Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop

Some Common Troubleshooting

In this section we list a few common problems and how you can handle them. Sun’s customer service is available to JDS users to get them started.

Monitor Out of Range

Monitor Video Out of Range problems occur primarily with LCD Monitors. A monitor able to handle a 1280 1024 at 75 Hz will fail because it will be preset to an 85 Hz refresh rate/vertical frequency that that the monitor cannot manage. Similarly, a 15-inch monitor able to handle 1024 768 at 70 Hz will fail because the preset resolution is 1280 1024 at 75 Hz.

To prevent these problems, during installation, select 1024 768 or 800 600 temporarily, depending on the capacity of your monitor, by pressing F2. You will then see a menu of different resolutions to use. Use your arrow keys on your keyboard to select the resolution you want.

After the software packages are installed, the automatic (SaX2) hardware configuration will set your monitor to VESA 1280 1024 at 75 or 85 Hz, depending on whether the monitor is 19, 17, or 15 inches. You will want to change resolution at this stage, or the monitor will run out of range when rebooting to the graphical login screen.

On reboot, if the monitor encounters the out-of-range problem, it shows a black screen. But you can solve this without a cumbersome re-installation.

After rebooting Linux, at the point when the display goes black and gray just before the graphical login screen is supposed to start up, select Alt-F1 from the keyboard, followed by the Enter key. ...