Story:
I have a HP dv7 1020us with a Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT. My internal monitor is broken, so essentially I cant' use it, as I can hardly see anything through it.
Recently, I upgraded to Ubuntu 12.10 (manually, using synaptic to upgrade packages bit by bit), and after getting most of the system upgraded, I decided to go for the new kernel, X, and nvidia-drivers.
Unfortunately, it seems that something, whether xrandr, or the nvidia driver, is reading my external monitor incorrectly. Nvidia settings is not allowing me to clone the screen as it did before (I have it set to clone, but it acts as if I have two separate screens).
Lightdm only shows on the internal screen, which is not useful because although I can login, I can't actually see what I'm gdoing.
Xorg.conf
# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 304.37 (buildd@batsu) Tue Aug 28 15:15:30 UTC 2012
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 304.43 (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-13) Sun Aug 19 21:19:28 PDT 2012
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection
Section "Files"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "LPL"
HorizSync 30.0 - 75.0
VertRefresh 59.9
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 9600M GT"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
# Removed Option "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
# Removed Option "metamodes" "DFP: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, CRT: 1440x900 +0+0"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "Stereo" "0"
Option "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
Option "metamodes" "DFP: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, CRT: 1440x900 +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Nvidia-settings:
Unity:
With cloning on, this is what I get:
This is likely a bug in Unity, but as I can't switch sessions on login, I can't be sure :)! (woo hoo!)
Xrandr output:
xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA-0 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 320mm x 240mm
1024x768 85.0 + 75.0
1280x1024 60.0*
800x600 85.1 75.0
640x480 85.0 75.0 59.9
LVDS-0 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
1440x900 59.9 +
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
My Monitor:
My monitor is a Compaq 7500 CRT monitor. Google searching says that the max res is indeed 1280x1024, but I have used it at 1440x900 for over a year now - so yes, it can achieve the laptop's resolution. I think the problem is that it is being reported as the wrong kind of monitor:
This is incorrect, as it is a 17" monitor, and it supports way more resolution options that it's displaying.
Now, what can I do to at least work around these issues (I know I need to report a bug or two, but I need to get this fixed as well) and force my monitor to correct resolution?
P.S. I created a topic for this on the Ubuntu forums (it's just a merry go round, so I came here as a last resort). The suggestion I got is to downgrade to the 295.xx driver - but because of the way nvidia's driver has to be installed, I don't think this is an option unless there is a graphical way to do this.
You see, if I switch to a tty (Required for installing), the CRT is disabled.
Current situation:
I have disabled the laptop screen and written the changes to the xorg.conf. Adding 1440x900 as a meta mode made no difference, because the monitor is still being detected incorrectly. It seems I need the right EDID for this CRT.
Anyway. Right now, what I would like to do is to have Lightdm use the correct resolution on login (at least 1280x1024). How can change at least this setting?
