Bug#482861: xserver-xorg-video-ati: radeon / ati driver wants to kill my monitor

[Alex Deucher]

On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 10:51 AM, Teemu Ikonen <tpikonen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Package: xserver-xorg-video-ati
> Version: 1:6.8.0-1
> Severity: important
>
> The latest ati driver from testing fails to set a working video mode on my
> hardware (Radeon 9600 and Hitachi CM771 CRT monitor). Upon starting X the
> video mode is changed but it does not 'lock in', causing what seems to be
> rapid changing between text mode and the selected graphics mode. If one waits
> a while (despite the tortured sound the monitor makes when the video mode is
> being constantly changed), a distorted graphics mode showing the login screen
> appears for a while, but then the mode changing starts again.
>
> The same problem is also present in the 6.8.1 version in experimental. The
> previous ati drivers worked perfectly, as does the current vesa driver from
> testing.

ARGH!  The xserver is picking a mode the monitor doesn't like:
(II) RADEON(0): Output VGA-0 using initial mode 1600x1024
rather than one from the edid since the edid doesn't specify a
preferred mode.  Things should work better with a newer xserver.
Alternatively, you can specify a preferred mode by adding a monitor
section linked to the output in question and setting the
"PreferredMode" option.  See these pages for more:
http://wiki.debian.org/XStrikeForce/HowToRandR12

Alex