Kubuntu Doesn't properly display on external

[DarKCroNo]

Hi, I'm very new to the Unix system and I've installed Kubuntu on my Dell XPS M1530 laptop.

So the story is that after installing, I wanted to install the Nvidia driver for 3D things. I don't know where it came from or what. I just clicked on additional drivers, or additional hardware and it showed that it recommended to install the Nvidia drivers. Once I installed it, I restarted and now the problem shows up.

The problem is, I was given this laptop as a gift as the previous owner had destroyed the screen. However the VGA output still works and I simply put it to an external monitor. The problem is after the installation, the bootup screen appears on the external but when it goes into login the screen is than rerouted to the Laptop Screen (I can tell because theres a small window that still works on the screen but the rest of the screen doesn't show anything but the backlight). When I close the lid it just doesn't go to the external like it did before.

I installed kubuntu on the laptop with Vista. So when I load the computer Grub's bootloader shows up. Is it possible to fix this problem without having to reinstall kubuntu? I just downloaded and updated it to the latest version and it took so much time, I'd rather not redo it all. I was going around through the bootloader and I went into recovery mode, and then into root shell or something. I'm guessing this is the terminal, so is it possible to fix this through that? I was also reading things where I can edit a config file so that I can properly use the externals, however I don't know what commands to type in and whatever I copy from what I see just doesn't work. So I'm wondering if this root shell thing isn't really the terminal.

Anyway, SO, If I do need to reinstall kubuntu, what I do want is to have the nvidia drivers so that it can support 3D displays. However I will never be able to use the primary screen on the laptop since its broken. Help Please? I'm very new to the Unix system.

Info about computer,
Dell XPS-M1530
Graphics card: Geforce 8600M GT with 256 MB GDDR3
intel chipset

Thats all I can think of that would be related, I can't imagine that you would need any other info.
Also, my kubuntu was 11.04 and I recently updated to 11.10 ocelot or whatever.

[SteveRiley]

Re: Kubuntu Doesn't properly display on external

With the external monitor plugged in and with the system booted so that you see the output on the laptop's LCD, press [Alt]+[F2], type nvidia-settings, and press [Enter]. You should see a window titled "NVIDIA X Server Settings." Choose X Server Display Configuration in the menu. Does it look like mine below, which has only one monitor (the laptop), or do you see something else?

[DarKCroNo]

Re: Kubuntu Doesn't properly display on external

The problem is that the main monitor is broken, I can't see anything on it. I want to route it to my external. I've been looking all over, and the problem seems to be editing the xorg.conf. I've gotten through the recovery mode and am in the commandline, however now I can't edit xorg.conf or nvidia-settings. If I can just edit either one through the commandline to recognize that my secondary monitor is to be the primary one than I think I'll be set. Thats how I can see a solution to this problem, is anyone able to help with that?

Everytime I edit the xorg.conf file with Nano, I'm able to view the file however I juts can't write out. It gives the error
"Error writing /etc/X11/xorg.conf: Read-only file system"
I've tried chmod u+a xorg.conf and it just says something along the lines of
"chmod: changing file permissions 'xorg.conf' read-only file system"
Not exactly but very very similar, so it seems like chmod isn't changing it.
I've also tried many different commands: su, sudo infront of the commands
I'm sure I'm in the root account however I was never asked for a password either.


And with the nvidia-settings, I have no clue how to manually change the settings through the command line.

Help please

[SteveRiley]

Re: Kubuntu Doesn't properly display on external

The problem is that the main monitor is broken

Rats, I have got to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n my reading...I missed the part in your first post where you wrote the LCD was destroyed. Apologies.

Everytime I edit the xorg.conf file with Nano, I'm able to view the file however I juts can't write out. It gives the error "Error writing /etc/X11/xorg.conf: Read-only file system"

Partitions are mounted read-only in recovery mode. To change this, type:

mount -o remount,rw /

Next, rather than editing your xorg.conf, try this:

nvidia-xconfig --twinview

That should set up xorg.conf to support two monitors. Unfortunately, I don't have an external monitor at the moment to verify this. Perhaps someone else here with an nVidia card can chime in.

[DarKCroNo]

Re: Kubuntu Doesn't properly display on external

YES THANK YOU!

I didn't know why i just couldn't write to the files, haha what an experience with Linux. I tried the Twin view method and it worked. The problem also was that I hadn't initialized nvidia-xconfig so none of it was written to the xorg.conf file. Once I did that all the settings were set and then I included the Twinview. From there I just opened nvidia from the external and the laptop screen is now disabled. Thank you so much, through hours of trying to figure it out haha. I don't know what the protocol is when a problem is solved on this forum, whether I should edit and put the tag [solved], or if I shud hit a thank you button. But, all I can say is THANK YOU!

[SteveRiley]

Re: Kubuntu Doesn't properly display on external

I don't know what the protocol is when a problem is solved on this forum, whether I should edit and put the tag [solved], or if I shud hit a thank you button. But, all I can say is THANK YOU!

I'm glad it worked for you.

There's no official protocol here; we're a friendly bunch who enjoy learning from each other.