Zenbook UX21 Dual monitor weirdness

regulatethis · 2012-02-17 05:23:58

I've been following the UX31 Wiki page and things seem to be coming together nicely for the most part. I'm running GNOME3, and typically will have my laptop plugged into my larger monitor, keyboard and mouse at my desk.

I've noticed an annoying issue with the monitors. If I boot the laptop up and then plug it into my monitor (using the VGA dongle thing), everything works fine. I can use both the laptop monitor and my desktop, and I can set them up how I want using the display settings gui. However, if the VGA cable is already connected when I turn on the laptop only the desktop monitor is used, and the login screen looks incorrect (as if it was meant to be rendered on the smaller screen). Nothing seems to turn the laptop's monitor back on, although GNOME seems to think it has another desktop available - my mouse can still move off screen and I think some windows open on the other side (therefore inaccessible to me). I've tried the keys on the laptop itself FN+F7 does nothing, and FN+F8 blanks out my desktop monitor (but leaves the laptop monitor blank as well).

I'm not really sure where to start looking to fix this. Is this some Xorg issue? Do I need to define the screens somewhere? How does it handle the two states (i.e. vga plugged in or not)? I've tried googling and going through the wiki for a few hours already and nothing much has come up. I read somewhere about a tool called "xrandr" that seems to output information on my displays, but I'm not sure what to do with it. Here's the output when the laptop monitor is off:

[daniel@mirage ~]$ xrandr 
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3046 x 1050, maximum 8192 x 8192
eDP1 connected 1366x768+0+282 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 256mm x 144mm
   1366x768       60.0*+
VGA1 connected 1680x1050+1366+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 473mm x 296mm
   1680x1050      60.0*+
   1280x1024      75.0     60.0  
   1152x864       75.0  
   1024x768       75.1     60.0  
   800x600        75.0     60.3  
   640x480        75.0     60.0  
   720x400        70.1  
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Note that it says two displays are connected, yet only 1 is actually on (the desktop, which I assume is VGA1). The output of xrandr is the same if I plug the VGA cable in afterwards.

Can anyone help?

Last edited by regulatethis (2012-02-17 05:50:57)

cfr · 2012-02-18 01:48:02

Is the screen completely blank or is the backlight off?

What happens if you switch to e.g. tty1?

regulatethis · 2012-02-18 21:19:21

The screen looks off, as if it didn't have any power. Switching tty is not possible, the keys have no effect.

JamieKitson · 2012-03-04 01:48:10

I have the same issue. I am wondering a) how to list connected monitors b) whether creating an xorg.conf.d file would help.

X does seem to recognise the laptop screen and think that it is using it as I can move the cursor on to that screen, but it's just not on.

Last edited by JamieKitson (2012-03-04 10:50:26)

JamieKitson · 2012-03-04 14:19:23

I don't know if this is related, or a separate issue, but if I use xrandr to disable the laptop screen and then try to re-enable it, ie:

# xrandr --output eDP1 --off
# xrandr --output eDP1 --auto

Then I get:

xrandr: Configure crtc 0 failed

and in Xorg.0.log:

(EE) intel(0): failed to set mode: Invalid argument

Izuil · 2012-08-04 08:23:29

Was this ever solved? I'm having the same issue...

regulatethis · 2012-08-05 01:27:13

Partially for me at least. I still have problems where sometimes I get a blank screen immediately after login. This also happens sometimes when I've plugged the monitor in or out.

It seems that deleting ~/.config/monitors.xml gets things working again but then I have to reconfigure my monitor settings (which also sometimes causes blank screens).

This is one of the most annoying and persistent issues I've experienced with linux. I wonder what it is about laptops and monitors that makes this so difficult to get working consistently.

JamieKitson · 2012-08-05 08:59:59

I've read some people say that with the UX32VD they have to close and open the laptop to get the screen working. I haven't tried this yet on my UX31E.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-02-17 05:23:58

Zenbook UX21 Dual monitor weirdness

#2 2012-02-18 01:48:02

Re: Zenbook UX21 Dual monitor weirdness

#3 2012-02-18 21:19:21

Re: Zenbook UX21 Dual monitor weirdness

#4 2012-03-04 01:48:10

Re: Zenbook UX21 Dual monitor weirdness

#5 2012-03-04 14:19:23

Re: Zenbook UX21 Dual monitor weirdness

#6 2012-08-04 08:23:29

Re: Zenbook UX21 Dual monitor weirdness

#7 2012-08-05 01:27:13

Re: Zenbook UX21 Dual monitor weirdness

#8 2012-08-05 08:59:59

Re: Zenbook UX21 Dual monitor weirdness

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