How to make Ubuntu recognize an unknown external display (so I can adjust its resolution)?
- by WagnerAA
I have a Dell laptop with an external monitor attached (a Samsumg SyncMaster 931c).
My laptop display was recognized, and I can adjust its optimum resolution.
My external display is still unknown, thus I'm stuck at a lower resolution (1024x768):
I tried the "Detect Displays" button, but it didn't work, nothing happens.
I recently upgraded from Ubuntu 12.04 to 12.10.
Things were working before.
I don't know if I can actually change this configuration, or if this is a bug.
I searched for an answer here and also in Launchpad's website, but found none.
I even tried to install Nvidia drivers, and just messed things up.
It seems I wasn't even using nvidia before, as I guessed by looking at my additional drivers configuration:
My laptop has an Intel chipset, I guess:
$ dpkg --get-selections | grep -i -e nvidia -e intel
intel-gpu-tools install
libdrm-intel1:amd64 install
libdrm-intel1:i386 install
nvidia-common install
xserver-xorg-video-intel install
I don't have an xorg.conf file (I think this is nvidia related, am I right?):
$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
cat: /etc/X11/xorg.conf: No such file or directory
$ ls -l /etc/X11/
total 76
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Out 19 23:41 app-defaults
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Abr 25 2012 cursors
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18 Abr 25 2012 default-display-manager
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Abr 25 2012 fonts
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17394 Dez 3 2009 rgb.txt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Mai 1 03:33 X -> /usr/bin/Xorg
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Out 19 23:41 xinit
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 23 2012 xkb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Out 24 08:55 xorg.conf.nvidia-xconfig-original
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 709 Abr 1 2010 Xreset
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Out 19 10:08 Xreset.d
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Out 19 10:08 Xresources
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3730 Jan 20 2012 Xsession
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Out 20 00:11 Xsession.d
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 265 Jul 1 2008 Xsession.options
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13 Ago 15 06:43 XvMCConfig
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 601 Abr 25 2012 Xwrapper.config
Here is some information I gathered by looking at other related posts:
$ sudo lshw -C display; lsb_release -a; uname -a
*-display:0
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 07
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
resources: irq:48 memory:f6800000-f6bfffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff ioport:1800(size=8)
*-display:1 UNCLAIMED
description: Display controller
product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.1
version: 07
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:f6100000-f61fffff
LSB Version: core-2.0-amd64:core-2.0-noarch:core-3.0-amd64:core-3.0-noarch:core-3.1-amd64:core-3.1-noarch:core-3.2-amd64:core-3.2-noarch:core-4.0-amd64:core-4.0-noarch:cxx-3.0-amd64:cxx-3.0-noarch:cxx-3.1-amd64:cxx-3.1-noarch:cxx-3.2-amd64:cxx-3.2-noarch:cxx-4.0-amd64:cxx-4.0-noarch:desktop-3.1-amd64:desktop-3.1-noarch:desktop-3.2-amd64:desktop-3.2-noarch:desktop-4.0-amd64:desktop-4.0-noarch:graphics-2.0-amd64:graphics-2.0-noarch:graphics-3.0-amd64:graphics-3.0-noarch:graphics-3.1-amd64:graphics-3.1-noarch:graphics-3.2-amd64:graphics-3.2-noarch:graphics-4.0-amd64:graphics-4.0-noarch:printing-3.2-amd64:printing-3.2-noarch:printing-4.0-amd64:printing-4.0-noarch:qt4-3.1-amd64:qt4-3.1-noarch
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 12.10
Release: 12.10
Codename: quantal
Linux Batcave 3.5.0-17-generic #28-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 9 19:31:23 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2304 x 800, maximum 32767 x 32767
LVDS1 connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 286mm x 1790mm
1280x800 59.9*+
1024x768 60.0
800x600 60.3 56.2
640x480 59.9
VGA1 connected 1024x768+1280+32 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
1024x768 60.0*
800x600 60.3 56.2
848x480 60.0
640x480 59.9
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
If there's anything else I can do, any other information I can post here, to help me configure this external display, please let me know.
If this is actually a bug, I apologize (I know bugs are not allowed here), but I really wasn't sure. And I will promptly file a bug report in Launchpad if that's the case.
Thanks a lot in advance. ;)
