Created attachment 15623 [details] Xorg.log General info: I have two monitors and an ATI r500 card (X1650). I'm currently using -ati but I've used -radeonhd and -fglrx in the past. I have had _major_ issues with modes in X since years back (on other computers too), but nowadays when the Modelines are silently ignored and PreferredMode is broken (on my Debian sid, I've heard this is fixed in master git), things are actually worse than usual, when I find it _impossible_ to make X start with the resolutions I want. Both monitors are really really old TFT panels. One of them is an Iiyama which doesn't have EDID information and the native (maximum) resolution is 1024x768. For months this monitor used to run 1280x960 initially (until I changed it with xrandr), but for some reason, this monitor actually starts a decent 1024x768 mode now. I have no idea why, but I'm happy (but afraid it's temporary). The other monitor is a Dell 1700FP with native resolution 1280x1024. I still find it impossible to make this resolution be initial, instead it starts in 1024x768. This is reasonable if X.org wouldn't detect its modes well, but it does (see the log file), and to change it, all I need to do is run xrandr to change mode. That simple. It's however driving me mad to have to re-arrange my gnome panel applets _every single time_ I log-in, because they get squeezed around when the initial mode is too small. I attach my .log and .conf.
Created attachment 15624 [details] xorg.conf
After having looked at the source in xf86Modes.c and found that "bad" modes are marked as "bad" (hence not being used), because the pixel clock is higher than what the monitor can take, I checked my log again. It seems that my monitor (a Dell 1700FP) reports 108 MHz as max pixel clock, but this is incorrect. 1280x1024 at 75MHz (138.75 MHz according to the program cvt) works well. The Dell spec says that this resolution (however only 135 MHz) is the maximum: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/1700FP/En/specs.htm Could this be the reason? If so, is it possible to add this information to X so that when these monitors are detected, the _right_ max pixel clock is used? I tried the MaxClock option with no success, but I doubt MaxClock works... I don't know how to use it, since the man page for xorg.conf is incorrect. The man page says the value should be in kHz, which reasonably should be interpreted as a number (without unit of course), for instance "140000". This gave me a: (WW) RADEON(0): Option "MaxClock" requires a frequency value whereas the value "142MHz" gave no warning.
Mass closure: This bug has been untouched for more than six years, and is not obviously still valid. Please file a new report if you continue to experience issues with a current server.
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