Ah yes I don’t get a text output to type. It’s like
Try live before installing (which when selected shows boot options in text but I can’t modify the text)
Install Zorin (same thing)
Memtest
And on the bottom, f keys pop additional menus, one of which has nomodeset and noapic as some of the options. But can select only one of those with arrows and I guess it then adds it to boot options as text.
What happened when you tried noapic?
Trying it now and I’m wrong. I can select more than one option. The options are
acpi=off
noapic
nolapic
edd=on
nodmraid
nomodeset
Free software only
So I have selected nomodeset and acpi=off currently. Go with that or add anything else?
I would try just noapic, first.
If you can get it to work even nominally, installing then upgrading and updating the kernel, etc. may just do the trick on that release.
it MAY.
noapic or noapic + nomodeset give me same result, with graphical artefacts where i can see only tiny portion of the desktop, doubled or tripled. It’s nonworkable.
There was another menu that said modes and had as options
Normal
Use driver update disc
I’m guessing this is the option if you want to boot with graphics drivers. I do have a dvd drive in there, I could make one? Not sure what to put on there but technically it’s doable?
It is doable, I think but I lack the knowledge to help you there. We can help search the web… Or maybe AZorin knows some tricks.
Wow I literally can’t find anything. I’m seriously considering reinstalling vista just so I could then try and install zorinOS as dual boot in the hope it’ll use windows nvidia drivers during install though I don’t think that’s how that works. Is it?
No, it does not work that way.
Drat. It’s like all the tutorials for 12.4 vanished and nobody ever used that text menu. And yet 15.2 version clearly has new nvidia driver option included during install so this must have been a considerable issue at one time.
Zorin 12.4 is built off of Ubuntu 16.04. You may find a lot more material by searching for what card you have and drivers for it- for Ubuntu 16.04.
Edit: Zorin 15 is built off Ubuntu 18.04 and Zorin 16 will be based on Ubuntu 20.04.
I managed to install zorin os lite 12 and the less said about that install, the better.
I update and autoinstall drivers through terminal as I couldn’t really from gui at that point, reboot, and yes finally the 304 driver is there and selected under additional drivers menu. I go into display settings and still the highest resolution is 1024x768.
Now what?
In terminal, enter
xrandr -q
This will show the physical abilities of the monitor (Not info about the drivers or OS).
Find your output, like VGA-0 or DVI-1…
Then add the resolution you need using xrandr.
EXAMPLE:
xrandr --addmode VGA-1 1600x1200
Use your output and follow it with the resolution you are trying to add.
Once added, then check your display settings to change them.
Yes last night I was looking up the wonders of xrandr and trying things out but I wasn’t really getting anywhere, except I managed to somehow reduce the max resolution further. That was after fiddling with xorg.conf but I fixed that by reinstalling the drivers. Here’s the output I get after xrandr-q:
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768
default connected 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
1024x768 61.00*
800x600 61.00
640x480 60.00
I started to wonder about then, if the original resolution was much higher and it wasn’t. It was 1280x800 wxga (in windows) so widescreen but closest to the 768 part of 1024x768 and maybe the drivers just don’t support widescreen? But that is why it looks weirdly blurry and stretched out. Anyway, here’s after your second suggestion:
xrandr --addmode default connected 1280x800
xrandr: unrecognized option ‘1280x800’
Try ‘xrandr --help’ for more information.
assuming default connected is a proper option for type of display connection. Before you ask:
$ cvt 1280 800
1280x800 59.81 Hz (CVT 1.02MA) hsync: 49.70 kHz; pclk: 83.50 MHz
Modeline “1280x800_60.00” 83.50 1280 1352 1480 1680 800 803 809 831 -hsync +vsync
and if i then try to add it as a newmode:
xrandr --newmode “1280x800_60.00” 83.50 1280 1352 1480 1680 800 803 809 831 -hsync +vsync
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
And that’s about where I got lost in the forums about not getting gamma for output default. But at least this part explains why everything looks totally washed out.
Is this a notebook or a desktop with connected monitor?
It’s a laptop/notebook. hp pavilion dv6500
I realize you don’t really deal with nvidia and at this point, it’s a matter of pecking at the forums online to find useful stuff. I’ll keep trying to see if I can change things, but I don’t expect an easy solution. Point is, don’t spend a lot of time on this, you’ve helped far more than I expected.
This is an odd response, to me. I could be wrong, but it looks like the hardware is communicating with your drivers in the most simplistic way possible.
Let me go a bit deeper… The Computer / OS you are using communicates with certain hardware, rather than totally governing them.
If there is any language barrier, then that communication becomes less effective.
The hardware for many devices is built with Windows in mind. Windows is the Dominant OS, by far. And the older your machine, the less supportive those hardware companies have been toward Linux.
In the recent years gone by, this has improved. But pick up a notebook from around 2001 or 2004… and you will see hardware manufacturers not giving two cents of thought toward Linux, at all.
HP is known as one of those.
There are others who have been far more supportive of Linux even early on, too. Panasonic /Sony for example.
That result of “Default” and “0mm” concerns me.
The hardware should be communicating exacting specs- and since it is not, then the system must assume a value. A generic value. This would mean that it will never matter what Drivers You install- if the Hardware is speaking Greek, then no current drivers can effectively talk to it.
Windows OS can, as a non-Unix-like OS, as the hardware was built and programmed in order to be able to communicate with Windows.
Oh that explains it well. I assume I can’t just add the exact specs myself? I mean presumably I could look them up from within windows but I’m assuming this is not something that can be added by the user or things would be a lot easier hardware support wise for linux in general.
Before I forget, I suppose it also means there’s no way I can make a better gamma profile right? Make it look a little less washed out?
Ah well, it’s I suppose a blessing I can squeeze anything out of it at this point, so I guess a bit stretched out image will have to do for her in a pinch. Thanks so much for all your help to get me this far 
It would be direct communication between the Xserver, the Linux Kernel and the hardware that operates between the Monitor and the System- this occurs constantly. There is no way you can just “tell it” what specs to use and leave it at that.
If someone is GOOD with programming and drivers- a proper driver may be made. After-all, there is a driver that works for Windows- this leaves a need for something to act as a translator. But given the age of that machine and that it is unlikely some Avid Hewlett Packard Programmer is reading this thread all kinds of filled with sympathy…
Maybe? I do not really know…
I have a notebook for now… I will fix that as soon as I can… That I am using as a Desktop with an external Monitor plugged in. To fix the color profile, I just used the onboard settings on the monitor (An example of the monitor having its own processing and programming that must communicate with the Operating System…)
Figured it would be something like that. Yeah I don’t expect anyone to be actually bothering with hardware this old. This thread was more effort than I thought it deserves but I wanted to be able to say I really tried.
Yeah I think my monitor comes with its own profile too, so I know what you mean. Oh well, it helps to know it’s not something I can just get around by digging around more. I’ll leave it as is and explain. Thanks so much again for all your help. I enjoyed learning a bit about linux, however frustrating it seemed at times 
I suspect it gets easier with regular usage.
Which is why the thread got effort. Helping others helps me to learn more.
And i have been working at the computer a lot the last few days, anyway.