Display, please help

[jaywalker]

I installed some more non free packages available for my card driver.

From your earlier xorg.conf and log messages you were using the "nouveau" driver for your card. Does the reference to non-free packages mean you are now using the "nvidia" driver?

I ask because the "nouveau" driver allows the use Kernel Mode Setting and it is my understanding (corrections welcome) that installing the "nvidia" driver adds "nokmsboot" to your boot command. That looks like it turns off Kernel Mode Setting.

The only reason I ask is that your Xorg.0.log file showed two or three occasions some time apart when X seems to be re-reading and re-setting the monitor EDID and resolution. I was guessing that this might be waking up from suspend, or somesuch, but I'm only guessing.

I have been having a fight of my own with the X server and my GeForce 6200 - trying to get it to give me two useful screens when one monitor is accessed through a KVM switch. The EDID data cannot be read through the switch so just about everything I put in the xorg.conf file is ignored like it doesn't believe me and anyway, what would I know about what my monitor can do- yah-boo sucks to you - or so I imagine it is saying to me.

One thing which stands out from Xorg.0.log:

Code: Select all

[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): EDID Version: 1.3
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Analog Display Input,  Input Voltage Level: 0.700/0.300 V
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Sync:  Separate
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Max Image Size [cm]: horiz.: 41  vert.: 26
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Gamma: 2.20
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): DPMS capabilities: Off; RGB/Color Display
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): First detailed timing is preferred mode
---snip---
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Supported established timings:
---snip---
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): 1280x1024@75Hz
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): 1152x864@75Hz
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Manufacturer's mask: 0
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Supported standard timings:
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): #0: hsize: 1280  vsize 1024  refresh: 60  vid: 32897
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): #1: hsize: 1152  vsize 864  refresh: 75  vid: 20337
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): #2: hsize: 1280  vsize 960  refresh: 60  vid: 16513
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): #3: hsize: 1280  vsize 720  refresh: 60  vid: 49281
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): #4: hsize: 1440  vsize 900  refresh: 60  vid: 149
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): #5: hsize: 1440  vsize 900  refresh: 75  vid: 3989
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Supported detailed timing:
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): clock: 136.8 MHz   Image Size:  376 x 301 mm
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): h_active: 1440  h_sync: 1536  h_sync_end 1688 h_blank_end 1936 h_border: 0
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): v_active: 900  v_sync: 903  v_sync_end 909 v_blanking: 942 v_border: 0
---snip---
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Using hsync ranges from config file
[    16.306] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Using vrefresh ranges from config file
---big snip---
[    16.341] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Using user preference for initial modes
[    16.341] (II) NOUVEAU(0): Output VGA-1 using initial mode 1280x1024
---big snip---
[    16.383] resize called 1280 1024


I thought it looked like it wasn't too certain how big the monitor is (19 inch diagonal, I reckon - wide screen too) or what the resolution should be.

It might be worth your while to try deleting as much of the info in your xorg.conf file as you can get away with. That way it seems less likely that X will find conflicting information as it will only know what it can find out for itself.

You could start by trying this;

Code: Select all

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "monitor1"
 #VendorName "Acer"
 #ModelName "Acer X192W"
 #HorizSync 31.0-80.0
 #VertRefresh 56.0-75.0
 #Option "PreferredMode" "1280x1024"

 # Monitor preferred modeline (75.0 Hz vsync, 70.6 kHz hsync, ratio 16/10, 89 dpi)
# ModeLine "1440x900" 136.75 1440 1536 1688 1936 900 903 909 942 +hsync -vsync

 # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
 # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
 #ModeLine "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630

 # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
 #ModeLine "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616

EndSection


Effectively that just leaves a monitor device section which says;

Code: Select all

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier "monitor1"
EndSection
 

Well, it worked for me:-)

My theory is that if X only knows what EDID tells it, then that is ALL it can go by in selecting a screen size and resolution.
If that doesn't work then there may be something wrong with its interpretation of the EDID info (Xorg.0.log can be helpful in determining this).
If that is happening then I think we can force it to ignore EDID and go back to setting the information in the xorg.conf file. If you use the "nvidia" proprietary driver you can even force-feed it an alternative EDID file from another brand of monitor with similar specs - I have done that with various glass screen types in the past and I currently use the EDID from just one monitor to drive 3 similar but different models.

Richard

[oldbiddie]

Wow, you have left me on the roadside. I am just a user.... For some reason, the display seems OK...for the moment. I think there is something unstable somewhere and it happens when I come back to my computer after leaving it idling for a while. Yesterday, I just clicked to ´wake it´ and it went into a deep freeze. Had to unplug it and reboot. It was during the same procedure ( waking it) that the screen went skewiff.
I use a screen saver (slide show). The screen energy saving should cut off supply after 20 mn but doesn´t always. I don´t know if it has anything to do with the problems

[jaywalker]

Sorry, usually try to make sure all my passengers are back on the bus before I leave

To recap and re-phrase; I think I recognised some of your issues - if not exactly the same then perhaps from a similar cause.
I have been messing with nvidia cards for quite a while (since maybe 2007.0) and from time to time either Nvidia or Xorg does something to make my life difficult again.

We have had the option of Free drivers and Non-Free drivers for Nvidia cards for quite a while. At first the Free driver was called "nv" and wasn't really much good for anything other than accelerated 2D graphics and video. Then came "nouveau" which will perhaps one day do everything "nv" did, plus 3D acceleration too. More importantly, perhaps, it does its thing in the "new" way that modern X servers expect, which includes managing operations like hardware detection and driver loading in the kernel instead of in the X server.

That is the main reason why we who used to depend on xorg.conf magic are beginning to run into difficulties - sometimes things are done automagically by the new kernel-based methods. That is what Kernel Mode Setting is all about, I think.

On the other hand those awfully nice people at Nvidia have been providing us with super-fast accelerated 3D graphics drivers for quite some time. As with all things proprietary in the software world they are basically saying "my way or the highway" and they are very slow, or downright resistant, when it comes to doing things the Linux way. Using the proprietary driver can eliminate some problems and perhaps introduce other more subtle ones - there isn't a lot we can do about that 'cept beg them to do better.

SO, the first thing I wanted to clarify with you is the question of the non-free packages you said you had added to your installation. In the beginning you were using the Free "nouveau" driver (according to your xorg.conf and log files), and that is probably the best one for simple single monitor use with good graphics speed and video performance as it is fully integrated with your kernel and does things "the right way".

With the "nouveau" driver you can use a very basic xorg.conf file, or even, in some circumstances, do without it altogether. The "nvidia" driver is the proprietary one and it does a very good job of basic monitor detection and initialisation, but provides a bewildering range of extra configuration options you can put in your xorg.conf file to make maximum use of all of the hidden secrets in their hardware.

The other thing that happens when you install the "nvidia" driver is it provides its own range of 3D graphics OpenGL libraries to replace the free ones in a basic Mageia system, and it turns off Kernel Mode Setting (at least it did for me) by altering your boot command in the Grub file at /boot/grub/menu.lst.

OK, if you are still using "nouveau", and the non-free packages you mentioned installing have nothing to do with Nvidia, then we can forget everything about configuring the proprietary driver and concentrate on getting the native Linux stuff to work properly.

We can do this in a smallish number of simple steps, each focussing on an aspect of your problem.

1. Verify correct installation of the Free drivers (eg. KMS is used, no Nvidia files are present or referenced, your Xorg.0.log says you are using "nouveau")
2. Verify that your monitor is properly identified (eg. Does your Xorg.0.log file say the "right" things about it?)
3. Get you monitor initialised correctly (Does it look right?)
4. Get your system to "wake up" cleanly and not mess up the settings. (Does your computer Suspend/Sleep or just blank the monitor?)

I hope that is clearer, but it might just be differently incomprehensible

[oldbiddie]

Thanks, that is clear. At the moment, things seem to work and I tend to leave well alone. My monitor is properly identified. it looks right, etc.
Maybe some of the trouble comes from sleep/wake settings. It doesn´t always behave in the same way. Some times the screen saver stays on for a very long time and sometimes it suspends fairly early. I have never timed it but I shall and see if I can change things.