February 26, 20224 yr Hi, I have an older original Limetech MD-1510/LI tower (VGA - IGP - output only) - and I recently upgraded my monitor but it doesn't have a VGA input. I don't normally use the VGA output of my tower, BUT on the rare occasion where console debugging is required, I like to have that facility available. I recently got a VGA to HDMI adapter/converter (has VGA input + powered via micro-USB, with HDMI output) in the hopes of being able to hook up an HDMI cable to my tower as needed. Unfortunately, I ONLY see the POST screen/text before the output goes blank. I know there IS VGA output there because I dragged an old monitor out of the basement and hooked it up and see the text login prompt. I also know the VGA adapter is working OK otherwise as I hooked it up to an old laptop with VGA output and it seems to be showing a Windows 7 login screen just fine. Can it be that the "normal" VGA output (after POST) from the MD-1510/LI is some kind of unsupported VGA mode that the adapter doesn't recognize/play-nicely-with? Is there any way to debug this or somehow adjust the VGA mode that the MD-1510/LI is using? NOTE - as an experiment, I tried booting the tower into the GUI mode instead of the regular console mode - the VGA adapter is working OK in that mode too... Any advice welcome, thanks.
February 26, 20224 yr Author Solution I found that I can add/change the vga=<x> in the syslinux.cfg (following this info https://wiki.unraid.net/Boot_Codes) I got a table of values by booting and hooking up my old VGA monitor and setting vga=ask By experiment, vga=6 (VGA 80x60 TEXT) mode seems to work, whereas vga=extended (VGA 80x50 TEXT) mode and vga=normal (VGA 80x25 TEXT) mode does not... Also found that vga=0x318 (VESA 1024x768x32) also seems to work. Gave up playing for now. It's all quite confusing - not quite sure why some modes work with the VGA-HDMI adapter and some just don't. Edited February 26, 20224 yr by magic144 added ref url
February 5, 20233 yr hey @magic144 did you happen to figure out the issue? I got the exact problem wit my unraid server, any other device I tested works fine with the adapter.
February 5, 20233 yr Author yeah, it's what I said above... I guess my MD1510/LI unRAID server (or at least its graphics output) uses a VGA mode by default that doesn't play nicely with the cheap VGA-HDMI adapter I have (apparently not all adapters are created equal, and they don't work with all possible VGA modes) so the solution was to add/change (e.g.) "vga=6" (and ONLY add that) to the syslinux configuration (kernel boot options) I don't have it in front of me right now, but it is editable within the web GUI i.e.: https://wiki.unraid.net/Articles/Getting_Started#Boot_Mode_Selector_.28Syslinux.29:~:text=clicking on the flash drive on the Main tab within the Management interface and using the Syslinux Configuration section on the resulting dialog. ---- to find ALL the available modes (and what the numbers represent) and debug further, you really need to hookup a REAL VGA-input-capable monitor so you can play around with it (set "vga=ask" and get a list of all the supported modes), then it's trial and error back with your HDMI monitor gory details here: https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/svga.txt but hopefully "vga=6" will just work for you Edited February 6, 20233 yr by magic144 clarification
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.