How to detect and configure an output with xrandr?

Posted by ysap on Ask Ubuntu See other posts from Ask Ubuntu or by ysap
Published on 2012-09-10T17:40:47Z Indexed on 2012/09/10 21:49 UTC
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I have a DELL U2410 monitor connected to a Compaq 100B desktop equipped with an integrated AMD/ATI graphics card (AMD E-350). The installed O/S is Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

The computer is connected to the monitor via the DVI connection.

The problem is that I cannot set the desktop resolution to the native 1920x1200. The maximum allowed resolution is 1600x1200.

Doing some research I found about the xrandr utility. Unfortunately, when trying to use it I cannot configure it to the required resolution. First, it does not report the output name (which supposed to be DVI-0), saying default instead. Without it I cannot use the --fb option.

The EDID utility seems to identify the monitor well. Here's the output from get-edid:

    # EDID version 1 revision 3
Section "Monitor"
    # Block type: 2:0 3:ff
    # Block type: 2:0 3:fc
    Identifier "DELL U2410"
    VendorName "DEL"
    ModelName "DELL U2410"
    # Block type: 2:0 3:ff
    # Block type: 2:0 3:fc
    # Block type: 2:0 3:fd
    HorizSync 30-81
    VertRefresh 56-76
    # Max dot clock (video bandwidth) 170 MHz
    # DPMS capabilities: Active off:yes  Suspend:yes  Standby:yes

    Mode    "1920x1200" # vfreq 59.950Hz, hfreq 74.038kHz
        DotClock    154.000000
        HTimings    1920 1968 2000 2080
        VTimings    1200 1203 1209 1235
        Flags   "-HSync" "+VSync"
    EndMode
    # Block type: 2:0 3:ff
    # Block type: 2:0 3:fc
    # Block type: 2:0 3:fd
EndSection

but the xrandr -q command returns:

Screen 0: minimum 640 x 400, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1600 x 1200
default connected 1600x1200+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1600x1200       0.0* 
   1280x1024       0.0  
   1152x864        0.0  
   1024x768        0.0  
   800x600         0.0  
   640x480         0.0  
   720x400         0.0  

When I try to set the resolution, I get:

$ xrandr --fb 1920x1200
xrandr: screen cannot be larger than 1600x1200 (desired size 1920x1200)

$ xrandr --output DVI-0 --auto
warning: output DVI-0 not found; ignoring

How can I set the screen resolution to 1920x1200? Why doesn't xrandr identify the DVI-0 output?

Note that the same computer running Ubuntu version higher than 10.04 detects the correct resolution with no problems. On this machine I cannot upgrade due to some legacy hardware compatibility problems.

Also, I don't see any optional screen drivers available in the Hardware Drivers dialog.

----

UPDATE:

following the answer to this question, I got some advance. Now the required mode is listed in the xrandr -q list, but I can't switch to that mode. Using the Monitors applet (which now shows the new mode), I get the response that:

The selected configuration for displays could not be applied. Could not set the configuration to CRTC 262.

From the command line it looks like this:

$ cvt 1920 1200 60
# 1920x1200 59.88 Hz (CVT 2.30MA) hsync: 74.56 kHz; pclk: 193.25 MHz
Modeline "1920x1200_60.00"  193.25  1920 2056 2256 2592  1200 1203 1209 1245 -hsync +vsync

$ xrandr --newmode "1920x1200_60.00"  193.25  1920 2056 2256 2592  1200 1203 1209 1245 -hsync +vsync

$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 400, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1600 x 1200
default connected 1600x1200+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1600x1200       0.0* 
   1280x1024       0.0  
   1152x864        0.0  
   1024x768        0.0  
   800x600         0.0  
   640x480         0.0  
   720x400         0.0  
  1920x1200_60.00 (0x120)  193.0MHz
        h: width  1920 start 2056 end 2256 total 2592 skew    0 clock   74.5KHz
        v: height 1200 start 1203 end 1209 total 1245           clock   59.8Hz

$ xrandr --addmode default 1920x1200_60.00

$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 400, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1600 x 1200
default connected 1600x1200+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1600x1200       0.0* 
   1280x1024       0.0  
   1152x864        0.0  
   1024x768        0.0  
   800x600         0.0  
   640x480         0.0  
   720x400         0.0  
   1920x1200_60.00   59.8  

$ xrandr --output default --mode 1920x1200_60.00
xrandr: Configure crtc 0 failed

Another piece of info (if it helps anyone):

$ sudo lshw -c video
  *-display UNCLAIMED     
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: ATI Technologies Inc
       vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
       physical id: 1
       bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
       version: 00
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msi bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:c0000000-cfffffff(prefetchable) ioport:f000(size=256) memory:feb00000-feb3ffff

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