Screen troubles after move from 16.4 to 17.1.4

[Member roland]

I was running 16.4 on a desktop PC using a small flat screen TV with SVGA socket as a monitor which does not conform dimensionally to any of the options listed by the screen layout editor. Either the TV or 16.4 obligingly ‘stretched’ the longitudinal axis to fill the screen giving fatter faces but looking quite acceptable for mainly text-based usage and which I was pleased with, and the TV settings were not touched,

Then I upgraded to 17.1.4 realising I was falling too far behind the rolling releases and ran into a few minor problems, but the screen is now unusable being displaced a couple of inches to the left, leaving an empty space on the right and 2 important inches chopped off on the left, Odd bits of windows and other graphics appear here there and everywhere which can be erased with the cursor only to reappear elsewhere thick and fast. No alternative screen layouts tried results in an acceptable screen.

I do not have the inxi as it’s 60km away just now and out of reach but maybe some other member has a simple answer to what went wrong between 16 and 17, and perhaps a fix?

Sadly I decided to return to 16.4 rather than advance to 19 although that’s not done yet and I will reconsider what to do in the light of any help forthcoming.

The PC is about as bog-standard as can be, an ancient slow AMD on an MSI 64-bit mainboard with 2gb ram and a very small HD but which runs well on 16.4.

[Moderator christophe]

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Hi, roland.

Does your TV have a settings menu where you can adjust the video, where you can move the screen up/down/right/left a bit? (I say this, because I ran across that setting option on mine.)

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Member roland]

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It has such a menu if I can locate the remote controller. One reason the TV was released was the remote device was misplaced. But thanks I think manipulating the channel and volume buttons up the side may have an effect once the menu is selected. If I recall correctly when I set this PC up it was attached to an elderly glass monitor which I set to my liking, and the flat screen TV came later and seamlessly accepted these settings by stretching the display. Thanks for your response.

[Member Xecure]

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Maybe this topic could help if you want to try to add the screen resolution of your monitor to xrandr. If it doesn’t work or something goes wrong, reboot and everything should restore to befor your experiments with xrandr.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member seaken64]

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I would try playing with xrandr and adjust the refresh rate. Most TV’s don’t like going out of phase on the refresh rate. Stay around 59/60hz.

Try generating modelines and adding the modes through xrandr.

If you’re near me you can pick up a real flat screen computer monitor in 15″ or 17″. I got a few I don’t use. Actual computer monitors work a lot better than a TV, although I also use some TV’s. But TV’s are much harder to work with.

Seaken64

[Member roland]

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Thanks for that response Seaken64, I shall try that refresh rate adjustment on Friday when I return to Almeria city for the day. I live about as far from civilisation as possible in this part of Spain, in the tiny coastal village of Las Negras so taking advantage of your kind offer is impracticable.

[Member roland]

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Thanks all responders, problem solved by locating the remote control and entering the menu, I selected video – auto configure and it snapped into the correct place and the fix remained after a cold boot. Maybe I could also have done it from the Linux screen options but thanks anyway.

[Moderator christophe]

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Glad to hear it, roland.

One day maybe TV remote controls will come with GPS trackers, so we can find them easier! 🙂

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Member ModdIt]

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@ all Bluetooth tracker tags are cheap and good for remotes keys etc, remotes seem to have a hide from user,
matter transfer at random module included.

@ my ex the cat playing was the main culprit, really funny.

OT:
Roland, hope life at El Cabo is good this days, years ago I was there for a while each winter, often having to
move on to a tiny valley near Bolnuevo, Puerto da mazzaron where the Don, (land owner) of that time let Las Germanias,
the couple of german hobos in old camper vans stay on his land, we cleaned up the mess of rubbish we found every arrival and he
ensured the Guardia left us in peace. There was a beutiful old house and garden with a lot of Lemon trees there, his birthplace.
Nearby many anchient water canals built by Los Mauros. Arab. The locals let them rot. No understanding, the water was only magic
to them, sent by maria.
Sadly, after death of the Old Don came destruction and tomato growers.

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