[AmirG]

My first post here... so be gentle . Also I'm almost a complete newbie in both Linux and the HTPC business and English's not my native language, so please speak slowly and use small words - I'll need detailed explanation for everything.

I'm having some problems with my HTPC running Ubuntu 9.04 updated as of today and XBMC 9.04 on an Nvidia 8300 based motherboard. The biggest of them all (and rather recent) is that on random occasions, i lose all audio and video. All the while whatever I'm watching keeps playing - sometimes the picture and sound returns after a few seconds and it's easy to tell it kept running. Other times it wont return and my Philips LCD would complain of an "Unsupported Video Format".

Googling a bit, I discovered it's a known issue with Philips TVs and Nvidia's graphic cards, apparently there's some problem with the EDID between the two. More details here:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=71391&st=0

There's also a solution: forgo the EDID and set the resolution manually. But the instructions are for Windows... But hey, haven't I saw a thread on just that issue a few days ago on the XBMC board?

I tried following the instructions here, but most modes did not show "Mode is valid" anywhere in the log file. I get thing like:

Code:

(WW) NVIDIA(0):     Mode is rejected: Modes from the Philips FTV (DFP-0)'s
(WW) NVIDIA(0):     EDID are not allowed.

or

Code:

(WW) NVIDIA(0): The EDID for Philips FTV (DFP-0) contradicts itself: mode
(WW) NVIDIA(0):     "1920x1080" is specified in the EDID; however, the EDID's
(WW) NVIDIA(0):     valid VertRefresh range (48.000-62.000 Hz) would exclude
(WW) NVIDIA(0):     this mode's VertRefresh (24.0 Hz); ignoring VertRefresh
(WW) NVIDIA(0):     check for mode "1920x1080".
(WW) NVIDIA(0):     Mode is rejected: Modes from the Philips FTV (DFP-0)'s
(WW) NVIDIA(0):     EDID are not allowed.

or even

Code:

(II) NVIDIA(0):     Mode (1920 x 1080) is too large for DFP Native Resolution
(II) NVIDIA(0):         (Max: 640 x 480); mode will not be allowed to scale to
(II) NVIDIA(0):         the DFP's native resolution.
(WW) NVIDIA(0):     Mode is rejected: Modes from the Philips FTV (DFP-0)'s
(WW) NVIDIA(0):     EDID are not allowed.

And these are all modes that are supposed to be valid according to the TV's manual, in fact I'm using one of them right now! I got no 720p mode as valid, for example, and that's how I use XBMC most of the time.

Ant clues on how I should proceed?

Thanks.