XRandR/Xorg: Setting external monitor to native resolution fails

Olson · 2011-03-29 01:35:29

I've spent several days trying for the life of me to figure this out, sorting through dozens of threads, so I could really use some help. I'm attempting to use an external VGA monitor with my laptop, but it refuses to display anything but my laptop's native resolution. The output of 'xrandr -q' is:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 800, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 303mm x 190mm
   1280x800       60.0*+
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 443mm x 249mm
   1600x900       59.9 +
   1280x1024      60.0  
   1280x960       60.0  
   1280x800       59.8* 
   1152x864       75.0  
   1280x720       60.0  
   1024x768       75.1     70.1     60.0  
   832x624        74.6  
   800x600        72.2     75.0     60.3     56.2  
   640x480        72.8     75.0     66.7     60.0  
   720x400        70.1  
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

So it's detecting the full resolution of the external display, but it will only use 1280x800, my laptop's resolution. I've created a file in xorg.conf.d/ called 10-monitor.conf. I have tried following multiple guides on how to set all of this up but all have failed. I downloaded a GUI frontend for XRandR (arandr) but every time I attempt to apply my settings (external at 1600x900) in either XRandR or arandr, I get the same result: both of my screens go black, and only a cursor is displayed. The cursor changes from an arrow point to the 'I' beam that's standard when hovering over text if I move it around. At that point I have to kill XMonad via a keybind, log in as root (because my Xorg file breaks X), rename 10-monitor.conf so it won't be used, and then log back in as my normal user. I've done that like 50 times at this point.

Here's my 10-monitor.conf:

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Device0"
    Driver      "intel"
    BusID      "PCI:0:2:1"
    Option        "MergedFB" "true"
    Option        "MetaModes" "1280x800-1280x800 1280x800-1600x900"
    Option        "MergedDPI" "100 100"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Device1"
    Driver      "intel"
    BusID      "PCI:0:2:0"
    Screen      1
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Monitor0"
    Option        "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier      "Monitor1"
    Option        "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Screen0"
    Device        "Device0"
    Monitor      "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth  24
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     24
        Modes      "1280x800"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Screen1"
    Device        "Device1"
    Monitor      "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth  24
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     24
        Modes      "1280x800" "1600x900"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "External"
    Screen       0 "Screen0"
EndSection

That's probably the file's like, 30th incarnation based on any of the tutorials and threads I've read online. Whenever it is read and I check out the log, I'll get something along the lines of "no devices detected" or "no screens detected". I have managed to get that message to change a few times but X has never been able to start once.

the relevant output of lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)

I would be so overjoyed by some help here because I am at my wit's end.

Olson · 2011-03-30 19:37:20

would it be kosher to bump this?

Last edited by Olson (2011-03-30 19:37:34)

Olson · 2011-04-04 04:24:59

should this be moved to the laptop subforum?

ngoonee · 2011-04-04 05:24:27

I'll move it there, but I doubt you'd get much better response. Hopefully you will . Next time, to contact a moderator with requests like that, just 'report' the post.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-29 01:35:29

XRandR/Xorg: Setting external monitor to native resolution fails

#2 2011-03-30 19:37:20

Re: XRandR/Xorg: Setting external monitor to native resolution fails

#3 2011-04-04 04:24:59

Re: XRandR/Xorg: Setting external monitor to native resolution fails

#4 2011-04-04 05:24:27

Re: XRandR/Xorg: Setting external monitor to native resolution fails

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