AMD HD6970, dual monitors, no independent settings.

[optimize me]

I have an issue (two really) with the AMD drivers on LM12RC. This issue is the same under both the open-source and the proprietary drivers.

As a default, dual displays are set to mirror. When trying to set up individual displays, no matter which resolution I choose for my second monitor (even the optimal), I always get an error message that the chosen resolution is unavailable.

[img]http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/6897 ... 112233.png[/img]

Odd thing is, the width of the selected resolution is always roughly doubled than the actual selection. (In the image, the optimal 1680x1050 becomes 3280x1050, and so on.)

Under the open-source drivers, even when set to mirror, the secondary display doesn't work at all - it's a black screen with a white bar flickering at the top. When trying to set up the second display, however, the errors are the same ones about the chosen resolution not being available.

System specs:
Dell Studio XPS 7100
AMD Phenom II X6 1045T
8GB DDR3
ATI Radeon HD6970
HDMI: Dell 0NWWY0 20" Monitor, 1600x900 Max
VGA: Acer AL2016W 20" Monitor, 1680x1050 Max

I realize that this may be an issue with the driver itself, maybe with Gnome, maybe something else. Thought I'd ask around and see what others had to say.

[requiem18th]

Happens to me too with a XFX Radeon HD 5670. Also the Shell graphics are corrupted and unreadable with colored noise all over. The thing that simultaneously drives me mad and gives me hope is that in The liveDVD it work alright but when installed and after update it broke.

[requiem18th]

UPDATE
After failing to manually purge the ATI proprietary driver I reinstalled and kept the open source one.
It works now, but now I need help tuning down the card to low profile, right now it needlessly overheats and burns money in the process.

@optimize me
Have you tried using the open source driver?

[optimize me]

Yes, I'm running the open source driver. I had the exact problem you described - unreadable text with colored noise all over the place (that should be visible in my screenshot above). That was only true for the text within Gnome itself (menus, that task bar thing at the top and bottom) but not the text within windows. I was going to make a separate post about that issue if/when I were to get this one resolved.

Unfortunately, the open source driver leaves me running either a single monitor, or a mirrored dual monitor setup (same screen on both monitors). I thought maybe it had to do with one being analog, the other digital; maybe because of the size differences.. but your posts confirm that it's either an issue within the driver itself, with Gnome, or with the window-management or compositing framework.

So far we have two different cards from two different series, most likely on two very different systems exhibiting identical symptoms. I'll add that I've seen the exact behavior in Ubuntu (no surprise there), but also in the new Fedora. KDE runs like a champ on all of those, so it's a Gnome-specific issue.

[pony-tail]

I am running a Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 with an AMD X6 1100T and 2x XFX HD6870 in crossfire .
I found that running the open source driver , the cards overheat badly and the fans scream .
With the FGLRX that ships with Mint12 some of the graphics and menus are scrambled .
The FGLRX that is marked as post release will not install ( it gets errors )
These issues are also present in Ubuntu 11.10 with Gnome shell installed .
I have currently reverted back to Mint 11 but even in 11 the Fglrx drivers for these cards is pretty much broken .
My monitors are 2 x Dell Ultrasharp 2007FP . ( 1600 x 1200 )

[optimize me]

The FGLRX that is marked as post release will not install ( it gets errors )

Same here - the driver downloads and compiles, but then I get a nondescript error and instructions to check /var/log/jockey or some such. In reading through /var/log/jockey (a riveting tale of sadness and woe, filled with chills and thrills, btw), I learn exactly nothing about what went wrong.

[pony-tail]

This is a bit weird - because all was working ok in Ubuntu 10.10 ( I had not converted to mint then ) but it came up with a watermark in the bottom corner saying unsupported hardware .
So I suspect that something in "X" has been changed , breaking compatibility with FGLRX .
I hope it gets fixed soon .