SUSE SLES10 SP2, 15" Dell LCD, Proliant DL380 G3

This has been driving me nuts for years. I have one of these very loud beasts (Proliant DL380 G3) but it never worked right with the lcd monitor. Run of the mill 15" Dell LCD 1500FP from about 10 years ago. Searched everywhere, found some informative tidbits, including a configurator and also helpful specs from DELL.

The revelation was throughout the SLES10 SP2 installation process the video looked perfect only when the installation finished did the monitor freak out and say Out of Sync.

So I wasted 6+ hours reading /etc/X11/xorg.conf, messing with SaX2 and reading the log. Instead what worked for me was:

1. Gather as much information as you from the specs page especially the Horizontal Sync in kHz, the Vertical Sync in Hz and the Pixel/Dot Clock Frequency MHz. For the 1500FP it was hsync 48.3 vsync 60 and px clock 65.
2. Enter 48.3, 60, 65 into the configurator and it will generate the correct modeline
3. Before you finish the SLES10 install, test the graphics hardware configuration. Don't let SaX confuse you change the monitor to VESA, 1028 x 768 @ 60 Hz and it shows up correctly.

Ahhh now to update some Smart Array firmware.


PS: Wait! Where do you use the modeline you ask? Well one of these days you'll accidentally click on SaX2 and if your settings get blown away you can try using your generate modeline!