Arch Linux

heptapod

Member

Registered: 2010-06-24

Posts: 35

[SOLVED] Xorg starts in wrong monitor

Hi all

I just installed Archlinux 2010-05 to my thinkpad T61. Followed the newbie install until the section for installing x11 where I ran into problems.
I have installed the packages nvidia, xorg and mesa without problems. I then do the test from the guide where I use xinit to start a simple x server with xterm. The problem is that I have an external monitor, but x11 starts on the laptop screen instead. Before I start x all text gets displayed on the external monitor.

Things that I have tried:
Hooking up the external monitor via vga cable and via dock and digital cable
Creating xorg.conf files with both nvidia-xconfig and Xorg-configure.
/etc/rc.conf: Having the MODULE= arguments both empty, just nvidia as argument, and using all output from hwdetect.

If i run xrandr inside x11 (on laptop screen), I only see my laptop screen listed.

So how can i make x11 detect and use my external monitor?

Last edited by heptapod (2010-10-03 12:40:06)

heptapod

Member

Registered: 2010-06-24

Posts: 35

Re: [SOLVED] Xorg starts in wrong monitor

For future searches:

The problem was that for some reason, xrandr does not work with nvidia driver.

I used nvidia-settings to set up everything as I wanted, then saved a configuration file from that program and put it in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d directory, with the proper filename. Which worked.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] Xorg starts in wrong monitor

Xrandr does work with nvidia but only to an extent. Nvidia provides it's own implementation, just like with libgl.
It works great with nouveau :-)

Please remember to mark the thread as [solved].

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,356

Re: [SOLVED] Xorg starts in wrong monitor

For future searches:

The problem was that for some reason, xrandr does not work with nvidia driver.

I used nvidia-settings to set up everything as I wanted, then saved a configuration file from that program and put it in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d directory, with the proper filename. Which worked.

Xrandr 1.1 is what nvidia provides, xrandr is now up to 1.3 (or was it 1.4?) so many of the newer features are not provided.

Those same features but implemented differently (in some cases, VERY differently) are available through nvidia-settings. This is mentioned all over the web

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