[X700] External monitor resolution can't be changed on laptop (ati driver)

Please attach your /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

here is my log file

I didnt know if it is better to report this bug here or at the driver package, any ideas to find out the real culprit?

After various changes in my xorg.conf for other reasons (dri, compiz etc. ) I decided to try the dual monitor issue again and I realized that I can't reproduce the both-sides-cropped display on the external monitor anymore.

With the laptop display off I could also change the resolution of the external monitor normally:

e.g. using
xrandr --output LVDS --off --output VGA-0 --mode 800x600
xrandr --output LVDS --off --output VGA-0 --mode 1024x800

changed the appearance of my display reasonably.

Having the laptop display on instead, it wasn't possible to change the external monitor's resolution:

running
xrandr --output LVDS --mode 1280x800 --output VGA-0 --mode 800x600 (A)
or
xrandr --output LVDS --mode 1280x800 --output VGA-0 --mode 1024x768 (B)
has no impact on the appearance of the external monitor (it seemed like it was stuck to 1024x768, although the star symbol in the xrandr -q output changed place correctly)

for both (A) and (B) I could see on the external monitor the lower right portion of my desktop surface (I suppose 1024 from 1280 in width direction and 768 from 800 in height direction).

The cropped/distorted stripes on left and right side of the display (like with not supported monitor resolution), described in my first post, don't occur anymore.

Anyway I am happy that I can connect an external projector (to make a presentation for example) without restarting the Xserver even if I have to turn off the LCD display.

I definitely found out what is going on here. For me this bug could be considered as closed, as I can define both on the LVDS monitor and the VGA-0 external monitor any of the supported resolutions independently from each other. Not only in Cloned mode but also in Big Desktop mode.

The trick:

After setting the resolutions with xrandr I just have to switch to a VT (e.g Alt+Ctrl+F1) and come back to Xserver (Alt+Ctrl+F7) and then I see the right Resolution.

After that, if I try to play with xrandr again, for example by just starting gnome-display-properties, the resolution of the external monitor switches automatically to the one of the LVDS monitor (and in case this one is not supported from the external monitor I get the sides of the desktop cropped) until I switch to VT and switch back to the Xserver once again.

To me it seems to be a problem of xrandr and not of the driver.

I tried this behavior on both Hardy 8.04.1 and Intrepid Alpha2 and I have observed the same results.

Good that you found a workaround to the issue. It's still a valid bug because a VT switch shouldn't be required to make the resolution changes take. Also, it is a driver issue in fact, since the underlying logic for implementing the resolution changes are inside the driver; this issue doesn't occur on -intel for instance.

Anyway, guess next step is to forward this bug upstream.

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. In the development cycle for Intrepid there have been some vast improvements in the open source ati video driver and we could use your help testing them. Could you please download the latest Alpha CD image of Intrepid and test this particular bug just using the Live CD? You can find the latest image at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . Your testing can help make Ubuntu and the open source ati driver even better! Thanks in advance.

Hi, I'm running Sept 18th's Intrepid, trying to get my Samsung external (1680x1050) to work with my Toshiba laptop (1280x800), as it did in Hardy.

First, the fglrx driver didn't work at all, ie the old xorg.conf failed. So I'm trying the radeon or ati drivers, whose problems seem to be the same:
The Samsung is showing up with resolution 1280x960 (or other suboptimal), despite all attempts to force otherwise.

The latest attempt is attached. (Similar problems occur with Xinerama off).

The relevant lines from the Xorg log are, I believe,

(II) RADEON(1): Output: VGA-0, Detected Monitor Type: 1
finished output detect: 0
finished all detect
before xf86InitialConfiguration
(II) RADEON(1): Output: VGA-0, Detected Monitor Type: 1
in RADEONProbeOutputModes
(II) RADEON(1): Adding Screen mode: 1680x1050
(II) RADEON(1): Adding Screen mode: 1280x1024
(II) RADEON(1): Adding Screen mode: 1280x800
(II) RADEON(1): Adding Screen mode: 1024x768
(II) RADEON(1): Adding Screen mode: 800x600
(II) RADEON(1): Total number of valid Screen mode(s) added: 5
(II) RADEON(1): Output VGA-0 connected
(II) RADEON(1): Using fuzzy aspect match for initial modes
(II) RADEON(1): Output VGA-0 using initial mode 1280x960

Please let me know if this issue should be raised elsewhere.
~

Sorry, to add xdpyinfo gives

default screen number: 0
number of screens: 1

screen #0:
  dimensions: 2560x1200 pixels (678x318 millimeters)

which is indeed what's happening: each screen can pan vertically. 2560=1280 times 2, but where does the 1200 come from?

@Matt

This bug report is about a case in which the command

xrandr

reports the right resolutions for the external monitor but the user can see any changes on his display until he does a VT switch. If xrandr doesnt report/detects the right resolution for your external monitor, you have another bug lool for bug reports about edid or post a new report.

If xrandr reports 1680x1050 in the detected modes try to set it using something like

xrandr --output VGA-0 --mode 1680x1050

and if you see the right resolution just after a VT switch (Atl+Ctrl+F1, wait, Atl+Ctrl+F7) then you should keep posting in this bug report.

... can't see any ...

kostas,

Thanks for replying. So this is definitely the wrong thread, since I'm not using xrandr. I will look elsewhere . . . (after first trying to use xrandr to solve the problem.)

Hi,

you can mark it as solved in Intrepid. I dont know which update fixed it but know (Intrepid alpha6) it works perfectly. No need for VT-switch any more.

Thanks to all people involved in the radeon-project.

oops,

unfortunately today it doesnt work again. I suppose it was a coincidence. But that makes me think that it could be an EDID issue. Anyway I ll try it again with some other external monitor other than the two CRT monitors I have tested up to now.

This bug was fixed in the package xserver-xorg-video-ati - 1:6.9.0+git20081003.f9826a56-0ubuntu1

---------------
xserver-xorg-video-ati (1:6.9.0+git20081003.f9826a56-0ubuntu1) intrepid; urgency=low

  * Pull upstream snapshot, up to commit f9826a56 (LP: #277104)
    - Add support for DDC via atom commands for RV410 (LP: #227520?)
    - man page updates (fdo #17887)
    - Make initial rotation work, by initializing acceleration _before_
      setting the mode
    - Fix Xv video corruption by passing base offset into
      RADEONDisplayVideo() explicitly (fdo #17254, LP: #267297)
    - Fix sync-to-vblank hangs after mode switch with DRM vblank-rework.
    - pll adjustments
    - Add quirk to fix macbook hardware (fdo #17625)
  * Drop 103_rotation_reset.patch - already upstream

 -- Bryce Harrington <email address hidden> Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:56:44 -0700

Unfortunately doesn't seem to be the case. The problem continues. A symptom of the problem which may help to identify its source is that just running xrandr messes up the resolution of the external display, a VT switch corrects it. Thus I've done the following:

A. Set the resolution and position of the external display with xrandr and forced it to apply by doing a VT switch.

B. Saved my Xorg.0.log as log1 and took a first screenshot showing both displays with the right resolutions and at their right positions.

C. Just run "xrandr" and saw my external display losing its configuration.

D. Took a second screenshot showing the messed up external display.

E. Did a VT switch and took a third screenshot showing the corrected display. Saved the Xorg.0.log again as log2 and generated the diff between log1 and log2 showing just the impact of running xrandr and the VT switch.

I attach the 3 screenshots and the diff of the two Xorg.0.log versions

I too am experiencing this bug, and I too am using the open source radeon driver (xserver-xorg-video-radeon-1:6.9.0+git20081003.f9826a56-0ubuntu2 from Intrepid, although it was also broken in Hardy). Sometimes the second monitor is at the proper resolution (1680x1050) and position (to the right of my laptop screen and shifted up a bit). Other times it's stuck at 1280x1024, mirroring the laptop display (1400x1050) no matter what I do with xrandr or gnome-display-properties. Even when the second monitor is not displaying what it should, 'xrandr -q' says that the desired resolutions and positions have been applied.

Usually a reboot will fix it. Killing X (Ctrl-Alt-Backspace) never fixes it. Trying to switch to another VT always fixes it. (Oddly, when it's not working, Ctrl-Alt-F1 doesn't switch to VT #1 -- it just corrects itself and stays at VT #7. If I try to switch to VT #1 when the displays are at their correct resolutions and positions, it switches -- and switches back -- properly.)

[This is an automated message]

Hi logari81,

Please attach the output of `lspci -vvnn` too.

This is kostas's lspci (taken from the upstream bug report at https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18120):

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility X700 (PCIE) [1002:5653]
        Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0066]
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 32 bytes
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
        Region 0: Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
        Region 1: I/O ports at 3000 [size=256]
        Region 2: Memory at c8100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        [virtual] Expansion ROM at c8120000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>

Here is my lspci output:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV250 [Mobility FireGL 9000] [1002:4c66] (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:01be]
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop+ ParErr- Stepping+ SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Latency: 32 (2000ns min), Cache Line Size: 32 bytes
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
        Region 0: Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
        Region 1: I/O ports at c000 [size=256]
        Region 2: Memory at fcff0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        [virtual] Expansion ROM at fc000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: [58] AGP version 2.0
                Status: RQ=48 Iso- ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64- HTrans- 64bit- FW+ AGP3- Rate=x1,x2,x4
                Command: RQ=1 ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA+ AGP- GART64- 64bit- FW- Rate=<none>
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
        Kernel modules: radeonfb

Hi logari81,

Please attach the output of `lspci -vvnn` too.

[This is an automated message. If this script has reached you erroneously, please accept our apologies; any reply to this message will be sufficient to prevent it from doing further automated processing.]

what a7x described here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/227520/comments/17
is pretty much my experience too.

I just tried jaunty alpha3 and it seems to bring some improvements. The following command
xrandr --output VGA-0 --below LVDS --mode 1024x768
now achieves to set the external monitor resolution correctly. Unfortunately, if I run afterwards just:
xrandr
the external monitor reverts to cloned mode and needs a VT switch to go back to the correct configuration. Similarly as in Intrepid.

I repeat my `lspci -vvnn` here:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility X700 (PCIE) [1002:5653]
 Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0066]
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 32 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
 Region 0: Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
 Region 1: I/O ports at 3000 [size=256]
 Region 2: Memory at c8100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
 [virtual] Expansion ROM at c8120000 [disabled] [size=128K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>

in order to stop receiving this automated message.

I've just now uploaded the 6.11.0 driver to Jaunty, and it claims to have a lot of improvements for output handling so my guess is that it may fix this issue. Would you mind re-testing against current Jaunty and let me know whether the issue is fixed now? Thanks ahead of time.

[Closing xrandr task since I'm pretty sure this is just a driver issue]

Unfortunately I see no improvement with xserver-xorg-video-ati 6.11 in jaunty.

I would like to notice that since jaunty alpha3 the problem occurs only with a particular monitor. With other monitors, projectors I 've tried the tv-output works fine.

In that case, it's probable that it's a hardware bug in that specific monitor. Please collect the following with the monitor connected:

 * Exact make and model of your monitor
 * xrandr --verbose
 * sudo get-edid | parse-edid > edid.txt
 * sudo ddcprobe

Aha, we've seen a number of bug reports relating to AUO monitors. So indeed this is likely a monitor-specific issue. It probably is unrelated to -ati actually, so I'll move it to xserver.

Can you please provide additional details about the monitor - it's make and model, and any other info that could be relevant?

There are several quirk-fixes in the xserver for other AUO monitors, so maybe either yours needs added too, or one of the existing quirks could be causing a problem. (Or maybe it's some new AUO-specific issue). Thanks ahead of time.

The information that I can give about the monitor is the following:

SAMSUNG SAMTRON
Model Name: 55B
Model Code: DP15HT7/EDC

Unfortunately I don't have its manual.

I have a Philco notebook PHN 14103 Linux, Intel Pentium Dual Core, chipset and graphics SIS M 672 FX + SIS 968, 4GB memory DDR2, 250 GB HD, DVD Super Multi, DVD RW, Webcam integrated 1.3 Mega pixels, audio 2 x 1.5 W, also integrated, with stereo sound, memory cards' readers MS, SD, MMC, XD, MS-PRO, 6 cells Lithium-Ion, and Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Internal Modem.

Its Widescreen 14.1" (16:10) WXGA is 1280 x 800, BUT I'm facing a 800x600 mode (argh!! Nobody deserves that !!).

In the name of God, how do I get the best resolution here?

Thanks in advance, wait for your response asap.

[This is an automatic notification.]

Hi logari81,

This bug was reported against an earlier version of Ubuntu, can you
test if it still occurs on Lucid?

Please note we also provide technical support for older versions of
Ubuntu, but not in the bug tracker. Instead, to raise the issue through
normal support channels, please see:

    http://www.ubuntu.com/support

If you are the original reporter and can still reproduce the issue on
Lucid, please run the following command to refresh the report:

  apport-collect 227520

If you are not the original reporter, please file a new bug report, so
we can work with you as the original reporter instead (you can reference
bug 227520 in your report if you think it may be related):

  ubuntu-bug xorg

If by chance you can no longer reproduce the issue on Lucid or if you
feel it is no longer relevant, please mark the bug report 'Fix Released'
or 'Invalid' as appropriate, at the following URL:

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/227520

Upstream believes this is fixed in 6.13.2, which is included in the current development version.