upgrade from debian etch to debian testing (lenny) results in garbled screen

[Alex Deucher]

On Sun, Dec 28, 2008 at 2:31 PM, Hartmut Niemann <Hartmut.Niemann at gmx.de> wrote:
> Hello everybody!
> I upgraded the following system from debian etch to current testing:
>
> AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2600+
> VIA KT400 chipset
> ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (rev 01) (according to lspci)
> BENQ G2400W (1920x1200)
>
> and the xorg.conf that worked fine with debian etch results in a totally distorted screen,
> with diagonal stripes that have about the color the screen should have
> (light blue for the login screen, and the main colors of the background picture
> after a more or less blind login seemed right) Like the rendering engine
> has a different opinion how many pixels are in a line from the output stage.
>
> Interesting: the cursor had the right shape and did move with the mouse.
> The resolution that the display's OnScreenDisplay lists was right as well.
> please have a look at:
> http://www.nieleute.de/xorg.conf.etch
>
> I tried the xorg.conf that knoppix 5.1.1 provides as well, same result.
> http://www.nieleute.de/xorg.conf.knoppix5.1
>
> Replacing the ati driver with vesa gives me a working 1280x1024 at 75
> and allows me to access mail again :-)
>
> Versions of debian packages:
> xserver-xorg-video-ati    1:6.9.0-1+
>

Do you have the same monitor plugged into both the DVI and VGA ports
on your card?  If so, remove one or the other as the monitor may be
getting confused.  Also comment out or remove the monitor section in
your config because it maybe overriding the 1920x1200 mode from your
monitor's EDID with your modeline.  I suspect your monitor doesn't
like the 193 Mhz pixel clock in your modeline.  the preferred clock
from your monitor's EDID is 154 Mhz.

Alex