SX270 display fix - works for windows7 too

Office of Museum Technology FLMNH Linux Pages

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Fedora Core 1

Solution for Dell Integrated Intel Graphics Issues

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Note: A Dell BIOS update may eliminate this issue on some systems. I've received the following submissions:

[I have the same GX270 and I applied the A04 BIOS update from dell and then went into the BIOS and changed the settings from 1MB video App. to 8MB. Then I went back into fedora and launched startx and was able to change the display and screen settings to 1024x768.]

[Just got a new GX270 at work...
Fedora Core 2 boots and upgraded FC1 fine. Video issue is solved with BIOS version A04, but you have to set the video cache to 8mb instead of the 1mb default. FC1 with a custom 2.6.5 kernel detected the SATA drive as /dev/hde but the FC2 install cd detects it as /dev/sda. ]

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This document shares our procedure for getting the integrated graphics working on the Dell Optiplex SX270 and GX270 computers which use the Intel i865 graphics chipset. There appears to be an issue with the Dell BIOS mis-reporting the amount of video RAM, which prevents resolutions of higher than 640x480 in X. We tried updating drivers and were finally able to locate a patch, but the whole process was non-trivial. Hopefully, this page makes it easier for the rest of you.

After speaking with a Dell sales rep, I believe that Dell will only begin to officially support Linux on the Optiplex desktops once there is sufficient customer demand. If you have a Dell sales rep and are installing Linux on an Optiplex system, tell your rep you want Linux to be officially supported.

We are using Fedora Core 1. I have also tested the patch with Fedora Core 2 (the X configuration filenames have changed because of the move from XFree86 to X.org). Regardless, use at your own risk. We assume that the issue will eventually disappear as future releases of Fedora Core include a fix for the Intel chipsets or Dell fixes the BIOS issue. Our Dell SX270 has been updated to include the latest BIOS (version A03).

Many thanks to Christian Zietz, the author of the i855 patch and to Marc Seil, who contributed changes to create the i865 version. More info on the patch and versions for other Intel chipsets are available on Christian's web site:
http://www.chzsoft.com.ar/855patch.html

Disclaimer

Use of all software mentioned on this page is at your own risk! It seems to be working fine for us but you may crash your system. I had to reinstall Fedora Core at least once after trashing my system.

Installing the i865 chipset video issue workaround patch

1. Download the 865patch and create the binary

Original location: http://www.chzsoft.com.ar/855patch.html
865patch source: 865patch.tar.gz
865patch binary (compiled on Fedora Core 1, i386, with Linux kernel 2.4.22-1.2174.nptl, tested with kernel 2.4.22-1.2188.nptl): 865patch.gz

Use and Distribution restrictions are documented at http://www.chzsoft.com.ar/855patch.html.

To compile the patch from the tar.gz, execute the following commands:

gunzip 865patch.tar.gz
tar -xvf 865patch.tar
cd 865patch
make

If the make fails to compile the executable program, you probably need to install the kernel-source package and/or gcc.

If you download the binary, make a subdirectory under /root named 865patch and place it there.

When finished with this step, you should have an executable file with the following path:

/root/865patch/865patch

2. Test the patch

There is probably a better way to do this, but the following worked for us.

Switch to a text virtual console (CTRL-ALT-F1) and logon as root.

Change to runlevel 3 which will stop X and a bunch of other stuff.

init 3

Run the patch from the directory where you compiled or downloaded the binary. The patch requires a single parameter, which is the amount of RAM (kb) you want to use for display:

/root/865patch/865patch 8192

Modify /etc/X11/XF86Config to include this same video RAM setting:

Section "Device"
       Identifier  "Videocard0"
       Driver      "i810"
       VendorName  "Videocard vendor"
       BoardName   "Intel 865"
       VideoRam    8192

Change to runlevel 5, which will start X again.

init 5

If all goes well, your display should now be running at the desired 800x600 or 1024x768!


4. Configure to run the fix at startup

Copy the executable to a location that makes more sense. We chose /sbin.

cp /root/865patch/865patch /sbin

Modify /etc/rc.sysinit to run the patch at every startup. Some web sites have recommended putting the patch in rc.local. However, because of the Fedora Core boot sequence, rc.local runs after the graphical boot tries to start. Since the patch needs to run before the graphical boot begins, we have placed the fix in rc.sysinit, after the Welcome message and just before the line "Start the graphical boot".

#in file /etc/rc.sysinit
##Added by Dan Stoner.  3/4/2004
# Run the use-at-your-own-risk hack from www.chzsoft.com.ar/855patch.html
# for Intel integrated chipsets. This requires the addition of VideoRam setting
# in XF86Config.
echo "Running Intel integrated chipset video patch..."
/sbin/865patch 8192
sleep 1

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Last Update 8/19/2004 by Dan Stoner