[Solved]Openbox dual monitor crashing

zero_one · 2010-09-18 16:02:20

I have been working this out for days to no avail. I have an ATI video card not using the catalyst drivers. Dual monitors worked fine in KDE without any additional setup, and no xorg.conf. In openbox i have tried with arandr, and manual. but when i enable the second monitor its seems that openbox crashes, because whatever is on the screen at the time of enabling the monitor turns to static. I think its openbox because i still have a functional mouse cursor and has proper fucntions accross both monitors in any configuration that i try. when it crashes i have to hard reboot. when i reboot with the monitor still plugged in, both lvds and vga will display a cloned image at the same resolution which is the wrong resolution for both lvds and vga.

I have googled till there is no link unclicked, and wiki give me nothing. i dont believe that i need to set up an xorg.conf as the external is detected fine. its almost like when x applies the settings it corrupts openbox.

anyone have any ideas?

Last edited by zero_one (2010-09-18 18:26:28)

IgnorantGuru · 2010-09-18 16:09:03

If it's not working without the xorg.conf, I would try providing one to give you some control and help you narrow down the problem. Also, try using a separate X display for the second monitor, at least for testing. It could be the cloning issue that is crashing openbox (if it is).

zero_one · 2010-09-18 16:38:33

you mean add the monitors to a xx-monitor.conf? i can give that a try but it doesnt seem that would provide the flexibility that im looking for as sometimes i use the external monitor disabiling lvds, sometimes right of, and sometimes i use hdmi to my tv set right of, to watch movies.

IgnorantGuru · 2010-09-18 17:30:58

zero_one wrote:

you mean add the monitors to a xx-monitor.conf? i can give that a try but it doesnt seem that would provide the flexibility that im looking for as sometimes i use the external monitor disabiling lvds, sometimes right of, and sometimes i use hdmi to my tv set right of, to watch movies.

I mean add the monitors to xorg.conf. Here is the xorg.conf I use with openbox (separate X display for the TV), just to give you an idea - yours will differ with ATI:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen[0]"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "tv"
    Screen      0  "Screen[1]"  0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
    Option            "AutoRepeat" "210 50"   #added, did no good, use ~/.xinitrc xset
    Option  "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor[0]"
    HorizSync       31.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     55.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor[1]"
    HorizSync       15.0 - 620.0
    VertRefresh     15.0 - 600.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device[0]"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    BoardName      "GeForce 8500 GT"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device[1]"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    BoardName      "GeForce 8500 GT"
    #adjust using 'lspci' or cat /proc/pci 
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Option      "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    #nvidia
    Identifier     "Screen[0]"
    Device         "Device[0]"
    Monitor        "Monitor[0]"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
#    Option         "metamodes" "DFP: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "True"
    Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes      "nvidia-auto-select"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    #nvidia
    Identifier     "Screen[1]"
    Device         "Device[1]"
    Monitor        "Monitor[1]"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "UseEDID" "FALSE"
    Option         "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"
    Option         "TvOutFormat" "Component"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT: 1920x1080 +0+0"
    Option         "TVStandard" "HD1080i"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "True"
    Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes      "nvidia-auto-select"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Then I start the second X display on the TV with this in openbox's autostart.sh:
(sleep 5 && xinit /usr/bin/openbox -- /usr/bin/X :1 -layout tv -nolisten tcp) &

Thus there are two instances of openbox running.

It may not give you the flexibility, but for testing it may help you narrow down what is causing the problem and find remedies.

Also, the monitor turning to static sounds more like a driver or X issue than something with openbox.

Last edited by IgnorantGuru (2010-09-18 17:46:12)

zero_one · 2010-09-18 18:25:45

thanks for your time guru. i figured it out... i sat down thought it out and before putting your ideas to work i tested a few other simple ideas that eluded me, and i found the culprit.
cairo-compmgr is what was corrupting the screen on enabling dual monitor. with cairo disabled every config i try works without problem. marking this as solved. and will see if i can find a way to make composting work with dualies, maybe i need to try the catalyst driver or scrap cairo altogether.

Last edited by zero_one (2010-09-18 22:19:59)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-09-18 16:02:20

[Solved]Openbox dual monitor crashing

#2 2010-09-18 16:09:03

Re: [Solved]Openbox dual monitor crashing

#3 2010-09-18 16:38:33

Re: [Solved]Openbox dual monitor crashing

#4 2010-09-18 17:30:58

Re: [Solved]Openbox dual monitor crashing

#5 2010-09-18 18:25:45

Re: [Solved]Openbox dual monitor crashing

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