Setting refreshment rate in xfree86 4

Greets.

I have just installed debian on spare box, but I cannot manage to set refreshment rate for my screen. All I want is 800x600 @ 85 hertz. I have samsung viewsonic 700mp, which is ~5 yrs old model so there is very little information on it, but from what I gathered it can do 800x600@85hz. Then I got some s3 trio (says on the chip) video, which is probably older then the monitor, but I think it can do the job. Now, when I work from tty everything is fine - I see no flicking whatsoever (I'm used to >90hz, so I notice everything <80), but when I startx it starts flicking - my guess @ 70 hz, may be even 60.

I tried using xf86setup but alas no luck, although it did the job before on other boxes.

What is the magic word for setting min refreshment rate in config file? And how can I be sure I don't smoke my monitor if I get it wrong?

P.S. While we're at it - does anyone know where do I get spare superprobe?

i'm certainly not the expert on "X", but isn't the command:

xfree86setup

also, have you tried manually editing the config file?

In the section "Monitor" in your lib/X11/ (or /etc) directory you can add the following lines:

HorizSync 31.5-79.0
VertRefresh 50.0-120.0

these lines are taken from my own X installation, i have a 19" screen and a GeForce3. your limitations are probably very different.

you should not guess these values but look them up in your manual, the sticker on the back / bottom side of your monitor (sometimes even inside on the case) or on the homepage of its manufacturer.

or do a search on google. i even found the specs of a >8yr old workstation monitor that was not even labeled by any manufacturer (only a model number). sorry, i don´t have the link to the monitor database anymore

also, SuSE comes with a tool that can read windows monitor driver disks. actually they only consist of a .inf-file that contains these values (and some more). look for it on their ftp server. i bet there is similar tools on freshmeat or sourceforge.

Using xfree86setup or xf86cfg is like windows, it sucks!

Back then I had an old 2m pci card that could have a higher refresh rate than win set the same resolution.

The manual thou shalt read.

Hey thanks jwalk76 and M.Hirsch for replies, but this is basicly what I've been doing - poking around with config app and file itself. Unfortunatelly nothing works. It's ok though, I'm going to get new boxen and set it up instead of this one. The main problem is that it says it working on 85 hertz, but it sure as hell aint.

>>Using xfree86setup or xf86cfg is like windows, it sucks!
What your point, riv? Have you ever tried coding from shell? And I just happen to need to work on that box (it's at work), so there isn't any way around it, unless I get 2 separate boxes. But then again, why bother. X works just fine for me, all I need is more powerfull gig.

What i'm saying is that with such tools (xf86c* or win) you just can't fine tune the refresh rate. On my old monitor, my screen would become scrambled at 60hz, under Linux I took the values from the manual and get it to work at 60. Not thanks to a wizard and certainly not with a drop down menu.

Yes i've tried for sure to code using bash and that was the last time as well, it's powerfull enough but not always appropriate.

A little tip, don't use ranges, assign static values for Hz and Vs.

where does it say "85 Hertz"?
Did you try "xvidtune"?

here is a link that tells the characteristics of your monitor. all pages i found are cyrillic and i cannot read this, but the numbers should be:
Samsung 700Mp, 17", 0.26 mask
Horz 30-85khz
Vert 50-160Hz
Max Res 1600x1200, 67Hz
recommended Res 1280x1024, 75Hz
Bandwidth 135MHz. (this limits at which Res. you can have which refresh, i once knew how to calculate that, but you need to read yourself in the HOWTO)
from this you should be able to make a modeline (this is how i fine-tune my screen).

does your monitor have OSD? does it also say 85Hz?

Maybe the Problem with your flickering Screen is something else like overheating of graphics card, a fan in the case or another machine near the pc that disturbs the signal, bad shielding, corrosion or dirt on the plug...

I found that page too (some shop, right?) - it's in russian and I can fluently read it, and that's where I got all settings from.
I haven't had a chance to look at readme or Monitors because somehow I managed to do min install without any docs and half of utils. And yeah, xvidtune says 85 hz. Someone at work told me to turn osd off because monitor is this old. I personally have no idea what's that, and I commented that line but it didn't help.

I also tried using 15" and another 17" (dont remember specs) and it was still flicking, so may be that's video. While searching the net for this, I found handfull of sites which calculate modeline for x. Not being fluent in monitor specs I didn't use them, probably I should. Today is saturday, so I can't try anything till monday, but thanks for suggestions.

oops, sorry, forgot to post the actual link

the OSD function should be part of your monitor hardware and not an X option. when you press the menu key on your monitor (if it has one), you can often look up the frequencies it is using at the moment for display there.

but if xvidtune says 85 Hertz, the signal generated is 85 Hertz. Maybe this is too much for your graphics card? What is it´s RAMDAC speed?

It's s3 trio 3d/2x with 230mhz ramdac. Now, I'll be honest - I don't know what the hell this means, so can't say if it's good or bad. Do you know if there is a special driver for this card? I'm using vesa, which, from what I gather, is equivalent to 'generic'.

Yep, it was the drivers. Changed it to s3virge and now everything works perfectly. Thanks for your help guys and especially Hirsch