Display settings popup window keeps loading until computer crashes

[SteveM2020]

I installed linux mint xfce4 a couple of days ago. I've been having problems with the display settings popup window appearing multiple times until the laptop crashes. I can't post a "inxi -Fxxxrz" because the popups take the focus away from everything else.

It's a 10 year old HP laptop. Pavillion, I think.

How can I stop this?

[SMG]

Are you able to boot to a live session of Mint using your install usb/dvd? If so, please provide the inxi info of that live session.

[ricardogroetaers]

I've been having problems with the display settings popup window ....

Pardon me.
Due to the difficulty with the English language, I could not understand what the expression above refers to in bold.

[SteveM2020]

I plugged my TV into the laptop with an HDMI cable and the popups stopped. It looks like this laptop thinks it has two displays instead of one. The display popup shows two screens. When the HDMI cable isn't plugged in, the popup only shows one screen, and it repeatedly pops up. I guess the trick is to tell the display settings it has two, even if it only has one.

I didn't have this problem with the Mint Cinnamon desktop. Not sure why XFCE4 is being such a pain....

[SMG]

I plugged my TV into the laptop with an HDMI cable and the popups stopped. It looks like this laptop thinks it has two displays instead of one. The display popup shows two screens. When the HDMI cable isn't plugged in, the popup only shows one screen, and it repeatedly pops up. I guess the trick is to tell the display settings it has two, even if it only has one.

I do not have Xfce, but I do not recall anyone else mentioning a "popup" for the display.

Your statement about only one screen showing in the popup when the HDMI cable is not plugged in makes sense since there is only one screen.

Maybe something else is happening that it is popping up? I do not have any ideas, but you also have yet to provide information about your computer and how Mint views it.

[SteveM2020]

I can post the info now...

Code: Select all

steve@steve-HP-Pavilion-dv6-Notebook-PC:~/Desktop$ inxi -Fxxxrz
System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-74-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.13 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 
  dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook PC 
  v: 058B110000242B10000020100 serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 1441 v: 67.33 serial: <filter> 
  BIOS: Hewlett-Packard v: F.28 date: 04/11/2011 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 49.1 Wh condition: 49.1/49.1 Wh (100%) volts: 12.5/10.8 
  model: Hewlett-Packard Primary type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Full 
CPU:
  Topology: Triple Core model: AMD Phenom II P840 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: K10 rev: 3 L2 cache: 1536 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm bogomips: 11372 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/1900 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 
  3: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD RS880M [Mobility Radeon HD 4225/4250] 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 01:05.0 
  chip ID: 1002:9712 
  Device-2: AMD Park [Mobility Radeon HD 5430/5450/5470] 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 02:00.0 
  chip ID: 1002:68e0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: ati,radeon 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1280x720~60Hz, 1366x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RS880 (DRM 2.50.0 / 5.4.0-74-generic LLVM 11.0.0) 
  v: 3.3 Mesa 20.2.6 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD SBx00 Azalia vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:14.2 chip ID: 1002:4383 
  Device-2: AMD Cedar HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5400/6300/7300 Series] 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 02:00.1 
  chip ID: 1002:aa68 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-74-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard U98Z062.12 802.11bgn driver: ath9k v: kernel 
  port: 3000 bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 168c:002b 
  IF: wlo2 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 04:00.0 
  chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: enp4s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 123.17 GiB (26.4%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST9500420AS size: 465.76 GiB 
  speed: 3.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> rev: HPM1 scheme: MBR 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 457.45 GiB used: 123.17 GiB (26.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 74.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: radeon temp: 73 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  1: deb https://typora.io/linux ./
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bashtop-monitor-bashtop-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/bashtop-monitor/bashtop/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jami-main.list 
  1: deb https://dl.jami.net/nightly/ubuntu_20.04 jami main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-edge-dev.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/edge stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyssa main upstream import backport
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info:
  Processes: 190 Uptime: 1h 28m Memory: 3.59 GiB used: 1.90 GiB (52.8%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 7/9 
  Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 
steve@steve-HP-Pavilion-dv6-Notebook-PC:~/Desktop$ 

Your statement about only one screen showing in the popup when the HDMI cable is not plugged in makes sense since there is only one screen.

Yes, it makes sense. But this starts the repeating popups...

If anyone has a tutorial about the display settings dialogue, please send a link. I will look for one later today when I have more time.

[SMG]

For some reason, your laptop is showing two different graphics cards. I am not familiar with that laptop to know why that might be. Maybe that is a factor in why this is happening?

Code: Select all

Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD RS880M [Mobility Radeon HD 4225/4250] 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 01:05.0 
  chip ID: 1002:9712 
  Device-2: AMD Park [Mobility Radeon HD 5430/5450/5470] 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 02:00.0 
  chip ID: 1002:68e0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: ati,radeon 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1280x720~60Hz, 1366x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RS880 (DRM 2.50.0 / 5.4.0-74-generic LLVM 11.0.0) 
  v: 3.3 Mesa 20.2.6 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 

The data is showing two screens (after the word resolution).

If anyone has a tutorial about the display settings dialogue, please send a link.

This is not a tutorial, but it is documentation xfce » xfce4-settings » 4.14 » display.

[SteveM2020]

I don't know why it shows two graphic cards. There has never been additional cards added. It is, as it came from the factory. I bought it new, 10 years ago.

Thanks for the link. I find that playing around with the settings, I can get the popups to stop and disconnect the HDMI cable. However, if the cable is still unplugged when rebooted, the popups start again. Unfortunately, this means my laptop is stationary and has to stay in reach of the cable.