Video cards

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Contents

Troubleshooting

  • Using a PCI or ISA video card, your screen display nothing. First of all, if you have an onboard card, disable it in the bios.

You passed an undefined mode number

To avoid the appearance of this message and waiting 3s, use the generator and try selecting a different video resolution and/or colour depth. Note that for TV output, the supported modes are very often a lot more limited than those for the VGA output. Your h/w documentation may provide information as to which modes are supported for your card, or otherwise try reducing the resolution and colour depth until you find a mode that works.

ATI Rage(m64) screen black after mplayer start

try modify etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf from 

vo=cvidix,vesa

to 

vo=vesa

NVIDIA: screen sometimes suddenly turns black while watching a movie (sound continues)

try to turn off "PM Control by APM" in the BIOS.

NVIDIA: Enabling vidix on i386 platforms

Vidix is feature that provides accelerated video playback, color conversion and scaling specifically. It can provide a great boost in video performance, reducing dropped video frames, without any loss in video quality.

Unfortunately vidix support for Nvidias is experimental at the moment. However, I have found that certain cards do work just fine, albeit with some work. In the following paragraphs, some methods will be described that may allow you to enable vidix and check whether it works on your platform. You'll need to download:

Get the generator, then extract it somewhere. You are now ready to check if vidix plays properly on your platform.

The Simple Way

Go to the directory iso/GEEXBOX/etc/mplayer and then delete the file no_nvidia_vidix. Use the generator to produce a new iso image, burn it to a cd and boot with it in debug mode. Execute the following commands: 

sed 's/format=yuy2//g' /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf > ~/temp
mv ~/temp /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf
exit

Then check if everything seems fine (ie you can see the initial video menu, you can play videos and they are not distorted in some manner). If you do obtain an image and everything plays normally you're set, vidix is operating properly on your platform, but you do have to follow the step in Making the change persist as described below. If not, read onwards to The Alternative Way.

Making the change persist

Open file iso/GEEXBOX/etc/init.d/74-mp_video with an editor that understands unix-format text files. Then change the following lines of code: 

   # except if we want to try nvidia vidix
   if [ "$i" = '0300: 10de:' -a ! -f /etc/mplayer/no_nvidia_vidix ]; then
     mp_set_option vf "format=yuy2" concat
   # nvidia card on powerpc
   elif [ "$i" = '0300: 10de:' -a "`cat /etc/arch`" = ppc ]; then

to 

   # except if we want to try nvidia vidix
   #if [ "$i" = '0300: 10de:' -a ! -f /etc/mplayer/no_nvidia_vidix ]; then
   #  mp_set_option vf "format=yuy2" concat
   # nvidia card on powerpc
   if [ "$i" = '0300: 10de:' -a "`cat /etc/arch`" = ppc ]; then

Save the file, make a new iso with the generator and you're set :)

The Alternative Way

If the paragraph's title scares you, don't! It's not that difficult actually. Assuming that you have deleted the no_nvidia_vidix file, as described in the previous paragraph, use an editor that understands unix-format text files to edit file iso/GEEXBOX/etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf. Change the line that reads: 

vo=cvidix,vesa

...to: 

vo=vesa:vidix

Save the file, create a new ISO image and boot with it in debug mode. Execute the following commands: 

sed 's/format=yuy2//g' /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf > ~/temp
mv ~/temp /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf
exit

Then check if everything seems fine (ie you can see the initial video menu, you can play videos and they are not distorted in some manner). If you're ok, follow the instructions in Making the change persist. If you still have problems, then unfortunately you can't do anything else...

A 'working' nvidia card list and how to help

Did you have success with the previous paragraphs to enable vidix? Or didn't you? In any case, your help will be appreciated: there is this thread that contains information for certain nvidia cards which work (or don't work) correctly with vidix. Help us update it; it will be a useful resource for the next user who would like to know whether vidix works or not...

What to report in this thread? Easy! By now you must have already tried both approaches listed above, so you know what works and what doesn't. Two more things are needed:

  • The model of your nvidia graphics card and
  • Its PCI id. This can obtained by pressing F1 during boot, selecting debug and then entering the following command in the # prompt that will eventually appear: 
grep '0300: 10de:' /tmp/pci

Write down the output of this command. Then make a post in the thread with the following info:

  • your card model
  • the output of the previous command
  • whether vidix worked, following the instructions in The Simple Way
  • whether vidix worked, following the instructions in The Alternative Way

Even if nothing of the above helped, your information will be appreciated.

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