GDM Resolution issue

[Donniesito]

Hello all!

First let me say that I've researched this issue all over, found a few 'solutions' and none of them have worked for me so far, so I bring my problem to you :)

Monitor: Acer 24" LCD w/ native res. of 1920x1200 (wide)
Gfx card: Nvidia GeForce 6800GS 512MB
OS: Ubuntu 8.04 (tried 8.10, will explain below)

Problem: When GDM loads, the resolution won't go higher than 800x600. I loaded the nvidia drivers, restarted and the display was unusable (640x480, so most windows extend off screen).
I tried defining the modes I want to use in xorg.conf, but to no avail. It seemed through my research that many people had the same issue with 8.10, so I reverted to a 8.04 install, with the same results.
Again, I tried loading nvidia drivers which made the screen unusable. So I uninstalled the nvidia drivers and let the system revert to default ones. When I do this, I can get my display at 1920x1200 (native res.), but obviously without the nvidia drivers I get no 2D or 3D acceleration, which makes using the computer hell.
Any advice? (Btw, I'm writing this on a different computer so I can't give exact copies, but when I load the nvidia drivers, the log says "no supported modes found, defaulting to 'nvidia-auto-select' or something like that) This makes no sense to me because when I double-checked the xorg.conf file, the modes listed are all certainly supported by my card and monitor.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[trilarian]

I can't help you on a reason for 8.04 vs 8.10 as I've never loaded up Ubuntu, but can point you to a few snags on xorg.conf that maybe you overlooked...

First off, it is best to reduce the possible problems - so stick with the stock driver for now. The stock driver is 'nv' for nvidia cards. Below is the relevant part of xorg.conf for the machine I'm typing on now - you'll want to change Driver to "nv" (where I have i810) on your config file.

Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device"
Driver "i810"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
Option "UseFBDev" "true"
EndSection

Then to set the resolution, go a bit further down until you see the below. Note that you only need to change the part that matches DefaultDepth. You can set multiple resolutions to toggle between, but the most important one is the first you list (as that is what will be used by default).

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Let us know what you get after these changes. Also, note that you need to restart the X-Server for these changes to take effect. So either hit CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE to kill, or kill and restart the GDM process. Once you have a working system you can move to the nvidia driver to speed things up.

[saikee]

"nvidia" is also a generic or stock display driver available in some new distros like the Ubuntu. It is supposed more superior than "nv" which I also used on older distros with older video cards.

[Donniesito]

Thank you for the help, I'll try it this evening when I have access to it again ;-)

[Donniesito]

Ok:

I changed the driver to "nv", set the default bit depth and display resolution. I am currently running at 1920x1200, but only while using the "nv" driver instead of the proprietary nvidia driver. I appreciate the hints, as I am actually able to USE the computer now (I'm writing this reply on my linux box).

However (as you already know, I'm sure) - While using the nv driver gets my resolution, I get no 2D or 3D acceleration, no desktop effects, videos (FLV or otherwise) don't play well, etc etc.

When I DO try using the nvidia driver, the error message in the log is:

"No valid modes for "1920x1200"; removing
Unable to validate any modes; falling back to the default
"nvidia-auto-select"

... Which produces an unusable screen.

This is the first time I've used an nVidia card with Linux, all my previous linux boxes have had ATi cards in them, and I've never run into this trouble before.

[trilarian]

"nvidia" is also a generic or stock display driver available in some new distros like the Ubuntu. It is supposed more superior than "nv" which I also used on older distros with older video cards.

Good to know... Another case of "I've done it this way for years...". I may play around with the new driver some day, but the old routine still works for me - which is to start the config with nv at 16 depth and native monitor resolution, download the nvidia source, compile, update driver in config - voila.

I am currently running at 1920x1200, but only while using the "nv" driver instead of the proprietary nvidia driver.

That is good news! The idea was to do a process of elimination while getting you a workable setup, and it seems to have done just that. Now that we have you working with a valid config file, its a matter of tweaking the nvidia driver so you can get the acceleration for more advanced things.

Since I don't know what you have done so far in compiling the nvidia driver, lets just start from the top.

- Download the source from here (http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us). You will need to pick your card family and which Linux (32-bit or 64-bit).

- To run their script successfully, you will need a min of the kernel headers and gcc installed. You can see which kernel version you are using by typing "uname -r". Install the package linux-headers-x where x is the output of uname.

- Run the install file from nvidia (you may have to do a chmod +x <filename> to make the install script executable). Most likely it will state that a precompiled version could not be found so it will compile a custom driver.

- If the driver compiles successfully, it is good practice to verify that the script modified your xorg.conf file. Where you set the driver to nv, verify (or change) that it now reads nvidia.

That should get you the driver installed with the default settings. There are many tweaks you can do in the xorg.conf to tweak it a bit further if you desire. Let us know if it errors out on you anywhere in the process.

[Donniesito]

Okay, I compiled the driver and installed it. It did indeed change the xorg.conf file.

Here's the changes that were made (from xorg.conf):

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
SubSection "Display"
Modes "nvidia-auto-select"
EndSubSection
EndSection

What it defaulted to was 640x480. So I changed it to read:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
SubSection "Display"
Modes "800x600" "1024x768" "1280x1024" "1920x1200"
EndSubSection
EndSection


This didn't work, I was still stuck at 640x480 :/ SO I decided to look at the log again and it says this:

(WW) NVIDIA(GPU-0): Unable to read EDID for display device DFP-0
(II) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA GPU GeForce 7600 GS (G73) at PCI:1:0:0 (GPU-0)
(--) NVIDIA(0): Memory: 524288 kBytes
(--) NVIDIA(0): VideoBIOS: 05.73.22.51.96
(II) NVIDIA(0): Detected AGP rate: 8X
(--) NVIDIA(0): Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU
(--) NVIDIA(0): Connected display device(s) on GeForce 7600 GS at PCI:1:0:0:
(--) NVIDIA(0): DFP-0
(--) NVIDIA(0): DFP-0: 330.0 MHz maximum pixel clock
(--) NVIDIA(0): DFP-0: Internal Dual Link TMDS
(II) NVIDIA(0): Assigned Display Device: DFP-0
(WW) NVIDIA(0): No valid modes for "800x600"; removing.
(WW) NVIDIA(0): No valid modes for "1024x768"; removing.
(WW) NVIDIA(0): No valid modes for "1280x1024"; removing.
(WW) NVIDIA(0): No valid modes for "1920x1200"; removing.
(WW) NVIDIA(0):
(WW) NVIDIA(0): Unable to validate any modes; falling back to the default mode
(WW) NVIDIA(0): "nvidia-auto-select".

Ok so... It can't correctly identify my display hardware, which is why it refuses to use the modes I specified. I'm running 8.10 again, after discovering the same problem in 8.04.

Anyhow -- I haven't a clue how to specify my display hardware. I **think** I used to use something like gtk-display-config or something like that, but I can't be sure and, well, I tried that already and it must be obselete ;-)

BTW I appreciate all the thought given to this :)

[Donniesito]

Just a bit of an update here

I tried manually entering the hardware information in xorg.conf. I got out ye olde Display Manual, found the specs and entered them (Hsync,Vsync,etc etc). Reloaded gdm and BOOM... Still doesn't work :-P I still end up with 640x480 using Nvidia's (restricted) driver. So I've changed the driver back to "nv" so I can use the screen 'till I can get the real drivers to work with all the wonderful acceleration.

(Btw: Even with the specs for the monitor entered, the log file still reports the same "no valid modes" error).

[trilarian]

I do see one thing you are missing, depth. Hopefully this is all it will take:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16

SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1920x1200"
EndSubSection
EndSection

If that doesn't work, you can try to boot X with the 'nv' module then try this that I found from here (http://ubuntutip.googlepages.com/bugsinubuntu).

2. The screen resolution is not right, after I installed the restricted proprietary driver for my ATI or NVIDIA graphics card.

A. Try to set the right screen resolution like this:

Applications - Accessories - Terminal

Type (or copy/paste):

gksudo displayconfig-gtk

Press Enter. Now a configuration tool for your screen(s) appears.


B. Step A doesn't help enough and you have an Nvidia graphics card?

Note: The following applies only to Nvidia graphics cards running on the restricted driver.

System - Administration - Synaptic Package Manager

Search word:

nvidia-settings

tick it and press Apply button

Then:

Applications - Accessories - Terminal

type:

gksudo nvidia-settings

press Enter

Now you can configure your screens properly, with this handy tool from Nvidia.

EDIT => The nvidia-auto-select is a new feature and not in the version I'm running on my box at the house. I'll have to read up on it as I'll have to deal with it whenever I update my driver.

[Donniesito]

I've tried it all and to no avail :( I've done everything you suggested, everything else I've found online and anything else I can personally think of. So..

Right now I'm again running at 1920x1200, no accel, etc. I did this by simply changing one variable in the xorg.conf file: I changed "nvidia" to "nv" under Driver.

Bah. I'm frustrated at this point, I think I'll get off the computer for now.

Take care and thanks again :)

[trilarian]

Check this (http://http.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/100.14.06/README/chapter-19.html) out - maybe it mentions something that will hit your issue.

Notably, try:

nvidia-xconfig --mode 1920x1200

OR

nvidia-xconfig --mode nvidia-auto-select

Since you are having issues, I may hold off updating my driver version until you find a solution... Though I am in Debian, Ubuntu and Debian have many similarities.