Unable to write to xorg.conf

[Spirrwell]

I'm having problems writing to the xorg.conf file. I looked through the forums briefly via the search function and I didn't find anything that was useful, but I'll try to go more in depth later. My video card is a NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT if that helps. What I'm trying to is add my second monitor as a separate X screen, which I had no problem doing before I installed the recommended NVIDIA drivers. Anyway, the problem I'm having is to do with an inability to write to the xorg.conf file to save the settings to enable my second monitor as a separate X screen. I was able to manually edit the xorg.conf file with sudo kate xorg.conf in the etc/X11 directory. I backed up the xorg.conf file.

Since I couldn't write to the file normally through the NVIDIA settings, I used the preview generated by the settings before it would logically save to the xorg.conf file, and I copied the code and pasted it over the original xorg.conf file code, and no surprise it didn't work. When I rebooted the system it came up and it wasn't able to start the X server. I tried to modify the file's permissions, but to no avail. I think I need to be root to be able to do it, and I don't know how to do it through the Konsole with the sudo command, and I can't login as root under kubuntu even though I set a password for it. It's not allowed apparently. Anybody have a clue as to how I can fix this?

Just in case you need the errors, here's the two consecutive error I get whenever I try to write to xorg.conf through the regular NVIDIA settings:

[vinnywright]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

you probably have at least 2 issues now .........1 a borked xorg.conf ....and 2 a borked /home/you from opening kate with sudo instead of kdesudo......

can you boot recovery mode from the grub screen?

VINNY

[Spirrwell]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

Yes I can, but I said I backed up my xorg.conf file, and I put it back in the regular directory, and now I still have access to kubuntu, but I don't have the ability to use my second monitor.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

Slow down Vinny

nvidia-settings won't save a config file to /etc/X11/xorg.conf unless you launch it as root. It will save a user settings config to your home directory as ~/.nvidia-settings-rc if you want individual user to have their own settings.

Otherwise, open a terminal, type kdesudo nvidia-settings, set up your monitors, and save the xorg.conf.

I have dual 19" on a 8800gt. I attached my xorg.conf for you - it has a couple extra tidbits in it.

[vinnywright]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

Slow down Vinny

I could have sworn @Spirrwell had sead he couldn't log in or get X at all ......... my bad

VINNY

[Spirrwell]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

Thanks, but I don't understand what anything really means in the xorg.conf, except a few things. I did the kdesudo thing, and I still got the same errors as before.

@vinny
Yes, I couldn't, but I also said I backed up the xorg.conf, I thought people would be able to figure out just from that, that I was able to restore X back to its original functionality.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

Re: the other parts of your post: Yes, logging in as root is not allowed by default with Kubuntu. It is possible you may cause a problem anytime you launch a GUI program using sudo rather than kdesudo. sudo is for command line (terminal) programs only. kdesudo will keep your GUI and home straight by not writing root owned files to your home directory.

You can tell if you've created any problems by opening a terminal and typing ls -lR ~ |grep root (that's a lowercase L with the R). This command will produce a list of root owned files in your home. Just change them back to your ownership if you find any by typing chown USERNAME:GROUPNAME /path_to/somefile

[oshunluvr]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

Did you trry my xorg.conf file or merge the relevant parts to yours? Post you xorg.conf files and I'll have a look...

[Spirrwell]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

I don't really know what I'm doing so I'll let you take a look at it.

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	DefaultDepth	24
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load	"glx"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Default Device"
	Driver	"nvidia"
	Option	"NoLogo"	"True"
EndSection

[Spirrwell]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

Also, when I try to save to the xorg.conf, this is the preview I get which I tried, which is what caused me to lose X functionality:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 260.19.06 (buildd@yellow) Mon Oct 4 15:59:51 UTC 2010

Section "ServerLayout"
  Identifier   "Layout0"
  Screen   0 "Screen0" 0 0
  Screen   1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
  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   "Sceptre X22HG"
  HorizSync    31.5 - 80.0
  VertRefresh   56.0 - 75.0
  Option     "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
  # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
  Identifier   "Monitor1"
  VendorName   "Unknown"
  ModelName   "HP L1710"
  HorizSync    24.0 - 83.0
  VertRefresh   50.0 - 77.0
  Option     "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
  Identifier   "Device0"
  Driver     "nvidia"
  VendorName   "NVIDIA Corporation"
  BoardName   "GeForce 9600 GT"
  BusID     "?@?:?:?"
  Screen     0
EndSection

Section "Device"
  Identifier   "Device1"
  Driver     "nvidia"
  VendorName   "NVIDIA Corporation"
  BoardName   "GeForce 9600 GT"
  BusID     "?@?:?:?"
  Screen     1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  Identifier   "Screen0"
  Device     "Device0"
  Monitor    "Monitor0"
  DefaultDepth  24
  Option     "TwinView" "0"
  Option     "metamodes" "DFP: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
  SubSection   "Display"
    Depth    24
  EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  Identifier   "Screen1"
  Device     "Device1"
  Monitor    "Monitor1"
  DefaultDepth  24
  Option     "TwinView" "0"
  Option     "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
  SubSection   "Display"
    Depth    24
  EndSubSection
EndSection

[Spirrwell]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

I did a mini test, I create a dummy xorg.conf, and I ran the NVIDIA settings and tried to save to the xorg.conf, and it still wouldn't work, and I made sure all permissions were enabled and were owned by my username. Should I reinstall the drivers?

[oshunluvr]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

We're not there yet do these commands in a console and post the output:

uname -r
dkms status
lspci |grep VGA

[Spirrwell]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

spirrwell@SpirrwellDell:~$ uname -r
2.6.35-22-generic
spirrwell@SpirrwellDell:~$ dkms status
nvidia-173, 173.14.28, 2.6.35-22-generic, x86_64: installed 
spirrwell@SpirrwellDell:~$ lspci |grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G94 [GeForce 9600 GT] (rev a1)
spirrwell@SpirrwellDell:~$

[oshunluvr]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

Ok, try this xorg.conf. I made some assumptions so it may not be perfect yet (if it works at all!).

Try it out, report the results, and if we have total failure and you're back in terminal mode - before you restore the original xorg.conf, copy the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log to your home using these commands:

sudo cp /var/log/Xorg.0.log ~/xorglog.txt
sudo chown USERNAME:GROUPNAME ~/xorglog.txt

Then attach a copy of it to your next post

[oshunluvr]

Re: Unable to write to xorg.conf

It would help if I included the file