Re: [SLUG] Twin Screen nVidia, second screen always asleep Solution
To anyone curious about the outcome of this. It turns out that it was a faulty DVI splitter cable. There must be a broken pin or wire inside the cable as it worked just enough to allow the software to detect the screen correctly but not enough to display the video signal. Thanks for the input though, as it set me on the path to the solution. Pete -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
[SLUG] Twin Screen nVidia, second screen always asleep
Hi Sluggers, I've just been given a Dell Precision 360 Box (too slow for windows apparently) with an Nvidia card that supports Dual screen. A Quadro NVS 280 SD, it says. I've installed Linux Mint 7 on it and configured it to twin screen (Two Dell 1907FP LCDs). Everything worked as advertised from a software perspective and the desktop appears to be stretched out to 2506x1024 and I can drag windows off the screen as if they were going onto the second screen. So alls great except, the second screen won't wake up. It says it's in powersave mode. I've swapped the screens, cables etc and the problem moves to the other screen. So the hardware seems to be just fine. Google told me that if I disabled desktop effects it would fix it, and also provided an alternate xorg.conf, but neither worked. Any cluesticks? Thanks Pete -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Twin Screen nVidia, second screen always asleep
(sorry messed up the CC to the list) Tony Sceats wrote: When Linux is booting, do you see the bios, the kernel and the init sequence on both screens, and then when X loads the second display goes to sleep, or is the second screen always asleep? The second screen is always asleep. From power on only the primary screen power light changes from orange to green and the Bios etc displays on that screen. Right up to the GDM login menu. The other screen remains with the power button orange. However if I disconnect the second screen from the cable it immediately goes into Digital Input Test feature mode. I.E the screen knows when it's connected. The software and driver also know it is connected because the nVidia config tool only shows a single screen when the second screen is disconnected. When I plug it in and select Detect Displays it immediately finds the second screen, correctly identifies it as a Dell 1907FP and allows me to configure it. So every thing seems to work as advertised, but the screen stays in sleep mode. Incidentally I have an older box with a dual Matrox card analog display and the screens worked perfectly with it in analog mode. Google tells me that other users have had similar problems with dual screen nVidia cards (mostly windows users), but I haven't found anyone with quite the situation I've got (yet). Thanks Pete -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Twin Screen nVidia, second screen always asleep
I just reconfigured the screens on my old machine with the matrox card (analog) and rebooted. The second screens power light remains orange right up until X launches and the GMD login appears. The power light then goes green. The second screen remains black, but the mouse tracks over it so suspect that the GDM background just doesn't stretch on to it. Once logged in all normal. On the new machine with the nVidia digital card, power light always stays orange. Pete -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Twin Screen nVidia, second screen always asleep
Peter == Peter Rundle pe...@aerodonetix.com.au writes: Peter I just reconfigured the screens on my old machine with the Peter matrox card (analog) and rebooted. The second screens power Peter light remains orange right up until X launches and the GMD Peter login appears. The power light then goes green. The second Peter screen remains black, but the mouse tracks over it so suspect Peter that the GDM background just doesn't stretch on to it. Once Peter logged in all normal. Peter On the new machine with the nVidia digital card, power light Peter always stays orange. Which nvidia driver are you using? The free one or the proprietary one? With the proprietary driver, you have to run nvidia-settings to enable the external output. -- Dr Peter Chubb http://www.gelato.unsw.edu.au peterc AT gelato.unsw.edu.au http://www.ertos.nicta.com.au ERTOS within National ICT Australia -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Twin Screen nVidia, second screen always asleep
Peter Chubb wrote: Which nvidia driver are you using? The free one or the proprietary one? The proprietary one from nVidia. With the proprietary driver, you have to run nvidia-settings to enable the external output. Have run nvidia-settings and configured it every which way I can. Still no joy. Am considering buying a DVi-VGA converter to see if that will cause the screen to fire up. Google reckons there are some issues with Dell DVI monitors, but don't have another DVI monitor available to see if that works (isolate the problem to the card or the monitor). Either the software/card doesn't send the wake up to the monitor, or the monitor is ignoring it. However, swapping the monitors around causes the sleepy monitor to work fine when it's the primary, so suspect that the card/software is not sending the wake up to the second screen. Or are there different kinds of wake up signals. I don't know enough about it, except that obviously the OS can send such a signal when the user moves the mouse or touches the keyboard. Don't know if there is a tool to do same manually. Maybe I'll try the free driver and see if it works but suspect that the free driver hasn't been reverse engineered enough to support dual screen mode. (no criticism of writers of free drivers implied, they've got a tough task when the vendor won't release the card specs). Pete -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
