOS version of my card (though it's only an assumption).
I am grateful for any further hints that could solve or decrease my problem, but after all I am not very confident...

mat

[nholling]

I don't think its a host problem.

The card seems to be probing the monitor or something. It flickers a few times. But is just blank for a good bit.

[nholling]

I have the same problem as the other two guys on this thread.

Has anyone tried using mode lines? Can you still use them with Xfree86 4.x?

Are you using a profile for your monitor. I have set:
HorizSync 30-86 VertRefresh 50-160
for my monitor. Could this be the problem.

What are you, mat185, using in your XF86Config-4?

[mat185]

Hi,

as I don't know exactly what you want to know, here is my XF86Config.

mat