I finally took the time to upgrade my Ubuntu install to the recent release 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal). This bug still occurs, and now seems worse then ever. I have skipped (i.e. not tested) the releases 11.10 and 12.04, but I assume those two releases didn't bring any improvement either.
In the past, I've set my builtin monitor (laptop) to a smaller resolution (1680x1050). That way I could run the external monitor at full resolution (1920x1080 full HD) even with nvidia-current driver. Remember: both screens worked fine with full resolution with nvidia-173 (slower) as well as with nouveau (even more slow). Under Quantal, nouveau cannot handle both screens at full resolution and neither can any of the provided nvidia proprietary drivers. I tested all available options: -current, -current-updates, -experimental-304, and -experimental-310. I think nouveau managed to run both screens in "mirror"/clone mode, but not sure about the exact resolutions was using. What's worse, I cannot set my laptop monitor to the smaller resolution like I did in the past, since only "Off", "Auto", and "1920x1200" are shown in nvidia-settings as well as in 'Display' system settings (that's using randr, right?). Both monitors run, when I set my external monitor to a smaller resolution (currently 1680x1050), but that's not the native resolution and not the correct aspect ratio (16:10 vs 16:9). And if that was not bad enough, Xorg cannot even start when the external monitor is plugged in. The screen will blink several times and then dump to a black screen with a blinking white cursor. Switching to a VT, unplugging the monitor and starting X (service lightdm start) will finally bring Xorg back up. This is really annoying! (Please imagine a turned on caps lock, to get an idea of my frustration). The external monitor is connected with a VGA cable if that matters. I cannot use DVI, because my laptop only offers VGA out. Relevant details from Xorg.0.log after unsuccessfully trying to start X during boot: [ 97.253] (II) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA GPU Quadro FX 360M (G86GL) at PCI:1:0:0 (GPU-0) [ 97.253] (--) NVIDIA(0): Memory: 524288 kBytes [ 97.253] (--) NVIDIA(0): VideoBIOS: 60.86.68.00.18 [ 97.253] (II) NVIDIA(0): Detected PCI Express Link width: 16X [ 97.253] (--) NVIDIA(0): Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): Valid display device(s) on Quadro FX 360M at PCI:1:0:0 [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): QMX Q24 (CRT-0) (connected) [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): TV-0 [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): Seiko/Epson (DFP-0) (connected) [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): DFP-1 [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): QMX Q24 (CRT-0): 400.0 MHz maximum pixel clock [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): TV-0: 400.0 MHz maximum pixel clock [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): TV encoder: (null) [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): Seiko/Epson (DFP-0): 330.0 MHz maximum pixel clock [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): Seiko/Epson (DFP-0): Internal Dual Link LVDS [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): DFP-1: 165.0 MHz maximum pixel clock [ 97.359] (--) NVIDIA(0): DFP-1: Internal Single Link TMDS [ 97.359] (**) NVIDIA(0): Using HorizSync/VertRefresh ranges from the EDID for display [ 97.359] (**) NVIDIA(0): device QMX Q24 (CRT-0) (Using EDID frequencies has been [ 97.359] (**) NVIDIA(0): enabled on all display devices.) [ 97.371] (**) NVIDIA(0): Using HorizSync/VertRefresh ranges from the EDID for display [ 97.371] (**) NVIDIA(0): device Seiko/Epson (DFP-0) (Using EDID frequencies has [ 97.371] (**) NVIDIA(0): been enabled on all display devices.) [ 97.372] (==) NVIDIA(0): [ 97.372] (==) NVIDIA(0): No modes were requested; the default mode "nvidia-auto-select" [ 97.372] (==) NVIDIA(0): will be used as the requested mode. [ 97.372] (==) NVIDIA(0): [ 97.373] (WW) NVIDIA(0): MetaMode "DFP-0:nvidia-auto-select,CRT-0:nvidia-auto-select" [ 97.373] (WW) NVIDIA(0): exceeds hardware capabilities; discarding. [ 97.373] (WW) NVIDIA(0): No valid modes for [ 97.373] (WW) NVIDIA(0): "DFP-0:nvidia-auto-select,CRT-0:nvidia-auto-select"; [ 97.373] (WW) NVIDIA(0): removing. [ 97.373] (WW) NVIDIA(0): [ 97.373] (WW) NVIDIA(0): Unable to validate any modes; falling back to the default mode [ 97.373] (WW) NVIDIA(0): "nvidia-auto-select". [ 97.373] (WW) NVIDIA(0): [ 97.374] (WW) NVIDIA(0): MetaMode "DFP-0:nvidia-auto-select,CRT-0:nvidia-auto-select" [ 97.374] (WW) NVIDIA(0): exceeds hardware capabilities; discarding. [ 97.374] (WW) NVIDIA(0): No valid modes for [ 97.374] (WW) NVIDIA(0): "DFP-0:nvidia-auto-select,CRT-0:nvidia-auto-select"; [ 97.374] (WW) NVIDIA(0): removing. [ 97.374] (EE) NVIDIA(0): Unable to use default mode "nvidia-auto-select". [ 98.397] (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failing initialization of X screen 0 [ 99.071] (II) UnloadModule: "nvidia" [ 99.071] (II) UnloadSubModule: "wfb" [ 99.071] (II) UnloadSubModule: "fb" [ 99.071] (EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration. If you need more information about my system, please ask and I will provide it. This bug has existed long enough and I really like to have a working multi-monitor/dual-head setup. ** Changed in: nvidia-graphics-drivers (Ubuntu) Status: Expired => Incomplete -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/727112 Title: nvidia-current does not detect hardware capabilities correctly To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers/+bug/727112/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs