Dell GX270 / Intel 865 Graphics Cards / XFree86 4.3.0

[Ryan Golhar]

Here's what I found to get it working:

1.  Downgrade the BIOS from A03 to A02.
2.  In the BIOS, set the video memory from 1 MB to 8 MB

All is okay after that.  I saw various information on a linux board but
this appears to work.  A03 sets the video memory to 1 MB...

-----
Ryan Golhar
Analyst II
The Informatics Institute at
The University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ

Phone: 973-972-5034
Fax: 973-972-7412
Email: golharam at umdnj.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: redhat-list-admin at redhat.com [mailto:redhat-list-admin at redhat.com]
On Behalf Of Edward Dekkers
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 7:57 PM
To: redhat-list at redhat.com
Subject: Re: Dell GX270 / Intel 865 Graphics Cards / XFree86 4.3.0


Ryan Golhar wrote:

> I'm running into a problem getting X-Windows to run with a decent 
> resolution on a Dell GX 270 with the Intel 865 Graphics Cards (64 MB 
> video ram).

The Intel 865 chipset is not a graphics card per-se. It is a graphics 
controller built onto the motherboard for basic graphics. It has some 3D

capability, and I've seen DVDs run quite smoothly with hardware 
acceleration, however, it is definitely a lower end video solution. Even

a $60 (AUS) GeForce 4 performs better. Having said that, I have seen it 
easily handle 1024 x 768 at 32 bit under Windows. Therefore it *IS* 
possible, and we're looking at one of two things in my opinion:

1> The XFree driver is not quite correct.

2> The 865G controller doesn't have enough memory allocated to it.

For 1, I'm not sure - at this point check on the XFree site to say what 
is said about it. I'm sure there will be something about it as you won't

be the only person in the world using this controller. For the future, 
I'm actually a GID, and have been told that Linux driver development for

the Intel chipset will co-incide completely with Windows driver 
development. It will initially not be open source, more like an NVidia 
binary type driver, but this is certainly a milestone.

I repeat for everybody's benefit: Intel will commit to developing Linux 
drivers at the same time as Windows drivers. This is something that has 
been sadly lacking, but I'm certainly relieved it will finally be
happening.

For 2, check your BIOS again. From memory the controller takes system 
memory as needed (yes the 865G chipset is SMA (Shared Memory 
Architecture), this means it can take from 1 to 64Mb of your system RAM 
depending on the situation), but there is a possibility you actually 
need to set the allocated RAM in the BIOS.



   I have seen messages regarding the BIOS revision and tried
> flashing the BIOS with A02 and A01 with no luck.  Right now, I have 3 
> machines (all identical) with one BIOS being A01, another A02, and the

> third A03.

These must be DELL BIOS revisions. Maybe they are running a proprietary 
Intel Chipset board. Genuine Intel BIOS revision are usually 
P01..P<whatever>. Therefore, I cannot give any hints as to what to set 
in the BIOS. You may have to check with DELL.

> 
> I can only get 1024x768 with 8 bit color depth running.  Anything 
> higher gives the error "No Video BIOS modes for chosen depth".  I'm 
> running Enterprise Workstation v3.  Does anyone know how to fix this?

That's all I can give you Ryan, good luck.

P.S. I've seen this discussion before on this list. You may want to 
check the archives to see whether this issue was resolved in the 
previous case?

There is always the possibility of adding a cheap NVidia card if you 
have an AGP slot on that board?

Regards,
Ed.



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