Could't install Mint 4 on a Dell Inspiron 1100

[Maclone]

Hi guys.
I am the unlucky owner of one of the worst laptops ever seen. This Inspiron 1100 works great with windows but i could not install almost any linux distro. It uses the i845 chipset and what you get is a stuck video at 640x480... unless you install the correct driver. For windows is not a problem but for linux the 915resolution hack does not work always. I have been able to install PClinuxOS, Puppy and Dreamlinux at full 1024x768 from its live CD but that's it. I have tested with Ubuntu 7.04 as well as Cassandra and fixed the resolution problem with some configs i found in google...but Mint 4.0 as Ubuntu 7.10 is impossible, i just got a "video not recognized correctly and you should configure it manually" of course it does nothing after doing it and xorg is killed.
Is there a way to surround this problem?

[Husse]

Welcome to Mint Maclone
i845 is possible to use as you've noted.
As always I'm hampered by not having the same hardware to play with...
So
Can you use "Safe graphics mode" (i.e. vesa)?
That's always a start
Is that the exact message?
If it works with vesa run xvidtune in a terminal and klick cancel in the box that pops up. Then you have your monitors horizontal and vertical refresh rates in the terminal. Compare with xorg.conf it's often wrong, might help...

[Maclone]

yes, i have tested safe graphics too. My video is dected as an "xboxvideo" driver but is no different if i select "vesa" driver.
I know not many people knows about this intel video bug but there is some information at ubuntu forums and is possible to fix this in older versions. Actually i was able to fix it in Cassandra but not with Daryna because of the new ubuntu video configurator.
As i said before there are three distros with full resolution from its live CD (puppy, dreamlinux and PCLinux) so it is possible to fix this from its code base.