Ubuntu Edgy Video Resolution Issue.

[Jayce]

Having a small issue. I got a new monitor, 22 inch widescreen. Native resolution is 1680x1050. I can't set that resolution though. For some reason the best I can get is 1024x768, which is weird. It's weird because I USED to be able to get 1280x1024, but when I went to windows and set my resolution to 1680x1050, then went back to linux, it limited me to 1024x768. Sooo no idea what's going on.

In short, I'm trying to figure out how using Ubuntu Edgy 6.10 that I can achieve my native resolution of my new monitor which is 1680x1050. What can I do?

I'm using a 22 inch 5ms ViewSonic VX2235vm LCD flat panel with a Nvidia GeForce 6600 256mb graphics card hooked up via DVI cable.

 

[Raekwon]

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edgy#How_to_install_Graphics_Driver_.28NVIDIA.29

work through that guide, (note: you need to add extra repositories, as mentioned under 'read #How to add extra repositories' for the guide) if you haven't already, and if it doesn't fix your problems you'll need to edit some lines in /etc/X11/xorg.

if after you install the nvidia drivers and it still won't let you get your 1680x1050, find the horizonal and vertical refresh rate range of your monitor (yes, you need both), and any other resolutions you might want to use.

then backup xorg.conf:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup

and edit the one that is in use:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

and then you'll need to find the "Monitor" section (should look something like this, with different, or no values):

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Generic Monitor"
	Option		"DPMS"
	HorizSync	28-51
	VertRefresh	43-60
EndSection

and put in your own horizontal (HorizSync) and vertical (VertRefresh) refresh rates. this is very important, make sure the values you put in there are right. It isn't a real problem if they're wrong, just an extra hassle to restore the backup xorg.conf file.

now, once that is done, scroll down further in the file where there are resolutions listed, add the resolutions you want in there, just like the others are, your line would look somewhat like this once you're done, I imagine:

SubSection "Display"
		Depth		1
		Modes		"1680x1050" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
	EndSubSection

oh and, just in case the refresh rate values you put in xorg.conf were wrong, to fix it all back how it was (you'll be reduced to just a console, don't worry, its simple) the idea is to restore the backup file you made at the beginning, to do that, simple copy it over the one that you edited, by doing this:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf

and then restart your computer:

sudo shutdown -r now

simple
if you've got problems, or its unclear what to do, I'll try to explain it better. just fyi, http://ubuntuforums.org and the rest of http://ubuntuguide.org are invaluable resources especially if you're just starting out in ubuntu.

 

[Jayce]

Aight man, thanks for the help, but this is driving me nuts. The guide got me no where, surprisingly. It just says I already have the graphics driver installed and no other steps yield any better responses.

I decided to skip down and check out the xorg.conf file to see if my resolutions were listed. Tell me what you think.







# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder3) Fri Dec 15 10:12:14 PST 2006

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen" 0 0
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# path to defoma fonts
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
Option "XkbOptions" "lv3:ralt_switch"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Identifier "stylus"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Identifier "eraser"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Identifier "cursor"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
HorizSync 28.0 - 84.0
VertRefresh 43.0 - 60.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "ViewSonic Video Card"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ViewSonic Video Card"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1680x1050" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1680x1050" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1680x1050" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1680x1050" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1680x1050" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1680x1050" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection




Also, in synaptic I searched for nvidia. Does nvidia-settings and nvidia-xconfig have to be installed? Because... they're uh... they're not.

HELP! I'm sick of my cursor being an inch and a half long.

 

[Jayce]

Uh. I fixed it. I don't know how, but I did. I asked my buddy and he was telling me everything to do, and I'm like what, I did that, wtf? So I rebooted, and bam. 1680x1050 and all of these others above 1024x768 were available. This didn't make sense to me because I did restart a few times last night to go to Windows, and it didn't help. Tonight I didn't think I did anything to fix it, so I didn't expect any changes. But somehow I fixed it, and I don't know how.


So, okay. This bugs me. I want to learn how to fix things like this on my own. What did I do? What COULD I have done to fix this problem?

PROBLEM: The problem was I got a 22 inch widescreen monitor, and all of the sudden all of my available resolutions dropped to 1024x768, 800x600, 640x480. That's all I had. Somehow I fixed it, and now I have a TON of options, including the native resolution of this monitor which is 1680x1050. What COULD I have done to fix this? I want to learn what I did wrong.

 

[Raekwon]

hm. I honestly don't have a good answer for that, maybe I missed a point or something when i was writing it out. well congratulations, you've passed the biggest and most frustrating hurdle, in my opinion anyway. the rest will be pretty easy from here on in.

from the xorg.conf file you posted, it looks like your refresh ranges are all out, no way a 22" monitor would be that low, thats like 15" CRT -- not helpful for you at all.

maybe your friend knows a simpler way to fix it all, kudos to him if he does
strangely enough, after all the guides I read, trying to fix my resolution the first time, I used a mix of 2 different guides I think though I couldn't say exactly where they were, it was somewhere on ubuntuforums.

sorry I can't really shed any light onto this for you, but you should ask your friend to write down exactly what he told you to do, maybe that would give you the answers you're looking for if you compare it with what I wrote.

Edit:

oh and, about learning to fix things on your own, you'll get used to referring to howto guides and tutorials, fixing things entirely on your own is pretty difficult. linux is a very steep learning curve, which is probably the reason why so many people aren't willing to give it a go.

but Hang in there! once you get passed the stage of "damnit. how do I do this!" you'll love it. I would use ubuntu more, but I play games as well, so i need windows really. I should have a crack at getting wine going though... heh I see my next project looming...

 

[Jayce]

All right. Bit of confusion here.

I talked to my cousin who's a big Linux guy, and he recommended heavily that I install nvidia-xconfig. Doing this uninstalled nvidia-glx. I don't know why, but it did and I went through with it. What is this? What changes did I make?

And let me just ask a general question for the sake of helping me figure out what I did to fix my problem.

You buy a new monitor. Linux doesn't have it's native resolution as an option. So, what do you do to obtain that resolution as a choosable option in the list? Tell me!

 

[Raekwon]

well the resolution changer thing reads the information about any resolution from xorg.conf (remember the section with resolutions listed there?) I think, using the refresh rate ranges to get the best picture for any given resolution.

 

[Jayce]

So what should I do now? Should I go back through that again and change the refresh rate? What should they be for this monitor? I didn't see anything that stood out to me as far as settings go, besides the native resolution. Any idea?

 

[Greg]

In the new 'nvidia-settings' it gives you the option to change the resolution. I've never tried this before, but in the drop-down list it gives me the option to go from 320x240 all the way up to 1600x1024.

Run 'nvidia-settings' from the terminal and look under 'X Server Display Configuration.'

I assume you already have a backup of your original xorg.conf. If not, make one before you do anything else.

 

[Jayce]

I think I made a backup, but if I did it was from a command I copied and pasted from a guide. Where would it be if I did indeed make a backup?

Also, I didn't have nvidia-settings installed, so I installed it via synaptic. Then I ran the nvidia-settings command at terminal and it showed up. But I saw NOTHING about resolution change in any of the menus, and X Server Display Configuration was not seen. Where might it be? Also, using this, can I "activate" other resolutions that weren't already available? Kind of like the problem I was having, I was trying to get to 1680x1050 yet it wasn't in the list. Can this solve that problem?