nVidia again (originally on linuxforums.org)

[a_l_a_n]

I posted this question over on www.linuxforums.org but didnt get much by way of a response so Im being bold and reproducing it here in the hope that itll attract some attention and assistance. The three posts I have made are below. Please read and see if you can help.

Thanks,

Alan.

======= Post 1 =======

Sorry. I know this topic must be getting annoying by this stage but Ive looked and looked and gotten so far but now Im just bemused. I had it for a moment but then I rebooted to check it and alas ...

Platform is Kubuntu on an Alienware AMD64 laptop with nVidia Quadro FX Go1400. Screen specs are not available to me despite my best efforts. All I know is its 1920 x 1200.

After trouble with the binaries, I built the nVidia stuff from source and finally managed to get the proper resolution with 24 bit depth. I rebooted and found it reverted to 1680 x1050. But it was possible to increase it via Display in the System Settings Applet (which had never been the case before). I moved the slider up to 1920 x 1200 and thats where it got funny:

1. The resolution increases but the view portal (if I may call it that) doesnt ... i.e. I get 1920 x 1200 but some of it is off the screen, but the view portal pans up, down, left and right as the mouse moves to the screen edges!!??

2. When I reboot, or just end the session and restart X, the resolution resets to 1680 x1050. /var/log/Xorg.0.log says:

...
(--) NVIDIA(0): Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU
(--) NVIDIA(0): Connected display device(s) on Quadro FX Go1400 at PCI:2:0:0:
(--) NVIDIA(0):   NVIDIA Default Flat Panel (DFP-0)
(--) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA Default Flat Panel (DFP-0): 310.0 MHz maximum pixel
(--) NVIDIA(0):   clock
(--) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA Default Flat Panel (DFP-0): Internal Dual Link LVDS
(II) NVIDIA(0): Assigned Display Device: DFP-0
(WW) NVIDIA(0): No valid modes for "1920x1200@60"; removing.
(II) NVIDIA(0): Validated modes:
(II) NVIDIA(0):   "1680x1050@60"
(II) NVIDIA(0):   "1600x1024@60"
(II) NVIDIA(0):   "1280x768@60"
(II) NVIDIA(0):   "800x600@60"
(**) NVIDIA(0): Virtual screen size configured to be 1920 x 1200
(--) NVIDIA(0): DPI set to (152, 152); computed from "UseEdidDpi" X config option
(--) Depth 24 pixmap format is 32 bpp
(II) do I need RAC? No, I don't.
...

3. Really weird --- When I shutdown/reboot the screen goes black. I mean it goes black straight away. Idont get to see the messages about processes being stopped or anything. It still shuts down properly, it just seems that the screen becomes completely unavailable from the start of the shutdown process.

My xorg.conf is as follows:

...
Section "Device"
 identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NV41 [Quadro FX Go1400]"
 boardname "nv"
 busid "PCI:2:0:0"
 driver "nvidia"
 screen 0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 identifier "Generic Monitor"
 vendorname "Generic"
 modelname "Flat Panel 1920x1200"
 HorizSync 31.5-90
 VertRefresh 60
 modeline "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
 modeline "1280x768@60" 80.14 1280 1344 1480 1680 768 769 772 795 -hsync +vsync
 modeline "1600x1024@60" 136.36 1600 1704 1872 2144 1024 1025 1028 1060 -hsync +vsync
 modeline "1680x1050@60" 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087 -hsync +vsync
 modeline "1920x1200@60" 193.16 1920 2048 2256 2592 1200 1201 1204 1242 -hsync +vsync
 gamma 1.0
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Device "NVIDIA Corporation NV41 [Quadro FX Go1400]"
 Monitor "Generic Monitor"
 DefaultDepth 24
 SubSection "Display"
  depth 24
  virtual 1920 1200
  modes "1920x1200@60" "1680x1050@60" "1600x1024@60" "1280x768@60" "800x600@60"
 EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier "Default Layout"
 screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0
 InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
 InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
 InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
 InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
 InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
 option "StandbyTime" "10"
 option "SuspendTime" "20"
 option "OffTime" "30"
EndSection

#Section "DRI"
# Mode 0666
#EndSection

Section "device" # 
 identifier "device1"
 boardname "nv"
 busid "PCI:2:0:0"
 driver "nvidia"
 screen 1
EndSection
Section "screen" # 
 identifier "screen1"
 device "device1"
 defaultdepth 24
 monitor "monitor1"
EndSection
Section "monitor" # 
 identifier "monitor1"
 gamma 1.0
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection

Please advise.

======= Post 2 =======

Okay ...

I have tried as much as I could from that link [Gentoo wik] (I have been unable to find a tool for x86_64 that will give me the EDID to create a proper modeline*, I tried read-edid, monitor-edid, and xresprobe). So I have removed all the modeline lines letting the card pick it itself. I added "ViewPort 0 0", whatever that does, and I also tried adding 'Option "ModeValidation" "NoMaxPClkCheck"', both to no effect.

As a result of removing the modelines what I find is:

1. The problem with no screen during shutdown persists

2. I think the resolution is actually correct. It reports it as 1920x1200 (in Display Settings applet and xrandr) but stuff still isnt right. All the KDE stuff (windows, fonts, etc.) are grossly oversized, giving the appearance of something more like 1280x768. The login prompt is more like 640x480. But the problem with the panning screen seems to have gone.

Stumped.

* Footnote: I have been in contact with Alienware again, this time via mail. Again I have been told that it is impossible for them to tell me the make and model of my screen or indeed any information other than resolution. I am forced to conclude that they bought them from somebodys car boot in a dark car park and didnt stop to ask any questions. I have told them that I would like a refund of the portion of the E257 I paid for warranty/support that corresponds to the "Service from people who know Alienware computers. Alienware systems are unique, thus we employ expert in-house technicians.". I expectantly await their response.

======= Post 3 =======

And one other thing. I dont know if this is new or not but dmesg reports

[  20.560865] PCI: Failed to allocate mem resource #6:20000@d0000000 for 0000:02:00.0
[  20.560891] PCI: Bridge: 0000:00:02.0
[  20.560892]  IO window: disabled.
[  20.560895]  MEM window: d0000000-d1ffffff
[  20.560897]  PREFETCH window: c0000000-cfffffff

Thats the graphics card:

$ lspci -vvv
...
0000:02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV41 [Quadro FX Go1400] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
    Subsystem: CLEVO/KAPOK Computer: Unknown device 0900
    Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
    Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
    Latency: 0
    Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 58
    Region 0: Memory at d1000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
    Region 1: Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
    Region 3: Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
    Capabilities: [60] 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-
    Capabilities: [68] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
        Address: 0000000000000000 Data: 0000
    Capabilities: [78] #10 [0001]

[Gezzer]

Re: nVidia again (originally on linuxforums.org)

via the control centre click display
then click at the bottom administer mode

then click for the monitor & graphics change
view the options available and then set them to your required hardware

if that fails try in a konsole
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

and finally in a konsole
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

[a_l_a_n]

Re: nVidia again (originally on linuxforums.org)

AARGHHH ...

Sceptical as I was I ran dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg again. Answered as best I could, tweaked the resulting xorg.conf a little (it ended up in a very standard state ... nothing I hadnt tried before) and rebooted.

The result was unchanged - apparently proper resolution with the look of a lower resolution. Until! --- I went to Display Settings Applet and lo, the slider was at 1680x1050 with the possibility of going up to 1920x1200 which I promptly did (as regular user, not admin). The screen resized and everything was right for a glorious fleeting moment, but after another reboot everything reverted, only now the slider is at 1920x1200 to begin with event though the problem persists, i.e. exactly the same state s when I started posting.

Im massively confused. Its as though the X server and the card arent on the same wave length. Could dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg have modified something other than xorg.conf, resulting in the ability to increase the resolution in the Display Applet, only for the Display Applet to overwrite it and screw it up again (which I know it loves to do with xorg.conf)?

Help me ...........................

[Gezzer]

Re: nVidia again (originally on linuxforums.org)

have you tried the above after hitting the admin button then putting the settings that you require in ...

[a_l_a_n]

Re: nVidia again (originally on linuxforums.org)

have you tried the above after hitting the admin ...

I am the admin :P

I got it. I was being an idiot. The resolution was actually correct. It was a font problem. Changed "ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp" in /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc adding "-dpi 75" and it did the trick.

Thanks.