Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

rabcor · 2013-04-02 14:23:30

Feel free to scroll down to ->here<- if you don't wanna read the whole thread
If i plug in my tv which supports a resolution of up to 1600x1200 to my laptop, my terminal will become small (1024x768) on my (1600x900) laptop monitor.
If i start up X it shows a smaller picture of my desktop on top of my desktop as if i had 2 monitors, one big and one smaller copying the bigger one (Which it should be doing and is trying to do)

If i run xrandr it says VGA-0 (TV) has a max resolution of 1024x768 (which should be 1600x1200)

At first i thought that the resolution was going to be the problem, until i later on turned on the tv and got some weird results.

With a clean xorg.conf then everything looks like i described above except that the TV will not get an image and acts as if it's disconnected.

if i modify the xorg.conf a bit...
like so.

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "LVDS"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "VGA-0"
    Option "RightOf" "LVDS"
    Modeline "1600x1200_60"  161.00  1600 1712 1880 2160  1200 1203 1207 1245 -hsync +vsync
EndSection

I will get an image on the TV however the TV will maintain the resolution of 1024x768 and the desktop's size will grow out of bounds. (so i can't see my whole desktop basically, only the top left)
Also at this same time my laptop monitor will be completely messed up showing nothing but a black screen and artifacts until i restart the computer.

if i comment out the "Modeline..." my TV starts working. but the "Option "RightOf" "LVDS"" does not work. i can however after logging in use xrandr to move it there with

--output VGA-0 --right-of LVDS

Then (in xfce) i can open the display options and close them to permanently save the xrandr settings.

After doing this since the TV is not placed inside of the laptop monitor i can add the modeline line in again. however if i do that the TV will again act as if it's not connected (also if i use xrandr to change the TV's resolution it crashes my laptops screen)

Then i rebooted and the tv wont work anymore. and i can't seem to make it work again either. (I tried removing the xorg.conf, restarting, starting x, then turning it off and putting the xorg.conf that did work at one point back in there but nope. it refuses to work now.)

I don't even understand what's going on anymore does anyone understand this problem? have suggestions? I'm using the xorg radeon drivers, i had this laptop with the TV working like a month ago using the proprietary catalyst drivers before xorg dropped support for them, i just reinstalled arch to clean up the mess i'd made on the lpatpo tesitng out different WMs and whatnot and now this happened. (I have a windows installation aswell, so i've if i've ever doubted my cables rebooted into windows and its working perfectly fine in there)

It's also obviously not just X that is the problem but also the kernel, since the kernel is only detecting the TV as if it only had 1024x768 resolution, although i think it did that aswell back when i was on the proprietary drivers.

Here's a full dmesg

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Last edited by rabcor (2013-04-04 23:49:14)

jacobopantoja · 2013-04-02 14:44:25

Which graphics hardware?

Also, a dmesg would be useful.

And the output of

$ cat /sys/class/drm/card*/modes

If the graphics hardware is getting the EDID info from both monitors, everything should just work(TM) and no X.org nor kernel extra parameters should be needed.

Inxsible · 2013-04-02 14:49:36

before trying out changes in the xorg.conf or any other file for that matter, I would just use plain xrandr commands in the .xinitrc to see if they work. You can always move them to files later.

Secondly, why are you using xorg.conf? That's been deprecated a long time ago. Monitor configuration is normally done via a 10-monitor.conf under xorg.conf.d.

And finally, do all your posts have to be a wall of text explaining every scenario. Giving details is good, don't get me wrong, but please make sure that the detail is relevant to the problem at hand. Getting to the point quickly goes a long way. Another of your thread that is TL;DR

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=160678

Inxsible · 2013-04-02 15:02:13

This is a cross post again. Continue discussion in your other thread.

Closing.

Inxsible · 2013-04-02 15:16:02

Reopened on request of OP. I hope you have had a chance to read through the forum rules by now.

rabcor · 2013-04-02 15:41:50

Thanks.

This post isn't a wall of text its just a bit long. Longer than i wanted it to be, it was originally twice as long but i shortened it as much as i could because how else could i have explained the problem without giving some context?

Here's a full dmesg (also adding it to the original post) i don't even know very well how to use dmesg and only have a rough idea how it works, so you'll have to forgive that it's like 1000 lines

Last edited by rabcor (2013-04-02 15:45:21)

jacobopantoja · 2013-04-02 21:28:20

jacobopantoja wrote:

And the output of
$ cat /sys/class/drm/card*/modes

And, as stated by Inxsible, try removing (backup first) any xorg.conf file and then reinstall the package xorg-server. You should end with two files under /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ (00-keyboard.conf may be created by systemd apart from those two files) and no xorg.conf file.

Then test again, and you are ready to play with xrandr.

By the way, IIRC the AMD APU's are somehow WIP, so may be it is just not working OK (you can try linux-git from the AUR).

rabcor · 2013-04-02 22:27:52

Thanks jacob.

The output of cat /sys/class/drm/card*/modes was simply
1600x900
...
640x480
1024x768
...
640x480

Edit:
Jacob helped me troubleshoot the issue a bit on irc. as it turns out my CMP-TELVIEW2 (König pc to tv adapter) doesn't send any EDID data to the computer. i need to create or get an EDID file from somebody else and then follow this wiki entry.

Last edited by rabcor (2013-04-04 21:44:21)

rabcor · 2013-04-04 23:45:07

And this is sortof where i'm stuck now, i edited the thread's title to a more descriptive name. I have no knowledge about creating EDIDs but i have the phoenix EDID designer. just no idea how to use it. I need 2 things.

An EDID file for an analogue display (VGA) that supports a resolution of 1600x1200@60hz it's a CRT if that info helps.

And i need to know if i need to compile custom kernel to be able to use the command below.

drm_kms_helper.edid_firmware=VGA-1:edid/your_edid.bin

The explanations on the wiki around this subject aren't exactly noob-proof (or well, i didn't manage to understand most of it)

Last edited by rabcor (2013-04-05 00:01:48)

jacobopantoja · 2013-04-05 13:44:39

You can find the EDID for 1600x1200 in the following link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4EqBXY … edit?pli=1

It will probably be included in the mainstream kernel, but I don't know when still.

The instructions in the wiki for EDID were made by me, I'm sorry. You are open to improve them!

All the best.

rabcor · 2013-04-05 20:31:29

Thanks so much jacob, i would've given up on this issue by now if it wasn't for your assistance!.

it (almost) worked. here's what i did.
I followed your KMS guide for forcing EDID. using "ls /sys/drm/card*" to find out the ID of my monitor (VGA-1)
I added the EDID you gave me to /lib/firmware/edid

and made a file called /etc/modprobe.d/edid.conf
adding

options drm_kms_helper edid_firmware=VGA-1:edid/1600x1200.bin

It executes flawlessly and now my tv's only valid resolution is 1600x1200. I hardly believed my eyes when the terminal on my laptop wasn't a tiny little window in the corner of my screen anymore.

If i knew how i would add this to the wiki. but i don't.

then i followed this guide: Here
And used it's xorg conf settings example with my own values and thanks to that one now my desktop is working properly like its supposed to, the screens aren't switching locations without me being able to predict it and whatnot anymore, and my WM properly detects the 2 displays at the correct resolutions automatically.

However at this point i still have one problem. My TV doesn't display any image now, and i can't force it to do so anymore with xrandr. (if i told xrandr specifically to use the tv it usually worked, but it also usually crashed my LVDS)

the only clue i have at the moment is that at first xrandr gave me this error.

xrandr: cannot find crtc for output LVDS

Which is how i found out about the guide for xorg.conf that worked so well (or in my case i placed it in xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf)

after doing so i don't get the error anymore but the tv still displays no image. (I confirmed that it is plugged in and working properly on windows just to be 100% on it) the TV shows no reaction at all on bootup nor after starting X.

Last edited by rabcor (2013-04-05 20:33:42)

jacobopantoja · 2013-04-06 08:27:51

Are you having any output on your TV when in Virtual Terminals?

If you are not, it may be that it is being detected as "disconnected". You can check with

$ cat /sys/class/drm/card0-VGA-1/status

In case it shows "disconnected", try adding to the kernel command line

vga=VGA-1:e

which forces VGA output to be enabled.

If you are having output on VT, then it is a problem with X. Try instead following the instructions on the wikipage for XrandR:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/DualScreen

rabcor · 2013-04-06 14:26:24

No, it's not X. And it's not 100% broken either. i managed to make it work.

I went to bed a few hours after posting that. i shut down the computer, i unplugged it for a second then plugged it back in (while it was off) and went to sleep, today when i woke up i started the computer and my LVDS got messed up and the CRT displayed nothing. I shut it down with the button and then started it up again. The LVDS works, the crt displays nothing. then after a while the LVDS turned off (due to inactivity) still in terminal mode. i pressed space and all of a sudden the CRT kicked in. I started X and it works flawlessly at this point.

Now since i don't exactly need to be using the TV for now, i'll restart and check the things you asked for. (I disabled my display manager on boot so i start in the terminal.)

I rebooted and have no output.

$ cat /sys/class/drm/card0-VGA-1/status
connected

I tried adding the line to the kernel command line you told me but nothing happens.

However i guess it's not hopeless since it showed us it can work.

I'll try repeating these steps that i did earlier to make them work.

Edit:
It worked, so now i have a method of turning on the tv. (wait for screen blanking, then press a key to turn both screens on)

Have any idea why this is? i'd settle for a command to perform this task (alias or something like that) it also works while i'm in X.

Last edited by rabcor (2013-04-06 14:52:47)

Arch Linux

#1 2013-04-02 14:23:30

Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#2 2013-04-02 14:44:25

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#3 2013-04-02 14:49:36

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#4 2013-04-02 15:02:13

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#5 2013-04-02 15:16:02

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#6 2013-04-02 15:41:50

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#7 2013-04-02 21:28:20

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#8 2013-04-02 22:27:52

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#9 2013-04-04 23:45:07

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#10 2013-04-05 13:44:39

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#11 2013-04-05 20:31:29

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#12 2013-04-06 08:27:51

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

#13 2013-04-06 14:26:24

Re: Missing EDID resulting in bad resolution.

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