[ale] Something blew up -- but what

[Phil Turmel]

On 11/20/2012 10:54 AM, Sean Kilpatrick wrote:
> Things often go wrong in threes.  At this rate I am heading for 9.
> :(
> 
> Unscrambled the memory problem by removing the new memory sticks and 
> returning to the original setup.  But late last night on a reboot all I 
> got was a beep code: one long, two short. That means, "video is toast."
> 
> I'm guessing here, but I suspect that trying to drive the new monitor at 
> 1920 X 1200 overtaxed the onboard video chips and they died. MOBO is at 
> least 5 years old.
> So, today I ran yet again to Frys and purchased a new video card, an ASUS 
> 6450 with 1 gig onboard memory.  I'm not playing games so have no need for 
> a high-end video card. My thinking was that the ASUS card would be able to 
> speak to the ASUS monitor.
> 
> Not that I can tell.  The video card won't produce anything above 1600 X 
> 1200.  ASUS apparently doesn't have a linux driver so now I am stymied 
> with a monitor that doesn't look anywhere nearly as good as it should.
> 
> According to documentation on the web, this card actually has an AMD 
> Radeon HD6450 graphics chip, which is capable of resolutions above what 
> this monitor can handle. Go figure.
> 
> Current video driver is the 2.1 Mesa 7.8.2.

I've had very good results lately with the in-kernel modesetting driver
in v3.6 kernels for radeons.  You might want to try a recent
SystemRescueCD to see what it does.  If it gives you max resolution on
its framebuffer, you could then pursue that for your permanent install.

(I'm running mythfrontend on a 5450 @ 1080p.)

Phil