External monitor problem

Sipasama · 2016-03-16 08:57:43

Hay. My laptops LCD is broken and i have arch linux on that computer. Now I´m trying to use samsung tv as a monitor. I have slight problem. Everything like lockscreen is posted on laptops screen, not to tv and becose of that I cant do anything. How i can change main monitor without seeing desktop? I don´t get any starting codes or anything on tv. I only get black empty gray lockscreen on tv after boot and some waiting. I´m using HDMI

What to do?

Thanks.

PS. I´m still noob with arch but doing best learning to be better

Last edited by Sipasama (2016-03-16 08:59:55)

Docbroke · 2016-03-16 10:04:48

I think display to right/left of primary display will be seen after you start x, can you boot to console? It should give you dual display by default, where you can change your settings.

Sipasama · 2016-03-16 10:15:54

I autorun Gnome and everything is on broken laptop screen so I get only gray screen on tv. I know it is posting login options on broken screen but it´s impossible to do anything with it without seeing. Is there any funktion or any key combination to totally shut down build in screen and use external as only screen?

Docbroke · 2016-03-16 10:24:28

try this, start your laptop and wait a minute for it to boot, then hit "ctrl+alt+F2" this will take you to terminal 2,

type your username, press enter
type your password press enter

if you see cloned display on your tv now fine, else type this (assuming you have connected your tv with HDMI)

xrandr --output LVDS1 --off --output HDMI1 --auto --primary

EDIT: typo in code corrected

Last edited by Docbroke (2016-03-16 11:14:28)

Trilby · 2016-03-16 12:01:43

You cannot use xrandr commands from outside of X. But otherwise that is a good xrandr command to use: put it in your xinitrc, or whatever startup files are used by your DM.

Getting the boot sequence to show on an external display rather than the built in screen is generally done from BIOS/firmware VGA settings.

Docbroke · 2016-03-16 12:06:41

@Trilby, thanks for correcting,
what about using?

echo "xrandr --output LVDS1 --off --output HDMI1 --auto --primary" >> .xinitrc

I guess too long for blind typing.

Another option would be to take hdd/ssd out from the laptop, connect it to some other system and change .xinitrc.

Last edited by Docbroke (2016-03-16 12:08:12)

Trilby · 2016-03-16 12:11:39

1 - the OP likely doesn't use xinitrc. 2 - appending to the end of xinitrc will place that after any exec line so it will never be executed.

There are many approaches possible, but removing the harddrive should definitely not be necessary. If there is another computer the OP might be able to shell in, or if a ssh server isn't running use the kernel command line to open a tty on a serial terminal and use that from another computer. But by far the easiest would just be to set the console to the external monitor in BIOS settings.

Sipasama · 2016-03-17 14:25:23

Thanks to all of you for help. I managed to solve problem much easier way. Simply putting screens own magnet to connector point where it regongnices that lid is closed

Docbroke · 2016-03-17 14:50:49

that's great! I would suggest you to change default display from bios if supported, otherwise add that xrandr script to your startup file.
And don't forget to mark this thread solved by editing your first post, and prepending [solved] to the title

Arch Linux

#1 2016-03-16 08:57:43

External monitor problem

#2 2016-03-16 10:04:48

Re: External monitor problem

#3 2016-03-16 10:15:54

Re: External monitor problem

#4 2016-03-16 10:24:28

Re: External monitor problem

#5 2016-03-16 12:01:43

Re: External monitor problem

#6 2016-03-16 12:06:41

Re: External monitor problem

#7 2016-03-16 12:11:39

Re: External monitor problem

#8 2016-03-17 14:25:23

Re: External monitor problem

#9 2016-03-17 14:50:49

Re: External monitor problem

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