LMDE - nvidia installed ok but not working

[foxsglacier]

Hi All,

I have been running LMDE since update pack 4. At the time I installed the nvidia drivers according to:

viewtopic.php?f=191&t=82424

And it worked fine. I updated to UP5 and everything still worked fine...then recently I lost the nvidia logo and can only get up to 1024x768 on my monitor

I have spent ages googling and from what I can see the drivers are installed and working fine:

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$ grep -B2 'Module class: X.Org Video Driver' /var/log/Xorg.0.log


outputs :
[ 2708.818] (II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[ 2708.818] compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
[ 2708.818] Module class: X.Org Video Driver

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$ glxinfo | grep render


outputs :
direct rendering: Yes
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce GT 620/PCIe/SSE2
GL_NV_conditional_render, GL_NV_copy_depth_to_color, GL_NV_copy_image,
GL_NV_parameter_buffer_object2, GL_NV_path_rendering,
GL_NVX_conditional_render, GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info,
GL_OES_depth_texture, GL_OES_element_index_uint, GL_OES_fbo_render_mipmap,

HOWEVER:

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$ tail /var/log/Xorg.0.log 


outputs :
[ 2716.379] (WW) NVIDIA(GPU-0): Unable to read EDID for display device CRT-1

My monitor is an Acer AL2202W which worked fine with this machine when I installed LMDE and still works fine (ie I can get 1600x1050) when I plug it into my Seashell Netbook that runs Mint11. But on LMDE I just get 1024x768 and if I manually crank it over 1024x786 I get "out of range".

I do a lot of work in my spare time writing Python code on LMDE but this rubbishy rez is hurting

I am using exactly the same hardware as when I installed: ZooStorm Core i5 with 8GB RAM and a cheap GT620.

ANY help very welcome

Here is my xorg.conf:

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# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 302.17  (pbuilder@cake)  Sat Jun 30 17:25:40 UTC 2012


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

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "glx"
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     "ACER"
    ModelName      "Acer AL2202W"
    HorizSync       31.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    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
        Modes      "1600x1050"
# I added the above line myself: but it ignores it
    EndSubSection
EndSection


[Monsta]

[ 2716.379] (WW) NVIDIA(GPU-0): Unable to read EDID for display device CRT-1

My monitor is an Acer AL2202W

Ah, a problem with EDID, that's a nasty one. I have that one too, and my monitor is also Acer (AL1916).
But since you say it worked before update, then it's not clear if it's a problem with EDID or with Nvidia drivers...

I'd first try a package named read-edid to check if your monitor's EDID is correct. Install it, then run this (as root):

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get-edid | parse-edid

and post its output here.

[foxsglacier]

Thanks for taking the time to get back to me on this

The output from get edid:

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get-edid: get-edid version 2.0.0

   Performing real mode VBE call
   Interrupt 0x10 ax=0x4f00 bx=0x0 cx=0x0
   Function supported
   Call successful

   VBE version 300
   VBE string at 0x11100 "NVIDIA"

VBE/DDC service about to be called
   Report DDC capabilities

   Performing real mode VBE call
   Interrupt 0x10 ax=0x4f15 bx=0x0 cx=0x0
   Function supported
   Call successful

   Monitor and video card combination does not support DDC1 transfers
   Monitor and video card combination does not support DDC2 transfers
   0 seconds per 128 byte EDID block transfer
   Screen is not blanked during DDC transfer

Reading next EDID block

VBE/DDC service about to be called
   Read EDID

   Performing real mode VBE call
   Interrupt 0x10 ax=0x4f15 bx=0x1 cx=0x0
   Function supported
   Call failed

The EDID data should not be trusted as the VBE call failed
Error: output block unchanged


Not sure where to go on this as it all used to work awesomely. I don't want to have to dump LMDE

Thanks again!

[Monsta]

This output is very familiar... But I'm still not sure what is causing it, so I need some more info

1. Please post the output of inxi -G
2. If you run nvidia-settings, then proceed to GPU 0 -> CRT-1, is the "Acquire EDID" button there enabled or disabled?
3. Your monitor seem to be plugged in via the VGA connector. Does it have any other ones (e.g. DVI)? If it does, can you please plug it via that other connector and tell if anything has changed (including the EDID stuff)?
4. You said everything was working before, even after updating to UP5. Can you recall what happened later? Did you install anything that could have to do with this problem? The point is there were no any significant updates after UP5 (including Nvidia drivers).

[foxsglacier]

Here is the output of inxi -G

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Graphics:  Card NVIDIA Device 0f01 X.Org 1.12.1.902 Res: 1024x768@75.0hz
           GLX Renderer GeForce GT 620/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version 4.2.0 NVIDIA 302.17



When I tried it a couple weeks ago the Aquire EDID button was disabled. I googled that at the time but found nothing.

UP5 was ok, installed a few updates after that and that was all. I use the machine a lot but I don't install much, I just use it for web dev. Usually I hibernate the box between sessions. Shutting-down only once a week or so but it survived several starts before this problem. For the first time in ages the nvidia logo flashed up on boot but quickly went away and still no change to the res

I cant try the DVI port, no connector. I will try to get one...what an xmas present that will make

Thanks again for taking the time to help with this.

[Monsta]

Well, it looks a lot like the problem with my own monitor. My Acer AL1916 has only the VGA connector (so using DVI is not an option), the "Acquire EDID" button is always disabled, and get-edid yields the same error. It was this way since I've installed LMDE back in August 2011, so there were several versions of Nvidia drivers since that, and they all failed to read my EDID. Despite that, I'm still not sure if my monitor's EDID is indeed faulty. Maybe it's just a bug in the drivers that hasn't been fixed yet.

I worked around this problem by disabling EDID reading and manually specifying the modeline in xorg.conf.

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# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 280.13  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-03.nvidia.com)  Wed Jul 27 17:15:58 PDT 2011


Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "X.org Configured"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    ModulePath      "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
    FontPath        "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
    FontPath        "built-ins"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "record"
    Load           "dri2"
    Load           "extmod"
#   Load   "dri"
   Load   "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    # Block type: 2:0 3:ff
    # Block type: 2:0 3:fd
    # Block type: 2:0 3:fc
    Identifier "Acer AL1916"
    VendorName "ACR"
    ModelName "Acer AL1916"
    # Block type: 2:0 3:ff
    # Block type: 2:0 3:fd
    HorizSync 30-83
    VertRefresh 55-60
    # Max dot clock (video bandwidth) 140 MHz
    # Block type: 2:0 3:fc
    # DPMS capabilities: Active off:yes  Suspend:no  Standby:no

    Mode    "1280x1024"   # vfreq 60.020Hz, hfreq 63.981kHz
      DotClock   108.000000
      HTimings   1280 1328 1440 1688
      VTimings   1024 1025 1028 1066
      Flags   "+HSync" "+VSync"
    EndMode
    # Block type: 2:0 3:ff
    # Block type: 2:0 3:fd
    # Block type: 2:0 3:fc

#    Identifier     "Monitor0"
#    VendorName     "Monitor Vendor"
#    ModelName      "Monitor Model"
#    HorizSync       30.0 - 83.0
#    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
#    ModeLine       "1280x1024_75.00" 138.75 1280 1368 1504 1728 1024 1027 1034 1072 -hsync +vsync
#    Option         "PreferredMode" "1280x1024_75.00"
EndSection

Section "Device"

        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz",
        ### <percent>: "<f>%"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "SWcursor"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "HWcursor"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoAccel"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ShadowFB"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "VideoKey"              # <i>
        #Option     "WrappedFB"             # [<bool>]
        #Option     "GLXVBlank"             # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ZaphodHeads"           # <str>
        #Option     "PageFlip"              # [<bool>]
    Identifier     "Card0"
   Driver   "nvidia"
   Option      "Coolbits"   "1"
   Option      "AddARGBGLXVisuals"   "true"
   Option      "TripleBuffer"   "false"
   #BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Card0"
    Monitor        "Acer AL1916"
    Option         "DynamicTwinView" "False"
    Option         "UseEdid" "False"
    Option         "UseEdidFreqs" "False"
    Option         "UseEdidDpi" "False"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       4
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       8
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       15
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       16
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       24
        Modes      "1280x1024"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
   Option      "Composite"   "enable"
#   Option      "RENDER"   "disable"
EndSection

This section -

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    Mode    "1280x1024"   # vfreq 60.020Hz, hfreq 63.981kHz
      DotClock   108.000000
      HTimings   1280 1328 1440 1688
      VTimings   1024 1025 1028 1066
      Flags   "+HSync" "+VSync"
    EndMode

- has the exact modeline for my monitor. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I've found it (or what software I've used to generate it). You have a different monitor model, so I can't suggest simply copying this info to your xorg.conf.

This section -

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    Option         "UseEdid" "False"
    Option         "UseEdidFreqs" "False"
    Option         "UseEdidDpi" "False"

- prevents the drivers from reading EDID (the modeline showed above will be used instead).

This is not very good solution. Just a workaround that works for me. Use at your own risk.

You can also try installing the free driver (nouveau) instead of the proprietary drivers and see if it works. I haven't tried that yet.

[foxsglacier]

Well a work around is as good a fix in this game. Odd as it was working fine, now not. BTW I plugged in a newer BENQ as a test, same result so it is definitely the box.

I will go with your suggested fix and update.

Thanks again

[Monsta]

BTW I plugged in a newer BENQ as a test, same result so it is definitely the box.

Is this monitor also plugged in via the VGA connector? I'm just wondering if a DVI would make any difference...

[foxsglacier]

Yeah, it is via VGA. It has DVI out and I have ordered a vga->DVI adaptor. I will post when I can connect it.

Merry xmas