Hi again everyone,
Well ive solved some of my early problems THANKS TO ALL OF YOU.Now however got another couple. #1.How do you change screen resolution? Ive tried all the normal things i think. Been reading about and /etc/file. I messed with that and really screwed it up. It crashed! Had to reinstall pgm to get anyting back. Is there an easy way to do this? Im an EXTREMELY newbie. And im 68 yrs old. So think tank has slowed down some....lol #2 Mandrake wont shut down. Goes thru all the check lists and says ok. But when it gets to last on Power Down etd...It just hangs there. I sure do appreciate all your advise and help. It is fun, but kinda fustrating for an old geezer sometimes....
Ernie

In Mandrake, to change the screen resolution,go to the Mandrake Control Center by clicking;

start-->system-->configure-->configure your computer-->

You will be prompted for your root password. Type it in and hit "OK"

Click on the hardware menu on the left...then "screen resolution.

You can also get there by clicking the icon on the panel on the bottom. Run your mouse pointer over the icon monitor with the wrench next to it. you will see "configure your computer" pop up. So you can click on this to get to the control panel as well.

Just be a little careful and make sure that your monitor and video card can support what resolution and bits that you want to choose.

It sounds like Mandrake is shutting down properly, but just not powering off the computer, correct? This is a function of Mandrake interfacing with the computer's bios correctly. Depending on your system and what you enabled (or disabled) for power management during the installation (and the bootloader) this can happen. You can just push the power button to turn off the system completely, or try to make a change or two to the bootloader to enable or disable power management.

What computer system do you have (model and make)?

Hello,
Thanks Danleff, i got the resolution thing figured out. Thanks a bunch for that. As to the power thing. Your exactly right, its shutting down but not powering off. I went to configure your computer and got to boot section. I couldnt find anyting to do with powering off etc. How do i get to place i need to be to adjust it to power off?
Thanks in advance

Ernie

Hi, I could NEVER get mandrake to power down my PC. I suspect it's not compatible with the bios. I now use SuSe 9.2 which powers down fine. Just for the record I have tried the following and got these power down results.

Mandrake 9.2 will not power down.
Lindows 4.5 powered down fine.
Mandrake 10 and 10.1 will not powerdown.
Knoppix 3.3 will not power down.
Knoppix 3.6 powers down OK

Mandrake was fine EXCEPT for the power down problem but it is a pain.

My own advice after 12 months of Linux is to try a few LIVE distros untill you find one that suits your system and your needs to the greatest effect. After all the applications we use on these various systems are all the same anyway.

Regards, Pete

emccornack, what make/model system or motherboard do you have?

The power down feature is a function of the bios and the distros inclusion of APM or ACPI features in the core kernel. There is a setting to enable or diable acpi on boot, which may solve the issue, but the function depends on the above mentioned features and whether you need to enable or disable the feature at boot time.

Well thanks again to all of you!!
Got it all together i think. As regards the powerdown problem. I do have the enable apic;force apic,no force local apic etc etc. ONe of them is X'd on no apic... Could that be the problem. Kinda scared of it cause in the help feature it says i shouldnt mess with it and could possible not be able to reboot the system. If you think it could be ok i will try to unchedk it. Which then brings up another question. How do i make a boot disk in case i do screw sometning up bad? I got the 3-cd box distro. I assume might be rescue disk or someting in there, but would have no idea where to find it, what its called, or how to use it.....Again appreicate help.
Thanks to all of you.
Ernie