Reset XWindows Color Depth

Submitted by doughonea on Fri, 2005-12-30 18:54.

I am very new to Ubuntu. I have a little experience with other Linux flavors, but still very much a beginner.

I am running Ubuntu in a Microsoft Virtual PC. Whenever I have tried to run any other Linux distributions in Virtual PC, I had problems if the XWindows color depth is set higher than 16-bit (corrupted displays).

When I installed Ubuntu, it asked me to set allowed screen resolutons, but not color depth, and consequently, when it now boots, the screen comes up corrupted (actually, the window expands out like it was going to go to 800 X 600 but it is totally black).

I can boot to a command prompt, so if somebody would please tell me how to reconfigure the color depth, I should be able to get it going.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!
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( categories: Troubleshooting )
changing color depth
Submitted by MikeTT on Mon, 2006-01-02 20:10.

I had the same problem using Hoary 5.04. Here is how I solved it (should work with 5.10 the same way):

1. boot the recovery mode and log into another virtual session as root
2. type: cd /etc/X11
3. type: pico xorg.conf (to edit xorg.conf)
4. Now, scroll down in pico to Section "Screen" and find the entry
named "DefaultDepth". Change the setting you find there from 24 to 16.
5. Ctrl O
6. Enter
7. Ctrl X
8. Switch back to your X console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+7
9. press Ctrl+Alt+Bksp to restart X.

The new settings should work just fine without a real reboot.

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changing color depth
Submitted by doughonea on Wed, 2006-01-04 15:32.

Worked PERFECTLY! Thank you!

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XWindow Color Depth
Submitted by techgeek on Mon, 2008-04-28 21:11.

What do you mean when you say log into another virtual session as root?

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