rEFInd won't work above to 1024x768 resolutions

Question

I am testing rEFInd to substitute the burg boot manager and I am not able to get resolutions over mode 0 (1024x768) and mode 1 (800x600) on this boot manager. My laptop is powered by intel graphics and Nvidia.

I like this boot manager but just get 1024x768 max. resolution on it. I have read all the manual and refind.conf and tested a lot of things with no success.

My native resolution in the OS is 1920x1080. rEFInd version is the last 0.10.

What am I losing?

Solution

rEFInd relies on the EFI (firmware) to set its graphics mode. It comes up in whatever the default mode is, and you can change that mode via the resolution option in refind.conf. If you try to set a resolution and rEFInd displays a notice at startup that the resolution is not available, then that's a limitation of your firmware, not of rEFInd.

In some cases, adjusting firmware settings may alter the resolutions available. For instance, I've seen computers that provide different resolution options depending on whether BIOS/CSM/legacy support is enabled or disabled. Thus, you may be able to improve matters by adjusting such settings. In many cases, use of a plug-in video card will alter the available settings, too.

Comments

[JJ_1]

Thanks Rob. My EFI resolution is just 1024. Great program anyway ;)

[JJ_1]

Hi again. The solution was changing to GPT partition and using SO in pure EFI mode for high resolutions available. Thanks