Author Topic: AVWizard hell  (Read 4032 times)

pnauta

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AVWizard hell
« on: December 08, 2007, 07:07:09 pm »
Hi,

My h/w: Nvidia 7050 / 630a setup with a Sony KDL-26P3000E LCD TV.  This TV supports 1024 X 768 X 60Hz and 1280 X 768 on the VGA port.  While booting it shows the Kubuntu logo.

After having a Kubuntu 0704 base installation, and proving that the NVidia driver is working by changing resolution to 1280 X 768 and checking driver properties, I installed LinuxMCE 0704 from CD's.  All went well, until the reboot, because after reboot, I see the Kubuntu logo, then during that picture, I hear a descending series of beeps (note, there was not an ascending series of beeps!) and then the signal to my TV goes out of sync, and that's it.

I can connect to the DCERouter setup web page, but as I have not run AVWizard successfully, there seems to be no way to tell this stupid wizard to not drive my LCD into a mode it does not support.

Pressing SHIFT during boot does not help, as I don't hear it monitoring it, and pressing 2,7, in sequence to force it to 1024 X 768 over the VGA port has no effect at all.  I have now been battling with this for a week, so I thought it would be a good idea to ask for some help.  Yes, I read this first http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/AVWizard

Thanks for taking the time to explain how to get out of this maze.

totallymaxed

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Re: AVWizard hell
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2007, 09:03:02 pm »
Hi,

My h/w: Nvidia 7050 / 630a setup with a Sony KDL-26P3000E LCD TV.  This TV supports 1024 X 768 X 60Hz and 1280 X 768 on the VGA port.  While booting it shows the Kubuntu logo.

After having a Kubuntu 0704 base installation, and proving that the NVidia driver is working by changing resolution to 1280 X 768 and checking driver properties, I installed LinuxMCE 0704 from CD's.  All went well, until the reboot, because after reboot, I see the Kubuntu logo, then during that picture, I hear a descending series of beeps (note, there was not an ascending series of beeps!) and then the signal to my TV goes out of sync, and that's it.

I can connect to the DCERouter setup web page, but as I have not run AVWizard successfully, there seems to be no way to tell this stupid wizard to not drive my LCD into a mode it does not support.

Pressing SHIFT during boot does not help, as I don't hear it monitoring it, and pressing 2,7, in sequence to force it to 1024 X 768 over the VGA port has no effect at all.  I have now been battling with this for a week, so I thought it would be a good idea to ask for some help.  Yes, I read this first http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/AVWizard

Thanks for taking the time to explain how to get out of this maze.

Re- read the Avwizard Wiki page... you need to press 'shift' just after the initial descending beeps... you will hear and additional single beep.  After a few secs you should be able to use the 1-4 keys to change the video Output connector and the 5-9 keys to change resolution.
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totallymaxed

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Re: AVWizard hell
« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2007, 09:05:19 pm »
Also I would suggest looking at this thread http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=3368.0 as your 7050 nVidia onboard chip is not supported properly under the standard nVidia driver installed by lmce-0704
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pnauta

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Re: AVWizard hell
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2007, 01:37:39 pm »
OK, latest progress is that once I switched to the second HDMI input on my TV, I saw a vertically stretched out image of the Kubuntu logo, so, after pressing shift I got into the AVWizard somehow.  That HDMI mode was never active before, so that's the one good thing LinuxMCE did.  And it's of course a new TV as well, so getting to know it also takes some experimenting.

Stiull not working as it should though.  720p is the mode that seems to work, however:
- movies don't play, only a black frame is shown together with sound coming through.  The video tests show that there's something wrong there.  Will doublecheck the NVidia driver version, but I did envy -t again after installing LinuxMCE.
- Underscan in this mode as some elements of the screen do not show (incomplete buttons)  This after I tried to adjust properly.
- When shutting down the TV goes partially out of sync, indicating that maybe frequencies are too high
- I am now going to get into Xorg.config to enter the stuff manually from my TV manual, like horiz /vert frequencies, maybe that will work.  At least I am back in control, as it was rather frustrating reinstalling everything again just to be able to log in again.
- There's at least one big mistake in my config: the dimensions for my TV are given as being more than a meter wide, which it isn't.  This results in very small fontsize on the logon screen when looking at PC mode.

@totallymaxed: I installed a proper Nvidia driver first, then used LinuxMCE 0704 from the two downloaded images.  Beats me why that should upset everything again.  Looks like the installer script overwrites everything.  Why does AVWizard not run in the current mode (from before LinuxMCE is installed) before upsetting everything by trying to start a videomode which does not work on a rather large percentage of configurations?  Why not be able to run AVWizard in PC mode (well I haven't tried it yet, may even work, but as the reboot upsets everything, that's little help)

Another tip for the developers would be to eject the CD from the drive when the second DVD is needed, rather than to depend on the user being able eject it from the drive, would be a plus: during constructiuon of my PC my SATA DVD drive did not work at first, so I connected a PATA DVD player temporarily.  Pushing the eject button had no effect for some reason (no h/w error, it works normally).   Going to the DVD image button on the desktop and choosing eject only resulted in a "mounted" error message.  On the SATA drive, the eject button works. 

So, thanks for your answers, I at least back on track.  Still need a lot to do, like Xorg, then IR, solving some out of disk space as soon as I rip a DVD, preventing all these messages indicating new shares being found etc.  But solving the blank screens that show up on the latest and greatest hw setups is one of LinuxMCE's great challenges IMHO.  Having no clue how to get in, but to find that somewhere in a forum is no help either.

totallymaxed

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Re: AVWizard hell
« Reply #4 on: December 09, 2007, 02:12:59 pm »
@totallymaxed: I installed a proper Nvidia driver first, then used LinuxMCE 0704 from the two downloaded images.  Beats me why that should upset everything again.  Looks like the installer script overwrites everything.  Why does AVWizard not run in the current mode (from before LinuxMCE is installed) before upsetting everything by trying to start a videomode which does not work on a rather large percentage of configurations?  Why not be able to run AVWizard in PC mode (well I haven't tried it yet, may even work, but as the reboot upsets everything, that's little help)

Hmmm... well I am afraid installing updated nVidia drivers was probably not a very good idea. You need to install to a 'clean' Kubuntu 7.04 installation. If you follow the well documented procedure for installing from either the 2 CD's (see here; http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/Installation_Guide ) or the single DVD (see here; http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/DVD_Installation ) WARNING - the DVD install will erase the whole drive you install to... beware!... for the vast majority of users this will result in a working installation.

I realise that the current installation process is far from perfect but IT WILL WORK. But you must follow the procedures to make that happen. We install lmce-0704 roughly 10 times a week currently and so I know from personal experience that if you follow instructions it works ;-)
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pnauta

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Re: AVWizard hell
« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2007, 04:21:13 pm »
Quote
Hmmm... well I am afraid installing updated nVidia drivers was probably not a very good idea. You need to install to a 'clean' Kubuntu 7.04 installation.

I did that, then updated the driver to make the system accessible in the first place.  That was the only change I did to the Kubuntu 7.04 clean install.  Do you mean that the latest Nvidia drivers will be no good with LMCE 0704 then?

Btw, I have done the DVD quick installer as well as the Kubuntu 0704 + 2 CD LMCE 0704 install, and must have done it 10 times this week as well  ;D

I haven't done the Xorg.conf tweaking yet, I'm into a LMCE unrelated non profit free software project as well, so I'm doing this in between.  Will keep you posted.  Can't wait for 0710 which will obviously fix everything and then some :-)

Zaerc

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Re: AVWizard hell
« Reply #6 on: December 09, 2007, 06:35:36 pm »
I think what totallymaxed means is that you should install newer drivers after doing the complete LMCE install.

You might want to look at: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers for some help on configuring your xorg.conf manually, especially "LinuxMCE keeps reconfiguring my display settings" should come in handy.
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totallymaxed

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Re: AVWizard hell
« Reply #7 on: December 09, 2007, 06:47:28 pm »
I think what totallymaxed means is that you should install newer drivers after doing the complete LMCE install.

yes thats exactly what I meant ;-) Thanks Zaerc
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