Dual monitor problem Mint 12 nVidia driver

[Nick Payne]

Anyone managed to get a working desktop with dual monitors and the nVidia driver? Desktop works fine if I only enable the primary monitor, but as soon as I enable the 2nd monitor and restart and login, all I have is the desktop with the desktop icons. The Mint menu and top toolbar are missing. Problem happens regardless of whether I use Twinview or separate X screens. As soon as I disable the 2nd monitor and restart, the Mint menu and top bar reappear.

The video card is a dual head GTS 250. I have Ubuntu 10.04 on the same machine, and with that running the same dual monitor configuration works fine with exactly the same nVidia driver (the latest 290.10 downloaded from the nVidia web site).

[heuristic]

I have basically the same problem, but to get everything working again, I had to uninstall the nVidia driver entirely.

[marvkir]

Hey, I have the same problem. Also, MATE still works.

[Ironsavior]

Same problem. Ubuntu 11.10 works fine.

[Ironsavior]

Solved by using xorg.conf from ubuntu.

[JaymZZZ]

Solved by using xorg.conf from ubuntu.

Can you possibly post the conf file so that we can try using it as well? Thanks.

[Malarowski]

Solved by using xorg.conf from ubuntu.

Can you possibly post the conf file so that we can try using it as well? Thanks.

I would like to second this request. Would really appreciate it if you posted the file that fixed it.

[Ronaystein]

I have a similar problen, but with an Intel card. My lpatop is HPG42 series, and when i am working with two monitors, works fine for the firs aprox. 30 minutes. but after this time one of the monitor freeze. I fix it by restarting the X, but this is bad solution. Anyone knew a real solution?

[Ironsavior]

Here it is - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1027898/xorg.co ... _ubuntu%29

[TJohnston]

I had the same problem. I used the xorg.conf file (from the dropbox link) and everything worked. Even after re-opening the nvidia-settings (to change the position of monitors) everything worked. Thanks a bunch.

[marvkir]

After I used the new xorg.conf some programs failed to load the right theme. But both monitors are working. Afterwards I deleted the "monitors.xml" in ~/.config . Now everything works fine. Maybe this would have already solved the problem.

[toddfx]

I'm running Mint Linux 12 on a laptop with an Nvidia Geforce GT 425M (Nvidia driver 280.13) and use disper http://willem.engen.nl/projects/disper/ to switch to an external monitor.

Code: Select all

disper -S 

to set to the external and

Code: Select all

disper -s

to go back to the laptop LCD.

[dhimes]

+1 to marvkir for the monitors.xml file tip. FWIW, here is my nVidia-generated config (/etc/X11/xorg.conf) file for two monitors (in twinview mode)

Code: Select all

 46     Identifier     "Device0" 
 47     Driver         "nvidia" 
 48     VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation" 
 49     BoardName      "GeForce G210M" 
 50 EndSection 
 51  
 52 Section "Screen" 
 53  
 54 # Removed Option "metamodes" "DFP: nvidia-auto-select +1600+0, CRT: nvidia-a    uto-select +0+0" 
 55     Identifier     "Screen0" 
 56     Device         "Device0" 
 57     Monitor        "Monitor0" 
 58     DefaultDepth    24 
 59     Option         "TwinView" "1" 
 60     Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0" 
 61     Option         "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP: nvidia-au    to-select +1600+0" 
 62     SubSection     "Display" 
 63         Depth       24 
 64     EndSubSection 
 65 EndSection 
 66 

[lotharjade]

After I used the new xorg.conf some programs failed to load the right theme. But both monitors are working. Afterwards I deleted the "monitors.xml" in ~/.config . Now everything works fine. Maybe this would have already solved the problem.

Where is this "monitors.xml" you speak of. I looked in my home folder and found a folder called ".config" but no "monitors.xml". Where do we look for that??

[anthill]

As far as I can tell, this is a Gnome 3 issue. Neither Gnome nor Cinnamon work for me when NVidia drivers are configured for 2 separate X screens.

XFCE works fine!

[desertMatt]

Here is my xorg.conf with comments. I was able to get dual monitors to work based on what I read here and elsewhere. Then I started to be able to control the setup (see comments), then quitting when I was ahead:

----BEGIN----

#> Note: if you mess up your xorg.conf:
#> If you can alt-F2 to a terminal, then log in, cd to /etc/X11 and sudo vi-OR-emacs xorg.conf
#> If you can't, then use any linux boot disc to load a live linux and access the xorg.conf
#> from there (a sneaky way to read files on anyone's computer).


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


Section "Files"
EndSection


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


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


#> So only one monitor needs to be described?
#> I guess it is the "CRT" monitor (see below comments).
Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Acer S230HL"
HorizSync 30.0 - 80.0
VertRefresh 55.0 - 75.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection


Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 8400"
EndSection


Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "1"

#> Apparently one video-card output is the "CRT" output and one is the "DFP" so
#> these are determined by how you hook up the monitors. You get to choose which is the
#> "primary" for the OS (i.e. where the tool bars show up). I want my tool bars on the right
#> side (which happens to be my "DFP" monitor. So I put the primary "CRT" monitor to second
#> place:
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-1"
#> "CRT-0" places control on the left "CRT" monitor, 0 is first place. I did not have any
#> success with "DFP-0" giving primary control to the "DFP" monitor.

#> Now you need to set the relative arrangement of the monitors. Here my left one turned
#> to be the "CRT" one so I set that to position 0,0. It's dimensions are 1920x1080 so the
#> right "DFP" monitor must be set 1920 to the right. Since the tops of the two monitors are
#> level with one another, I will not move the righthand monitor downward, i.e., 0. Hence:
Option "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0"

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

[lotharjade]

I was able to get my screens working after a long process. A few bits in the process here might help you all.

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 64#p551578