Screen Resolution Error - Lenovo x121e - Resolution Not Foun

[ddaann]

Merry Christmas Mint!

After travelling with Lenovo x121e on suspend (occasional problems with shut off after wired install forced me to suspend) I switched on laptop - boot screen resolution, and then mint resolution has changed. It's reading it as 1280 x 800 rather than the actual 11.6" 1366 x 768.

When I go to monitors the actual screen resolution is not recognised.

I've read AlbertP mentioning on another post that there is a potential kernel bug with screen resolution related to the i915 graphics card (I think). Really surprised this has happened though. I've had Mint 11 installed for a month or so after not being happy with power/heating problems on Mint 12. 11 was running fine before the suspend yesterday. I have Conky, compiz, etc on, turned them off and no difference (unsurprisingly).

I used a live usb to see if it made any difference- no because this effects the Lenovo thinkpad boot screen too. So, with my little knowledge I hazard toward it affecting my BIOS. I've had a little look at the BIOS but couldn't see much, and aren't confident to mess about with it unguided. I guess it can be approached through the terminal more directly. When struggling with the monitors resolution, I also accidentally set 1280 x 800 as my default in the belief pressing 'Default' may allow me to reset the screen resolution to 1366 x 768- so I guess there is a more direct way of changing default and resolution.

I didn't think bugs could escape and affect my whole computer! I rely on my laptop for 10 hours a day working, so this really affects me.

Here is my inxi -F:

daniel@daniel-ThinkPad-X121e ~ $ inxi -F
System: Host daniel-ThinkPad-X121e Kernel 2.6.38-8-generic i686 (32 bit) Distro Linux Mint 11 Katya
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i3-2357M (-HT-MCP-) cache 3072 KB flags (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips 5187.58
Clock Speeds: (1) 800.00 MHz (2) 800.00 MHz (3) 800.00 MHz (4) 800.00 MHz
Graphics: Card Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller X.Org 1.10.1 Res: 1280x800@58.1hz
GLX Renderer Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile GEM 20100330 DEVELOPMENT x86/MMX/SSE2 GLX Version 2.1 Mesa 7.10.2 Direct Rendering Yes
Audio: Card Intel 6 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller driver HDA Intel BusID: 00:1b.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.23
Network: Card-1 Atheros Device 1083 driver atl1c v: 1.0.1.0-NAPI at port 2000 BusID: 08:00.0
Card-2 Realtek RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter driver rtl8192ce at port 4000 BusID: 02:00.0
Disks: HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (5.0% used) 1: /dev/sda HITACHI_HTS72323 320.1GB
Partition: ID:/ size: 291G used: 15G (6%) fs: ext4 ID:swap-1 size: 3.13GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0C mobo: 0.0C
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 567
Info: Processes 179 Uptime 29 min Memory 425.9/2940.1MB Runlevel 2 Client Shell inxi 1.4.23

Going on my weak intuition, this suggests it is a bug with the graphics, right?

Can anyone help here?

Thanks.

Good tidings,

Daniel.

[ddaann]

No luck with adding new mode to xrandr. Completely struggling here, please help if anybody has time. Thanks.

Daniel

[ddaann]

Anyone got any idea of what is going wrong here?

I can't seem to add a new mode. It fails on adding the modeline, as below:

daniel@daniel-ThinkPad-X121e ~ $ xrandr --newmode "1368x768_60.00" 85.25 1368 1440 1576 1784 768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync
X Error of failed request: BadName (named color or font does not exist)
Major opcode of failed request: 150 (RANDR)
Minor opcode of failed request: 16 (RRCreateMode)
Serial number of failed request: 29
Current serial number in output stream: 29

Before this bug emerged a few days ago, my resolution was working fine, so it can definitely handle the correct resolution, and should have everything installed needed. Not sure how to explain the bug, but do need to fix it!

Daniel.

[ej64]

try "vga=844" as additional boot parameter in grub.

[ddaann]

Thanks ej64- but how would I do this? I'm quite unknowledgeable....

Perhaps my xrandr can lend a bit more light:

Code: Select all

daniel@daniel-ThinkPad-X121e ~ $ xrandr
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) 0mm x 0mm
   1280x800       58.1*+
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
  1368x768_60.00 (0xe9)   85.2MHz
        h: width  1368 start 1440 end 1576 total 1784 skew    0 clock   47.8KHz
        v: height  768 start  771 end  781 total  798           clock   59.9Hz
  1366x768_60.00 (0x102)   85.9MHz
        h: width  1368 start 1440 end 1584 total 1800 skew    0 clock   47.7KHz
        v: height  768 start  769 end  772 total  795           clock   60.0Hz

And I'm using LVDS1 so wouldn't be sure how that would affect your suggestion ej64. Does the grub modification you suggest relate to the i915 issue? I think you've mentioned it to me before regarding power/heating issues relating to mint 12.

[ej64]

Thanks ej64- but how would I do this? I'm quite unknowledgeable....

When powering up press and hold <shift> AND <Esc> until the grub menu occurs. press "e" to edit the grub command. Navigate with the cursor keys to the line with "vt.handoff=7". insert (just type) vga=844. Then press F10 or Ctrl-X to boot.

If it helps we will make this change permant later.

Does the grub modification you suggest relate to the i915 issue? I think you've mentioned it to me before regarding power/heating issues relating to mint 12.

Not that I know of such a relation... have you modified grub already regarding the heating isssues?

[ddaann]

Managed to edit grub using shift + esc and adding vga=844 as you suggested. Unfortunately it didn't work. Tried it a few times. Do you have any other suggestions?

I have not already edited the grub in relation to power/heating issues. That was an issue using Mint 12, not Mint 11 which resolution has shifted on.

Regards.

[ddaann]

Unfortunately I think it calls for another reinstall of Mint 11 tomorrow or the day after. Though I expect it might not even work and my computer is in some way more seriously affected. It's about 4 months old!

I don't know what else to do with it now; xrandr didn't work; the grub edit kindly suggested by ej64 didn't work either.

If reinstall doesn't work I'll be looking for Linux repair people in the Liverpool area of North West England... I've got a Windows cd to restore factory settings (no cd drive though, and the factory restore data originally stored on a partition is gone after full install of Mint) so might even turn to that desperate measure first...

Any help is really appreciated

[ddaann]

I'm trying to approach this using xrandr at the moment, as editing the grub wouldn't work.

Can anyone explain what is happening when I try to add a new resolution mode using xrandr please? I add the resolution and modeline but when I re-enter xrandr in the terminal to inspect what resolutions are available it has DP1 as the 1366x768 I require. Here is the process I am going through:

Code: Select all

daniel@daniel-ThinkPad-X121e ~ $ xrandr
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) 0mm x 0mm
   1280x800       58.1*+
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
daniel@daniel-ThinkPad-X121e ~ $ xrandr | grep maximum
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 800, maximum 8192 x 8192
daniel@daniel-ThinkPad-X121e ~ $ cvt 1366 768
# 1368x768 59.88 Hz (CVT) hsync: 47.79 kHz; pclk: 85.25 MHz
Modeline "1368x768_60.00"   85.25  1368 1440 1576 1784  768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync
daniel@daniel-ThinkPad-X121e ~ $ xrandr --newmode "1368x768_60.00"   85.25  1368 1440 1576 1784  768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync
daniel@daniel-ThinkPad-X121e ~ $ xrandr --addmode LVDS1 1366x768_60.00
xrandr: cannot find mode "1366x768_60.00"
daniel@daniel-ThinkPad-X121e ~ $ xrandr
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) 0mm x 0mm
   1280x800       58.1*+
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
  1368x768_60.00 (0xf8)   85.2MHz
        h: width  1368 start 1440 end 1576 total 1784 skew    0 clock   47.8KHz
        v: height  768 start  771 end  781 total  798           clock   59.9Hz
daniel@daniel-ThinkPad-X121e ~ $ xrandr
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) 0mm x 0mm
   1280x800       58.1*+
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
  1368x768_60.00 (0xf8)   85.2MHz
        h: width  1368 start 1440 end 1576 total 1784 skew    0 clock   47.8KHz
        v: height  768 start  771 end  781 total  798           clock   59.9Hz

As you can see, xrandr does add a new mode, but I cannot work out what DP1 actually is, how to use it if it is useful, or how to change it from DP1 to the LVDS1 I seem to be using.

Any help is really appreciated. I'm poised to reinstall; but live usb still also exhibits the same resolution errors. Please help if you can!

[ddaann]

..........Well, it's now back to normal- the correct 1366x768. I restarted it to try a live usb of Mint 12, but it was OK after the restart. I had earlier been adding a mode setting using xrandr and hadn't restarted to see if it had worked, so I can't verify if that fixed it or if it fixed itself. I expect the latter is correct, and this resolution may well be back soon. This is quite a serious bug- I lost lots of real estate and almost reinstalled....was even dreaming of having a dual boot windows to fall back on so I could restore factory settings and then begin again.

But it's 'fixed'.

[ddaann]

It came back after a restart;

Then returned to the correct resolution after another restart, with screen at different angle and pressing f12 (!!!) not sure if this is a work around or its just an intermittent problem...

Was wondering if ej64 or anyone knew how to make this permanent so it cannot intermittently return. Anyone?

Also, noticed this line below in my syslog1. file - It's probably not related at all, but I have a vague and probably unassociated memory of someone saying elsewhere that acpi could be to blame for Sandybridge kernel problems. Anyone hazard toward anything?

Dec 30 19:09:22 daniel-ThinkPad-X121e kernel: [ 0.583103] [Firmware Bug]: ACPI: BIOS _OSI(Linux) query ignored

Regards.

[ddaann]

I really hate having this problem.

It disappeared for a week and I was happy with my perfect mint 11. Then this morning it returned, back to the wrong screen resolution. Still none of the fixes suggested seem to work. This seems to be an intermittent problem with the laptop as a whole, not just mint. For some unjustified reason I associate it with acpi, after hearing somewhere else it may be related. I remembered this because I noticed that when it was working the laptop would give out the standard beep when the power supply was disconnected. When the resolution went bad the beep disappeared. Obviously this is completely unfounded...

Can anyone help me this? It seems to be an intermittent problem and doesnt seem to be affecting other people (at least that I can find from searching).

I never did a reinstall when the screen was working. I hoped it would just continue behaving. If it returns again to the correct resolution I will try a reinstallation then. In the meantime, any suggestions are really welcome. Thanks.

Regards.