cannot change nvidia settings

[chucklepie]

Hello,
Sorry, but I'm really getting annoyed that things just aren't working for me with linux.

I installed the nvidia driver for my system but when I change anything I get a 'Failed to parse existing X config file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'!'

When I run 'sudo nvidia-settings' from a terminal window it shows the error as follows:
'Undefined Device "(null)" referenced by Screen "Default Screen".'

When I search for this I find an entry in a ubuntu forum that says it isn't a permission issue but a X configuration and the fix was to do the following:

Code: Select all

1) open a terminal
2) sudo mv -i /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
2) sudo touch /etc/X11/xorg.conf
3) sudo nvidia-settings
4) hit "save configuration"

But this doesn't work either.

VALIDATION ERROR: Data incomplete in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
At least one Device section is required.

All I want to do is change my settings, surely it can't be that hard!

[proxima_centauri]

Try following this to create a default '/etc/X11/xorg.conf" first.
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=44871

[chucklepie]

Hello,
I managed to 'fix' it by using the preview option then editing the xorg.conf file manually using sudo. But now I still have the same problem, my normal user cannot make changes to the screen settings.

There's also something wrong with my display, after making the changes to allow dual display my laptop monitor is dull and very dark. Changing the brightness/contrast/gamme just doesn't seem to get it right either.

And I can't manage to get it to move applications from one window to the other, you'd think all you have to do is drag it and it would move, but it refuses to do this. When dragging a window the mouse just stops at the screen edge.

[edit]
Just in case I need to follow your instructions to get things working I got as far as the first step:

neil@house-linux-laptop ~ $ sudo stop *dm
stop: Unknown job: *dm
neil@house-linux-laptop ~ $ sudo Xorg -configure

Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
and start again.

Thanks for any help.

[brucey]

Try this ...

sudo nvidia-xconfig <--- you only have to do this once

Then ..

sudo nvidia-settings

Now you should be able to save your settings ..

Hope that helps


Brucey

[chucklepie]

Hello,
Well that turned out to be a bit of a disaster

I tried your two commands, rebooted and this is what I got:

1. Two screens, hurrah. However,my laptop had the toolbar across the bottom as normal except the 'menu' button was missing so I could not select any menu. My top display had two toolbars, one across the bottom which had a date/time as per the main laptop display and to the left the 'hide all' icon, and one to the top which was an original gnome bar with a gnome icon and menus for appliations, systems, etc.

2. The screen constantly flashes and I can't do anything. The dialog is showing the item 'panel encountered problem. loading gnome oaf11d:gnome:FastUserSwitchApplet' with cancel/delete buttons, but they can't be clicked as the screen just flashes.

Eventually I fixed it by opening a terminal and copying back my backup xorg.conf which just has the following:

Code: Select all

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder63)  Fri Aug 14 17:54:58 PDT 2009


Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
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"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

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

[chucklepie]

Hello,
Almost there, I appreciate all your help

Firstly, I fixed the 'cannot move windows between displays', the brighness issue and the 'flashing dialog' (though this one sounds like a bug to me). I was using 'separate x windows' when I should have been using 'twinview'. However, I was only able to let it update the settings by using a terminal and running 'sudo nvidia-settings'. My old unix skills have failed me as running 'chmod 666 xorg.config' results in a bad command

So a couple of questions:

1. I selected my laptop as the 'primary display for x' but it is my other display that is getting the toolbar, the desktop icons, the background, etc and I can't seem to get it to move it to the bottom display.

2. How do I change it so my user can modify these files. I can't even use the gui file explorer to change permissions as there is no 'run as...' type command like you get with windows (mind you, I think this is possibly because Microsoft patented this ability).

3. How do I set my background using twinview as nothing seems to come out very good. In windows when I set a background it would repeat the image on both displays which was great. The only options I have are stretch (which obviously looks wrong, tiled which doesn't work as that would only work if the image matched the display size exactly, centred which makes the top and bottom of each display wrong).


Thanks.

[coolchange77]

Had the exact same issue as OP. brucey's tip worked for me. Thanks

[jalcradus]

I have solved this by logging in as root, then going to /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Rename the xorg.conf file to something else. While still logged on as root, go back to the nvidia settings, make the changes you want and save. You may still get an error message but ignore it and proceed. You may need to point to the /etc/X11 folder using their tool and key in the name of the file you want to save to, which is xorg.conf. Log out of root and back into your user account. Now whenever you log on your settings should be retained.

My guess is that this is poor programming on the part of nvidia, not anything to do with Linux Mint or Linux in general. I hope they will fix this so that it will be more obvious how to save the settings.

[cebalrai]

I had to scour the web for a fix for this. I forget what I did, but it wasn't the fix on this thread. Someone was saying it was only an issue in Mint-64... Not sure.

This is something that really needs to be fixed. These sorts of things will put a new Linux user off of Mint in a hurry.

[jalcradus]

cebalrai--As I said in my previous post I don't think this issue is the fault of Linux Mint. When you download a nvidia driver, you are working with a piece of restricted software developed by nvidia--not Linux Mint or any other distribution of LInux. Nvidia should have made an easy way to get this done.

In any event, I have used the technique described in my previous post with every installation of LInux Mint that I have done and with other distributions as well, and it has always worked. It looks like the nvidia driver won't save with changes if it finds a file with the same name already there. Apparently you can't delete or rename the file unless you are logged on as root. I'm sure there are other ways to accomplish this, as indicated in some of the other posts but I think the method I describe is easiest for a newbie (which is what I am.)