[NTLUG:Discuss] Video Help Needed

[George Lass]

Dave,
Fairly sure it is not a monitor issue.  the frame buffer driver can run at 1920x1200, while the nVidia driver won't run at 1920x1200 or 1680x1050.  Also, this laptop originally had windows on it but after the video went half brain dead, Windows couldn't display anything either.  BTW a quick Google of 
inspiron e1705 video card problem

indicates that this laptop likes to overheat and toast the video.

Unfortunately, the nvidia-settings program doesn't want to allow me to do anything unless the nvidia driver is running....

George


--- On Wed, 7/7/10, David Simmons <dave at dgnal.net> wrote:

> From: David Simmons <dave at dgnal.net>
> Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Video Help Needed
> To: "NTLUG Discussion List" <discuss at ntlug.org>
> Date: Wednesday, July 7, 2010, 10:29 AM
> Hi George,
> 
> Have you confirmed that it's not a monitor issue? 
> Sounds like your 'blank
> screen' issue might be caused by Ubuntu trying to drive the
> monitor at a
> higher resolutions/frequency than it can run (which would
> explain why things
> are visible in 'safe mode')?  Just a thought
> 
> On a second note...the NVidia driver includes a program
> called
> 'nvidia-settings' that will let you setup all sorts of
> multiple monitors and
> set the screen resolution.  Within this program the
> 'Save to X Configuration
> File' might not work if you run it as a normal user....but
> you can run as
> root or just 'Show Preview' of the X file
> info....copy/paste into the
> xorg.conf file manually?
> 
> Just some thoughts,
> 
> -dave
> 
> On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 10:21 AM, George Lass <george.lass at sbcglobal.net>wrote:
> 
> > I have a 4 year old Dell Inspiron E1705 laptop with a
> slightly broken
> > nVidia GeForce Go 7900 GS video card. By slightly
> broken I mean that if I
> > try to use the "standard" nVidia driver that comes
> with Ubuntu (10.04) it
> > won't display anything.  However if I boot in
> failsafe mode (which uses the
> > frame buffer driver for Xwindows) the display works
> OK.  There are 2 things
> > that I can't do with the frame buffer driver that I
> would like to be able to
> > do though:
> >
> > 1) change the screen resolution
> > 2) use the vga output to a second monitor
> >
> >
> > If anyone knows how to do this using the fb driver
> please let me know.  I
> > have tried the obvious things like setting up multiple
> Screen/Monitor/Device
> > sections and Display Modes in xorg.conf, but this
> doesn't seem to work.  The
> > fb driver crashes the second time it is loaded, and
> even when only one
> > Screen is defined, it complains that the all Modes but
> the probed virtual
> > mode are invalid due to "test failed".
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > George
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > http://www.ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Those with sight believe what's believable. Those with
> vision know what's
> unbelievable.
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