External monitor configuration not saved after sleep, logout, screen saver, etc

[petepedersen]

I am running LM 18.3 with Cinnamon 3.6.7 and X.Org 1.18.4. I have an external monitor that I normally run at 1920x1080@60.00 and it is configured in xorg.conf that way. If my monitor goes to sleep for screen saver or if I logout and back in, the configuration of the external monitor is not maintained. It reverts to a default configuration that I can't find in any file and the highest resolution is 1280x1024.

My inxi -b configuration at system start:

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System:    Host: petelaptop Kernel: 4.13.0-37-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7  Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: Dell System XPS L702X
           Mobo: Dell model: 0XN71K v: FAB1 Bios: Dell v: A19 date: 09/07/2012
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-2630QM (-HT-MCP-) speed/max: 1995/2900 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
           Card-2: NVIDIA GF106M [GeForce GT 555M]
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1600x900@60.31hz, 1920x1080@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.8
Network:   Card-1: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 [Rainbow Peak]
           driver: iwlwifi
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2000.4GB (2.1% used)
Info:      Processes: 247 Uptime: 1:14 Memory: 2596.5/7870.6MB
           Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.35 

This is the inxi -b configuration after a sleep:

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System:    Host: petelaptop Kernel: 4.13.0-37-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7  Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: Dell System XPS L702X
           Mobo: Dell model: 0XN71K v: FAB1 Bios: Dell v: A19 date: 09/07/2012
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-2630QM (-HT-MCP-) speed/max: 1995/2900 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
           Card-2: NVIDIA GF106M [GeForce GT 555M]
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1600x900@60.31hz, 1280x1024@60.02hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.8
Network:   Card-1: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 [Rainbow Peak]
           driver: iwlwifi
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2000.4GB (2.1% used)
Info:      Processes: 246 Uptime: 1:35 Memory: 1777.7/7870.6MB
           Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.35 

My xorg.conf file:

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Section "ServerLayout
    Identifier "layout"
    Screen0 "intel"
    Screen1 "intel"
    Inactive "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "intel"
    Driver        "modesetting"
    BusID "PCI:0@0:2:0"
    Option "AccelMethod" "None"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Monitor0"
    Modeline "1920x1080_60.00"  173.00  1920 2048 2248 2576  1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync
    Modeline "1280x800_60.00"   83.50  1280 1352 1480 1680  800 803 809 831 -hsync +vsync
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "intel"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Modes      "1920x1080_60.00" "1280x800_60.00"
EndSection

Here is my inxi -Fxz output:

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System:    Host: petelaptop Kernel: 4.13.0-37-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: Dell System XPS L702X
           Mobo: Dell model: 0XN71K v: FAB1 Bios: Dell v: A19 date: 09/07/2012
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-2630QM (-HT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 15964
           clock speeds: max: 2900 MHz 1: 1995 MHz 2: 1995 MHz 3: 1995 MHz
           4: 1995 MHz 5: 1995 MHz 6: 1995 MHz 7: 1995 MHz 8: 1995 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GF106M [GeForce GT 555M] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1600x900@60.31hz, 1280x1024@60.02hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.8 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.0-37-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 [Rainbow Peak]
           driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 2000 bus-ID: 0a:00.0
           IF: enp10s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2000.4GB (2.1% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST1000LM014 size: 1000.2GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: ST1000LM014 size: 1000.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 463G used: 32G (8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb6
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.38GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb1
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 250 Uptime: 1:40 Memory: 2481.4/7870.6MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

Where is the configuration coming from? How do I stop it?

Thanks....Pete

[Sugarcrisp]

Hello Pete...I was experiencing the same thing on Ubuntu 17.10 that took me a while to find a solution to. Every time I would restart/login to the computer, it would choose the best resolution. However, the best resolution made everything way too small for me ( I have my laptop connected to my TV via HDMI ). I've since replaced Ubuntu with Linux Mint Cinnamon 18.3. My install to Mint saved all my settings from Ubuntu, so I still have my fix in place. Not sure if I still need it or not ( I will test it and find out ), but here is what I did.

Run xrandr --query to find out the details about your video settings/options. Since I have an external monitor, mine showed 2 listings. One for eDP1 (my laptop monitor) and HDMI1 for my external monitor.

I created the following simple bash file. Made it executable. Then I set it up to run as a startup application

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#!/bin/sh
xrandr --output HDMI-1 --primary --mode 1360x768 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal

Edit: I've tested with the script not running at startup and it looks like I don't need it for Mint

[petepedersen]

Thanks for the response, Sugarcrisp. I'm using VGA for the external monitor, not HDMI. Maybe I should try that. I'm on Mint 18.3 with Cinnamon. I've tried several different things, including removing the Nvidia drivers from the system entirely. That has it's own issue, when the system sleeps, on return the external monitor doesn't wake up, although the system knows it's there. I'll try the HDMI, although I really need the VGA to work, as I use a KVM switch to connect a RHEL server when I need to work on it.

Thanks again....Pete

[Sugarcrisp]

I believe you would just need to replace HDMI-1 with the external monitor option you get from running the xrandr --query. Yours will likely be VGA-1