Arch Linux

adamski

Member

Registered: 2021-11-03

Posts: 3

Issues with mirroring/extending displays

OS: Arch Linux x86_64
Host: Swift SF114-32 V1.09
Kernel: 5.14.15-arch1-1
Uptime: 5 mins
Packages: 862 (pacman)
Shell: bash 5.1.8
Resolution: 1920x1080
WM: i3
Theme: Adwaita-dark [GTK2/3]
Icons: Yaru [GTK2/3]
Terminal: alacritty
CPU: Intel Pentium Silver N5000 (4) @ 2.700GHz
GPU: Intel GeminiLake [UHD Graphics 605]
Memory: 518MiB / 7757MiB

Vanilla Arch with i3-gaps and no DM. I'm using startx/xinit.
Find my laptops dotfiles here: https://github.com/adamstuck/dotfiles/tree/laptop
Probably important files:
  .bash_profile (startx),
  .config/X11/xinitrc

I'm running arch on my Acer Swift 1 and it's been going fairly smoothly except for a few issues. The biggest being I can't seem to get external displays to work at all. When I try to mirror or extend my laptop with an external monitor, whether by xrandr or arandr, I end up with two competely black, backlit screens. At this point my laptop doesn't respond to any input and I can't see anything. I can't access another TTY. So I have no choice but to hold the power key to restart.

One weird thing is if I have my external monitor plugged in and then I boot the laptop it actually mirrors the monitors  as a default behavior. So how do I do this myself from the terminal, for when I want to plug a monitor in without having to restart my laptop?

Standard xrandr output:

    Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 32767 x 32767
    eDP1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 310mm x 170mm
       1920x1080     60.01*+  59.93
       1680x1050     59.88
       1400x1050     59.98
       1600x900      60.00    59.95    59.82
       1280x1024     60.02
       1400x900      59.96    59.88
       1280x960      60.00
       1368x768      60.00    59.88    59.85
       1280x800      59.81    59.91
       1280x720      59.86    60.00    59.74
       1024x768      60.00
       1024x576      60.00    59.90    59.82
       960x540       60.00    59.63    59.82
       800x600       60.32    56.25
       864x486       60.00    59.92    59.57
       640x480       59.94
       720x405       59.51    60.00    58.99
       640x360       59.84    59.32    60.00
    HDMI1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
       2048x1080     60.00    24.00
       1920x1080     60.00    60.00    50.00    59.94    25.00    24.00    23.98
       1920x1080i    60.00    50.00    59.94    50.00
       1600x1200     60.00
       1600x900      60.00
       1280x1024     75.02    60.02
       1152x864      75.00
       1280x720      60.00    50.00    59.94
       1024x768      75.03    60.00
       800x600       75.00    60.32
       720x576       50.00
       720x576i      50.00
       720x480       60.00    59.94
       720x480i      60.00    59.94
       640x480       75.00    60.00    59.94
       720x400       70.08
    VIRTUAL1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Things I've tried:

    xrandr --output HDMI1 --mode 1920x1080
    xrandr --output eDP1 --mode 1920x1080 --output HDMI1 --mode 1920x1080 --same-as eDP1
    xrandr --output eDP1 --mode 1920x1080 --fb 1920x1080 --panning 1920x1080* --output HDMI1 --mode 1920x1080 --same-as eDP1

In arandr I just activated HDM1 with: Outputs > HDMI1 > Active. Then I dragged HDM1 to the side of my laptop monitor just as an attempt to try extending the display. After hitting the green check mark I get the same issue. Two black, backlit monitors and seemingly no response to any keyboard input.

I've been reading through the wiki and stackoverflow and using my google-fu, but I can't seem to find a solution to my issue anywhere. So any ideas?

adamski

Member

Registered: 2021-11-03

Posts: 3

Re: Issues with mirroring/extending displays

I tried running gnome and checking if plugging in an external monitor would work there but got the exact same issues.
So my problem is DE/WM independent.
Is there some log file I can check that will tell me what's going on when I plug in a HDMI cable?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,659

Re: Issues with mirroring/extending displays

Remove xf86-video-intel and retry. Also maybe check/post a xorg log after such a failure.

adamski

Member

Registered: 2021-11-03

Posts: 3

Re: Issues with mirroring/extending displays

Remove xf86-video-intel and retry. Also maybe check/post a xorg log after such a failure.

Tried again after removing xf86-video-intel and it didn't have any change other than graphics very slow and glitchy.
I'm back on i3 again now by the way seeing as gnome didn't make a difference.

Here's my xorg log with the monitor plugged when I turn on the laptop: https://pastebin.com/a72w9LmZ