Not exactly sure how or what happened...but did manage to "fix" my tksurfer display problem. Since others on the list had reported similar problems, I thought I'd post what I did to "fix" the problem. Since I'm not a Linux guru, my "fix" is probably just a "bandaid"...but it did work...and hopefully the info provides some assistance to others.
Just to note the following particulars of my system: RHEL5 (DELL Precision 690n box went live April 16, 2008) Linux_x86_64 architecture
2 kernels: drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4096 May 9 13:50 2.6.18-53.1.19.el5-x86_64 drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4096 May 27 15:02 2.6.18-92.el5-x86_64
NVIDIA Quadro Fx 3450/4000 SDI Driver Version 1.0-9746
"Friendly" software also installed on the same box=fslv404 MATLAB r2008a is also installed (currently running -lgi on bert...I'll update on the outcome of this "friendliness" test)
As of yesterday, had several possible scenarios outlined: 1) rpm -e dell-nvidia-rhel5-169.12-1dkms.x86_64.rpm rpm -ivh dell-nvidia-9746-7dkms.x86_64.rpm --> should return to a well-behaved (albeit "older") nvidia driver...same as "out of the box"
2) restore original "out of the box" settings for entire system via /usr/var/dell/reinstall.sh --> should return ALL system settings to original "out of the box"...good for freesurfer and fsl apps but not so good for matlab...
3) boot into older kernel (I apparently have a total of 2 listed in /usr/src/kernels) [root@localhost kernels]# ls -l total 16 drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4096 May 9 13:50 2.6.18-53.1.19.el5-x86_64 drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4096 May 27 15:02 2.6.18-92.el5-x86_64
I attempted (1) first. However, the driver was not well-behaved for bert (tkmedit or tksurfer). I attempted (3) second. However, no change in behavior. While tarballing to prepare for (3)...since everything worked perfectly fine right out of the box -- before Matlab and before any package updates...I found my *original* /etc/X11/xorg.conf file (from April 16) and cp it into /etc/X11/xorg.conf & rebooted.
RESULTS: Was *very* happy to see tksurfer & tkmedit behave properly for bert. Proper behavior for tksurfer & tkmedit was observed in both kernels (after the xorg.conf file replacement). Still waiting to see if matlab behaves for bert's -lgi.
I diff'd the "original" xorg.conf with the "broken" one and the following lines were returned:
Hope this helps others find their "bandaid" solution to get them up and running again. Cheers, Jenifer
[root@localhost X11]# diff xorg.conf.backup.OLD xorg.conf.backup 1,4c1,2 < < # nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig < # nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder26) Fri Dec 15 10:40:27 PST 2006 < # Xorg configuration created by system-config-display ---
# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings # nvidia-settings: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder26) Fri Dec 15 10:40:57 PST 2006
7,10c5,8 < Identifier "Default Layout" < Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 < InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" < InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" ---
Identifier "Layout0" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
13a12,13
RgbPath "/usr/lib64/X11/rgb" FontPath "unix/:7100"
17c17,21 < Load "glx" ---
Load "dbe" Load "extmod" Load "type1" Load "freetype" Load "glx"
21c25 < Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "yes" ---
Option "Xinerama" "0"
25d28 < 27,32c30,35 < Identifier "Mouse0" < Driver "mouse" < Option "Protocol" "auto" < Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" < Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no" < Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" ---
Identifier "Mouse0" Driver "mouse" Option "Protocol" "auto" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
36,39c39,43 < Identifier "Keyboard0" < Driver "kbd" < Option "XkbModel" "pc105" < Option "XkbLayout" "us" ---
# generated from data in "/etc/sysconfig/keyboard" Identifier "Keyboard0" Driver "kbd" Option "XkbLayout" "us" Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
43,49c47,53 < Identifier "Monitor0" < VendorName "Unknown" < ModelName "Unknown" < ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC: < HorizSync 30.0 - 110.0 < VertRefresh 50.0 - 150.0 < Option "DPMS" ---
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid Identifier "Monitor0" VendorName "Unknown" ModelName "DELL 2007WFP" HorizSync 30.0 - 83.0 VertRefresh 56.0 - 76.0 Option "DPMS"
53,55c57,60 < Identifier "Videocard0" < Driver "nvidia" < BoardName "NVIDIA PCI-Express Quadro FX 3450" ---
Identifier "Videocard0" Driver "nvidia" VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation" BoardName "Quadro FX 3450/4000 SDI"
59,71c64,72 < Identifier "Screen0" < Device "Videocard0" < Monitor "Monitor0" < DefaultDepth 16 < SubSection "Display" < Viewport 0 0 < Depth 24 < EndSubSection < SubSection "Display" < Viewport 0 0 < Depth 16 < Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" < EndSubSection ---
Identifier "Screen0" Device "Videocard0" Monitor "Monitor0" DefaultDepth 16 Option "metamodes" "1024x768 +0+0; 1600x1024 +0+0; 800x600 +0+0; 640x480 +0+0; 1280x1024 +0+0" SubSection "Display" Depth 16 Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection
[root@localhost X11]#