Dual monitor problems since mint 18

[svaens]

Hi all,

I hope this is the best place to post this.

Since updating from Mint 17.3 to Mint 18, I've been having Dual monitor problems.
This I have noticed since installing, and continues until now. No updates have effected either positively or negatively.
Machine details:
NVidia card (nivea driver) on my Lenovo Thinkpad W520
PCI Express x16 - NVIDIA Quadro 2000M
linux 4.4.0-21-generic

I am seeking advice, not so much on how to fix this problem (it is obviously a bug). But how I can help to fix it. By "help" I mainly mean, to whom I can send the details of my problem, troubleshoot and send debug information as necessary.
I have seen similar problems reported in a linux mint bug report, https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/1598553
This does not seem to receive any attention. I am concerned that it is not the correct location to lodge this bug report. Is it a linux Mint problem? Cinnamon? Xorg ? Or does it belong to the guys developing the Nivea drivers ?

I will now outline the details of the problem.

It seems actually not only to be a problem of configuration of 'dual monitors', but a problem of touching the configuration for the "Display" at all.

Symptoms include (what happens):

1. change configuration (i.e., monitor position or resolution) from the "Display" configuration gui, results in the screen freezing. It is possible to escape to console (i.e., ctrl-alt-f2)
2. After having configured the Monitors for LEFT= external monitor, RIGHT = laptop monitor
a) disconnect of DVI cable and reconnect results sometimes in only one monitor being displayed (usually the external monitor) and sometimes both monitors mirroring the same screen.
If i'm lucky, I get dual monitor, but it is never in the configuration I initially configured, but rather with the laptop on the left, and the external monitor on the right.

What should happen (and did happen with linux mint 17.3)
1. change of configuration was no problem.
2. after disconnecting the external monitor, and later reconnecting (say, if I need to leave the main office for a meeting, and then come back) Mint would remember the previous settings for dual monitors, and re-establish the dual monitor configuration that I want, without having to go back into the "Display" settings. IF somehow the settings had been lost, re-configuration was quick and painless, and did not result in freezing (see point 1).

What do do about it?

I'm sure there are lots of other people out there using dual monitors. Haven't you all had this same problem?

I guess not. Surely there'd be a lot of screaming about it. But honestly, in my internet searching, I've not found much.
That implies to me that it must be specific to setups like my own.

Does anyone have an idea ? To me, I had assumed it was a problem with the nivea driver. But, if the bug report is really related to what I am seeing, ... that guy is running intel graphics. Can't be the Nivea driver... It is not driver specific.

Can anyone help me? This really costs me a lot of time, when I have to switch rooms. I am completely willing and able to spend the time necessary to help track down the cause (and fix) if someone can guide me to the right direction.

thanks in advance.

sean

[Hoser Rob]

Those bug report pages are meant for developers ... people who know how to bisect regressions and do traces. Not the average user. There are many, many similar reports opened by users like yourself and they rarely get answered.

Start with a report of useful info ... copy/paste these into terminal separately and copy/paste the text output here:

sudo lshw -C video

inxi -Fxz

You still may have to do some searching yourself. I used to use Ubuntu and I definitely had to, despite the fact that they have the best support of ANY Linux distro that doesn't already assume you're an expert, and that I know how to ask questions. Which is an art. Read the stickies.

I still use ubuntu support sites for most of my useful Mint support info. Arch too.

Just don't blindly copy/paste stuff that isn't for your release version.