[SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

handy · 2011-11-06 22:22:02

I've recently installed Arch on an HP box - quad core i3 @ 3.1GHz, 4GB RAM, Radeon HD 6450 GPU / 1GB RAM;- it is using a Samsung SyncMaster 2443 24" monitor.

[edit:] Using the open source xf86-video-ati driver stack. /edit

The problem I have is that the X server thinks that the monitor isn't capable of handling more than vesa - in this case 1024x768 res'.

If I change xorg.conf.d/20-gpudriver.conf from vesa to ati, or create a .../20-radeondriver.conf with radeon in it the X server fails to start, stating that the screen found was unsuitable?

So, how do I get around this? This monitor was previously being used on an AGP nVidia GeForce 7950GT very happily at 1920x1200.

I've searched & not come up with info' on this. The data on the X.org wiki is out of date in this regard.

Thanks for your time.

Last edited by handy (2011-11-12 01:53:03)

karol · 2011-11-06 22:29:03

What graphics driver are you using? vesa or some ATI driver?

handy · 2011-11-06 22:47:23

karol wrote:

What graphics driver are you using? vesa or some ATI driver?

Sorry, I should have stated that I'm using the open source xf86-video-ati-git from the Perry3D repo at spriralinear.org.

I have used the non -git version with exactly the same results.

handy · 2011-11-07 01:15:01

Further on this: I've another machine that runs a Core2Duo @ 2.4GHz, Radeon HD 2600 Pro / 256MB RAM, & has been using 1920x1200 res' on its 24" screen, using Arch for over 3.5 years, via the x86-video-ati open source driver stack (having usually been on the -git stack for the last couple of years).

When I look in the xorg.conf.d directory on that machine there are only the 10-evdev.conf & 10-quirks.conf files in existence.

Last edited by handy (2011-11-07 01:16:26)

karol · 2011-11-07 01:18:22

I'm not familiar with 20-gpudriver.conf. What happens if you remove that file?

handy · 2011-11-07 03:52:45

I currently have it renamed, (it was made by X) it makes no difference.

Last edited by handy (2011-11-07 08:53:57)

karol · 2011-11-07 03:58:38

handy wrote:

I currently have it renamed, (it was made my X) it makes no difference.

Renaming makes no difference, you need to move it to another directory.

handy · 2011-11-07 05:29:56

karol wrote:

handy wrote:
I currently have it renamed, (it was made my X) it makes no difference.
Renaming makes no difference, you need to move it to another directory.

From what I've read, X reads each of the script files in xorg.conf.d in order from the lowest numbered name to the highest.

My xorg.conf.d has files beginning with 01-, 10-, 10-, 10-, 50-, 50- .

Which is why I thought that renaming 20-gpudriver.conf to held-20-gpudriver.conf would take it out of the game.

Anyway I moved the file as you suggested & rebooted the machine. It made no difference.

There must surely be an appropriate way to give X the details of the monitor in a file situated in xorg.conf.d ?

The monitor section of the old xorg.conf must have been the messiest part of the whole thing, I'm hoping the solution for this problem can be done in a simpler fashion than that.

karol · 2011-11-07 05:44:43

Ah, if you renamed it this way ... :-)

How about 10-monitor.conf?

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier    "Monitor0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier    "Device0"
   Driver        "nouveau" #Choose the driver used for this monitor
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier    "Screen0"  #Collapse Monitor and Device section to
Screen section
   Device        "Device0"
   Monitor       "Monitor0"
   DefaultDepth  24 #Choose the depth (16||24)
   SubSection "Display"
       Depth     24
       Modes     "1440x900_60.00" #Choose the resolution
   EndSubSection
EndSection

Edit as necessary.

handy · 2011-11-07 06:04:48

Thanks, I'll give it a go & I'll surely let you know.

handy · 2011-11-07 07:14:55

I've given the script you supplied a workout, I've tried multiple resolutions that should be appropriate to the monitor, & I made a 20-radeon.conf file & played with that a little.

The script you posted has an error I think, I commented out the "Screen section" & the 2nd last "EndSection" lines. X was happier about that, but I couldn't get past this error:

(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
Fatal server error:
no screens found

A bit of a pain really. lol

[edit:] I just renamed the 2 files I have been working on, adding the "held-" at the start of their names & guess what? You were right, they actually were being read & used even with the "held-" prefix on them!

Live & learn eh!

Last edited by handy (2011-11-07 07:23:19)

karol · 2011-11-07 07:36:07

'Screen section' was moved from the previous line, my mistake, it should read

Section "Screen"
   Identifier    "Screen0"  #Collapse Monitor and Device section to Screen section
   Device        "Device0"

instead of

Section "Screen"
   Identifier    "Screen0"  #Collapse Monitor and Device section to
Screen section
   Device        "Device0"

The lines must have got wrapped in my e-mail client.

handy · 2011-11-07 07:43:40

Yep, that's what I did with it & removed an EndSection to make the parts all add up.

Even so, it unfortunately didn't get me out of trouble, with or without the 20-radeon.conf file.

karol · 2011-11-07 07:46:58

handy wrote:

Yep, that's what I did with it & removed an EndSection to make the parts all add up.

Not sure if it matters, but I don't get it:

Section "Monitor"
...
EndSection

Section "Device"
...
EndSection

Section "Screen"
...
EndSection

I removed only the stuff from between the 'Section' and 'EndSection' tags and it seems to add up.

handy · 2011-11-07 08:23:25

I can see what has happened now:-

Section Screen
Screen section (wrap around)
Subsection Display
EndSubSection
Endsection <<-- I must have put that one there initially. <oop!>
Endsection

My fault for missing it when I first looked at your post of the script, then it went from bad to worse, to better again. lol

Last edited by handy (2011-11-07 08:25:02)

karol · 2011-11-07 08:27:00

Did it change anything?

handy · 2011-11-07 08:56:38

No. I had done all that with every variation of mode & with/without the 20-radeon.conf (also used across every mode with either "radeon" or "ati" inside) before I posted back in post#_11.

handy · 2011-11-10 00:10:55

Interestingly, yesterday I used my PS3 (unusual these days) which is permanently plugged into the digital port of the SyncMaster 2443 monitor, the computer is plugged into the analogue port using an adapter at the graphics card.

When I turned off the PS3, I turned on the computer, though the monitor didn't detect input (which is not uncommon) it has to detect whether it is digital or analogue, so I turned off the monitor briefly & then turned it on again. It quickly found the analogue input & displayed it.

When X/Openbox loaded it was in 1600x1200 res'!

I removed the /etc/xorg.conf.d/20-gpudriver.conf file & rebooted (with my fingers crossed) & it came back at 1600x1200. I don't feel like stretching my luck & going for 1920x1200, as the current res' is good enough for my purposes. I hopefully expect that one day there will be an X server upgrade that will just automatically give me (the system valid) 1920x1200 res' the next time I boot the machine.

Dealing with X can certainly be a black art...

Last edited by handy (2011-11-10 00:12:10)

handy · 2011-11-10 07:45:27

On another forum someone bought up EDID, which got me thinking (incorrectly) that this is very likely what the problem is. So I made a file to put in the xorg.conf.d directory which presented the Device - radeon & its driver, & the Monitor & the preferedmode, it also turned off EDID, the device & monitor were bought together in the Screens section. (See below for a modified version.)

It made no difference.

I went looking in Xorg.0.log & found this:

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/radeon_drv.so
(II) [KMS] drm report modesetting isn't supported.
(II) GPU only supported with KMS, using vesa instead.
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so

Which says that the Radeon 6450 GPU isn't supporting KMS & so therefore the xf86-video-ati driver stack won't work with it. (The card is made by AMD too.)

I wish I had of looked hard at the Xorg.0.log days ago it certainly would have saved me some time. Yes, I know, slow learner...

I'm also thoroughly impressed with the capabilities of the vesa driver stack these days. It really is providing a lot of options according to the log file, & It will also go to resolutions beyond 1920x1200.

I've checked on the web & it looks like 1920x1200 is a resolution supported by vesa.

I need to know how to tell X what it wants to hear in the way that it can understand...

This is what I'm using in /etc/xorg.conf.d/20-monitor.conf:

Section "Device"
	Identifier "v"
    	Driver     "vesa"
EndSection


Section "Monitor"
	Identifier "Monitor[0]"
	VendorName "SAM"
	ModelName "SyncMaster"
#	Option "IgnoreEDID" "true"
	Option "PreferredMode" "1920x1200"
#	UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection


Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device "vesa"
	Monitor "Monitor[0]"
#	DefaultDepth 24
#		SubSection "Display"
#			Depth 24
#		EndSubSection
EndSection

This is the max res' that X found from the data read from EDID:

Modeline "1920x1200"x0.0  154.00  1920 1968 2000 2080  1200 1203 1209 1235 +hsync -vsync (74.0 kHz)

1920x1200 is the monitors max resolution.

Xorg.0.log tells me is that there is no vesa mode of 1920x1200. It tries for sizes on either side of that, like 1920x1440 & 1856x1392 & says "(no mode of this name)".

But there IS vesa 1920x1200 support. So I really need to know how to tell X to use it?

Last edited by handy (2011-11-10 08:15:53)

handy · 2011-11-10 08:27:45

Looking at Xorg.0.log I see the following:

(==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
(==) No Layout section.  Using the first Screen section.
(==) No screen section available. Using defaults.
(**) |-->Screen "Default Screen Section" (0)
(**) |   |-->Monitor "<default monitor>"
(==) No monitor specified for screen "Default Screen Section".
	Using a default monitor configuration.

Does anyone know where I can find information on how X wants the files in xorg.conf.d set up?

I couldn't find anything when I searched X.org wiki.

skunktrader · 2011-11-10 09:45:21

Mod - Please delete this post

Last edited by skunktrader (2011-11-10 09:46:00)

handy · 2011-11-10 22:36:34

I have tried various trial & all error changes to the modified xorg.conf file quoted in my previous post obviously with no success.

If anyone else has had this problem & understands how to fix it please spare a few minutes & write it down. I know there are other Arch users that are having this problem though fortunately we are in a small minority.

handy · 2011-11-12 01:52:33

I just ran the following command:

sudo hwinfo --framebuffer | less

{I didn't really need to pipe the output to less, but if you don't use the --framebuffer option you certainly do (well I did anyway).}

Which gives me this output:

02: None 00.0: 11001 VESA Framebuffer
  [Created at bios.459]
  Unique ID: rdCR.aX_EXjgoS_0
  Hardware Class: framebuffer
  Model: "(C) 1988-2010, AMD CAICOS"
  Vendor: "(C) 1988-2010, AMD Technologies Inc."
  Device: "CAICOS"
  SubVendor: "AMD ATOMBIOS"
  SubDevice:
  Revision: "01.00"
  Memory Size: 16 MB
  Memory Range: 0xc0000000-0xc0ffffff (rw)
  Mode 0x0300: 640x400 (+640), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0301: 640x480 (+640), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0303: 800x600 (+832), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0305: 1024x768 (+1024), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0307: 1280x1024 (+1280), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0310: 640x480 (+1280), 15 bits
  Mode 0x0311: 640x480 (+1280), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0313: 800x600 (+1600), 15 bits
  Mode 0x0314: 800x600 (+1600), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0316: 1024x768 (+2048), 15 bits
  Mode 0x0317: 1024x768 (+2048), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0319: 1280x1024 (+2560), 15 bits
  Mode 0x031a: 1280x1024 (+2560), 16 bits
  Mode 0x030d: 320x200 (+640), 15 bits
  Mode 0x030e: 320x200 (+640), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0320: 320x200 (+1280), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0393: 320x240 (+320), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0395: 320x240 (+640), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0396: 320x240 (+1280), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0396: 320x240 (+1280), 24 bits
  Mode 0x03b3: 512x384 (+512), 8 bits
  Mode 0x03b5: 512x384 (+1024), 16 bits
  Mode 0x03b6: 512x384 (+2048), 24 bits
  Mode 0x03c3: 640x350 (+640), 8 bits
  Mode 0x03c5: 640x350 (+1280), 16 bits
  Mode 0x03c6: 640x350 (+2560), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0333: 720x400 (+768), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0335: 720x400 (+1472), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0336: 720x400 (+2944), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0353: 1152x864 (+1152), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0355: 1152x864 (+2304), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0356: 1152x864 (+4608), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0363: 1280x960 (+1280), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0365: 1280x960 (+2560), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0366: 1280x960 (+5120), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0321: 640x480 (+2560), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0322: 800x600 (+3200), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0323: 1024x768 (+4096), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0324: 1280x1024 (+5120), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0343: 1400x1050 (+1408), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0345: 1400x1050 (+2816), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0346: 1400x1050 (+5632), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0373: 1600x1200 (+1600), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0375: 1600x1200 (+3200), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0376: 1600x1200 (+6400), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0383: 1792x1344 (+1792), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0385: 1792x1344 (+3584), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0386: 1792x1344 (+7168), 24 bits
  Mode 0x03d3: 1856x1392 (+1856), 8 bits
  Mode 0x03d5: 1856x1392 (+3712), 16 bits
  Mode 0x03d6: 1856x1392 (+7424), 24 bits
  Mode 0x03e3: 1920x1440 (+1920), 8 bits
  Mode 0x03e5: 1920x1440 (+3840), 16 bits
  Mode 0x03e6: 1920x1440 (+7680), 24 bits
(END)

So now at last I understand (I had wondered about this) my graphics card supplies only the above vesa resolutions. This is why I see all of them being tested in the Xorg.0.log & I don't see 1920x1200.

I can at last put this one to bed.

Last edited by handy (2011-11-12 21:58:52)

karol · 2011-11-12 13:10:03

handy, please edit your post.
When pasting code, please use [ code ] tags https://bbs.archlinux.org/help.php#bbcode

like this

It makes the code more readable and more convenient to scroll through.

handy · 2011-11-12 22:05:50

Fixed.

As you would have noticed in my previous posts karol, I usually do encapsulate quotes & code appropriately, in this instance I was copying the content from another forum where I had previously posted it & the encapsulation escaped me...

Thank you for so kindly bringing it to my attention.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-11-06 22:22:02

[SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#2 2011-11-06 22:29:03

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#3 2011-11-06 22:47:23

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#4 2011-11-07 01:15:01

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#5 2011-11-07 01:18:22

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#6 2011-11-07 03:52:45

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#7 2011-11-07 03:58:38

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#8 2011-11-07 05:29:56

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#9 2011-11-07 05:44:43

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#10 2011-11-07 06:04:48

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#11 2011-11-07 07:14:55

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#12 2011-11-07 07:36:07

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#13 2011-11-07 07:43:40

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#14 2011-11-07 07:46:58

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#15 2011-11-07 08:23:25

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#16 2011-11-07 08:27:00

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#17 2011-11-07 08:56:38

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#18 2011-11-10 00:10:55

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#19 2011-11-10 07:45:27

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#20 2011-11-10 08:27:45

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#21 2011-11-10 09:45:21

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#22 2011-11-10 22:36:34

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#23 2011-11-12 01:52:33

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#24 2011-11-12 13:10:03

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

#25 2011-11-12 22:05:50

Re: [SOLVED] How do you input monitor details in xorg.conf.d/ ?

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