# Monitor freezing when using startx - Asus VG278HE



## cchamberlain (Apr 6, 2013)

I searched around the forum and found somewhat similar threads but nothing specific to my setup. Apologies if I've misformatted anything here.

I've installed xorg, xorg-server, and xmonad via their ports. I've also installed the prerequisites called out in the X.Org "Before Posting" sticky.

I'm running an e3-1245 Xeon processor and have an AMD (ATI) Radeon HD 6770 graphics card, with my 27" Asus VG278HE (144Hz) monitor hooked up to the graphics card via the DVI-D connection.

Here is the output from my Xorg.0.log - http://pastebin.com/sNeQaj54

Here is my /etc/X11/xorg.conf - http://pastebin.com/9ADg67bb

I believe there is something off in my auto generated monitor section -


```
Section "Monitor"
        #DisplaySize      600   340     # mm
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "ACI"
        ModelName    "ASUS VG278HE"
        HorizSync    24.0 - 162.0
        VertRefresh  50.0 - 148.0
        Option      "DPMS"
EndSection
```

I'm not sure what the HorizSync / VertRefresh items should be set to for my monitor.  I can't seem to find these values on the monitor specification site (VG278HE), I suspect the VertRefresh will be 144, but not sure if a range is required (perhaps 144 Hz isn't supported by my current set of FreeBSD drivers).

I would appreciate any assistance you can provide!  Please let me know if I can post any other diagnostic information to get a solution.


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## cchamberlain (Apr 6, 2013)

Should have mentioned this in the first post but the actual symptoms are:

Type [CMD=]startx[/CMD]
Monitor goes black
The power light is still blue, indicating the monitor is turned on, repeatedly hitting / holding the monitor power button doesn't do anything (normally would turn orange when it goes to off state).  I have to physically unplug the monitor and plug it back in to get it to turn back on so it feels very much like a refresh rate issue.


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## wblock@ (Apr 7, 2013)

xorg on FreeBSD does not yet have support for cards newer than the Radeon 5000 series, and those aren't fully supported.  The vesa driver will work on that card, but only at relatively low VESA resolutions (1280x1024).

It is best to not specify either horizontal or vertical rates, but let xorg detect them from the monitor's EDID data.  The refresh rate used may also be limited by the vesa driver.

Followup: the radeon driver is actually at least somewhat successful recognizing that monitor.  But it's still the most likely problem.


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## cchamberlain (Apr 7, 2013)

Thank you for the reply, that sounds like it might be the cause. I removed the horizontal sync and vertical refresh lines from the configuration.  Something interesting I found out is if I type `startx`, and the monitor goes into its frozen state, if I unplug it, and after about five seconds plug it back in, it comes up to what I'm guessing is vanilla X (black background, a few xterm sessions open).

Per this threads suggestion, I've added 
	
	



```
exec xmonad
```
 to the end of my xinitrc, which doesn't appear to have done anything.  I have an older 27" Samsung monitor I switched over to and this one doesn't have the freezing issue.  If I type [cmd=]xinit xmonad[/cmd], it is almost loading up Xmonad - it loads X with what appears to be a single xterm session going on (takes up the full screen).  If I alt+shift+enter to open a new window, I can see the window open for a split second, then it shuts down the second window immediately.  The one window that stays open only shows a block cursor and I can type in text but it might as well be Notepad since it doesn't seem to be executing anything.  If I alt+shift+c on the window (to close it) it goes back to tty and says 
	
	



```
Unblank CRTC 0 success
xinit: connection to X server lost
```

It also shows a bunch of disable and blank success messages that look like it*'*s shutting down X.

I know this is getting a little off-topic, but if you have any more ideas that might point me in the right direction, that would be very helpful!  Not sure if you think this is still video card related since X appears to be working fine with this other monitor.


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## wblock@ (Apr 7, 2013)

The correct filename has a leading dot: .xinitrc

It sounds like it is successfully starting twm(1).  Probably you can just use

```
exec xmonad
```


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## cchamberlain (Apr 7, 2013)

Pro skills you have sir.  It is now all working.  I was making the mistake of thinking the example "xinitrc" in lib area was the actual configuration file.  Thanks for getting me back on track!

Please mark this as solved (don't think I have rights to do this yet unless I missed something).


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