Dual Monitor problem

[A Traveller]

Hi All.

I connected each of my two monitors to a DVI port on my graphics card as I want to run a dual monitor setup. When I power up the pc, the display appears on one of the monitors straight away, however, the other monitor shows the no signal message until the operating system's login screen appears (it's Ubuntu 9.04 - Linux). The same happens at shutdown. One monitor displays the usual stuff and doesn't go to sleep until the computer shuts down, whereas the other one shows the no signal message almost immediately after clicking 'shutdown'. The monitor also goes totally black and it also begins to act like a TV with terrible reception, like red colour and ants all over when it is actually showing something.

When I switched the cables around on the graphics card, the 'problematic' monitor worked fine and the 'good' monitor developed the problem described above. However, I ruled out a DVI port problem because when I disconnect one of the cables from the graphics card and attach only one cable/monitor to either DVI port, there is no problem at all.

It is a completely new system with up to date hardware. I am running Ubuntu, which I am new to and I have bought a GTX 260, as recommended in another thread due to it supporting VDPAU and having Linux support from nVidia. I have only just installed the OS and have not done anything to it at all.

Am I supposed to be installing nVidia drivers for Linux or something? Is this the likely problem? I am totally at a loss. The label on the CD that came with the graphics card only mentions XP and Vista.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

[redwudz]

Check with Nvidia's site and you will probably find the latest Linux video card drivers there. I would definitely put in the proper video card drivers to get the most out of your card. Nvidia likely has newer drivers than the video card manufacturer. They are generic to the video card chipset, not the card itself. http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

I run a dual monitor setup on one of my PC's, VGA and DVI, and they start up the same way, never both at the same time. I haven't noticed how they work on shutdown, but that mostly sounds normal.

[jagabo]

I'm pretty sure I had to download drivers from Nvidia when I installed Ubuntu on a computer with an 8600 GT dual DVI and two displays.

[redwudz]

I think Ubuntu has some generic video card drivers, same as Vista. But Nvidia has much more up to date ones specific to your card's chipset. That should give you better performance.

[jagabo]

I think Ubuntu has some generic video card drivers, same as Vista.

Yes, but they don't support dual display correctly.

[Steve Stepoway]

One of the last things that happens in the boot process is to start X, and that's where the dual monitor support is, so it makes perfect sense that the second monitor doesn't come on until right at the end. Shutting down the X server is one of the first things that happens in shut-down, so it also makes sense that the second monitor "going away" is one of the first things that happens then. I don't think you have a problem -- that's just the way it works.

But yes, you should download the latest drivers from Nvidia.

Steve

[jagabo]

One of the last things that happens in the boot process is to start X, and that's where the dual monitor support is, so it makes perfect sense that the second monitor doesn't come on until right at the end. Shutting down the X server is one of the first things that happens in shut-down, so it also makes sense that the second monitor "going away" is one of the first things that happens then. I don't think you have a problem -- that's just the way it works.

I thought that was too obvious to be what he was complaining about. LOL

[A Traveller]

Thanks for all the advice. It is all appreciated.

The monitors going off at different times is not a problem at all. I can live with that. I thought I'd include this info as I thought it could possibly help diagnose the serious problem. Don't forget the last sentence of the first paragraph of my original post.

"The monitor also goes totally black and it also begins to act like a TV with terrible reception, like red colour and ants all over when it is actually showing something."

That is the main problem. Thanks for the link. As I've said, I am quite new to Ubuntu (and Linux) so I am now trying to learn how to install the drivers!! Haha. This will take quite a while so bear with me if I don't post any results within the next few days! Haha. I am just going to try and follow the directions that appear on the pages which contain the link for the drivers. At the moment I am trying to find out what is meant by 'change to the directory containing the driver package'.

Hard work ahead!

Thanks.

Update - Ok, I haven't gotten too far. This is what I've done so far:-

Downloaded and saved the nVidia drivers to my Desktop.
Clicked 'Applications', Accessories' and then 'Terminal'.
Typed 'cd /home/myusername/Desktop' and pressed Enter.
I tried typing 'su root' and pressing Enter, but when I type my login password, it says 'Authentication failure'.
So then I tried typing 'sudo su', Enter, my login password, Enter and got 'root@mycomputername:/home/myusername/Desktop#'
I then typed 'sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-185.18.36-pkg#.run' and also tried 'sudo su sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-185.18.36-pkg#.run', however, I got

'sh: Can't open ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-185.18.36-pkg1.run'
OR
'Unknown id: sh'

What am I doing wrong? Another thing the instructions state is "Before you begin the installation, exit the X server and terminate all OpenGL applications (note that it is possible that some OpenGL applications persist even after the X server has stopped). You should also set the default run level on your system such that it will boot to a VGA console, and not directly to X. Doing so will make it easier to recover if there is a problem during the installation process. See Appendix I, Tips for New Linux Users for details."

Well Appendix I does not mention X server, OpenGL or VGA console!

Thanks.

[disturbed1]

Use Ubuntu's Nvida drivers.

You'll screw up your system attempting to install the binary package from Nvidia. Ubuntu tunes, and QA's the drivers to be compatible with their system. There's 3 parts to the Nvidia binary driver. The kernel module, the binary code, and the GUI settings control application. Installing the Nvidia binary driver overwrites and replaces default Xorg so libs (Shared Object Libraries). If you do install the binary driver without taking care, any attempt to, then, install an Xorg update, Kernel Update, or Nvidia update from Ubuntu will require manual hacking to get things back in order.

Ubuntu provides a method to install this driver. The restricted driver manager. Use it.

Given your current knowldege and skill set, you're attempting to commit suicide

If you must though -
Open a terminal and type
sudo init 3
This kills the X server and drop you down to run level 3.
sudo su -
Sudo to super user because Ubuntu treats it's users like children, and don't believe you are responsible enough to handle a root account.
cd /path/to/driver
Change Directory to the place you downloaded the driver. Most likely /home/YOURNAME/Desktop
chmod +x NVIDIA-blah-blah-whatever.bin
Add the exicution enable bit to the Nvidia driver.
sh NVIDIA-blah-blah-whater.bin
run the driver.

Edit/create an xorg.config modprobe nvidia, restart X.

This of course implies that you have your kernel source/modules/headers installed, and a compiler with auto-tools (build-essential).

Or you could just Google it, and follow one of the 300,000 guides on it. Also available at the Ubuntu documentation page.

Seriously though, just use Ubuntu's drivers. They are NOT some generic driver. They are Nvidia's binary driver wrapped in a way to work with Ubuntu and the Ubuntu-isms they have created.

[disturbed1]

Here's a link to the Nvidia drivers available for Jaunty
http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=nvidia&searchon=names&suite=jaunty&section=all

[A Traveller]

Thanks disturbed1. It's ok if things get messed up as I am trying it out on a spare hard drive at the moment.

An idea which sounded simple was suggested on another board, so I decided to try it out, however, the other monitor doesn't come on at all now.

I went to System, Administration and Hardware Drivers and activated the nVidia 180 drivers. I then went to System, Preferences, Display but got the message 'It appears that your graphics driver does not support the necessary extensions to use this tool. Do you want to use your graphics driver vendor's tool instead?' I clicked Yes and got an NVIDIA X Server Settings window which listed one of my monitors by name. I clicked on X Server Display Configuration, clicked on the monitor that stated 'Disabled' and chose 'Separate X Screen'. This then listed both my monitors. I clicked Apply and got a Cannot Apply dialog box. I chose to apply what was possible and save to X Configuration file but got the message Unable to create new X config backup file.

I don't know which tutorial to read or whose suggestions to follow, as they are all different, depending on where you go. I am now going to re-install Ubuntu and try another method to solve the problem.

[jagabo]

I went to System, Administration and Hardware Drivers and activated the nVidia 180 drivers. I then went to System, Preferences, Display but got the message 'It appears that your graphics driver does not support the necessary extensions to use this tool. Do you want to use your graphics driver vendor's tool instead?' I clicked Yes and got an NVIDIA X Server Settings window which listed one of my monitors by name. I clicked on X Server Display Configuration, clicked on the monitor that stated 'Disabled' and chose 'Separate X Screen'. This then listed both my monitors. I clicked Apply and got a Cannot Apply dialog box. I chose to apply what was possible and save to X Configuration file but got the message Unable to create new X config backup file.

I ran into the same issue. You need to run the Nvidia config program as su. This means you need to know the path and name of the program. It took me a while to figure it out but I finally found by by searching on google. I don't have my Ubuntu system handy right now (I made myself a note regarding this) so I can't tell you the command line. I'll post it later if you don't indicate you found it.

[A Traveller]

Thanks jagabo. I don't know if you mean sudo nvidia-xconfig.

I have found some instructions on the web that look appropriate. I'm going to give that a try now.

http://vladgh.com/2009/04/how-to-get-dual-monitors-in-ubuntu-with-nvidia/

[jagabo]

I used "sudo nvidia-settings" -- mentioned later in the link you posted.

[A Traveller]

I couldn't understand the following.

This step has ruined my X configuration a few times, and I found that this means that the new drivers don’t understand your monitor layout. You will need to reboot into recovery mode, remove the nvidia packages, and run sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg. To get around this problem, I run nvidia-xconfig, and then I manually fix my xorg.conf file by adding a BusId line, correctly identifying my monitor layout: BusID “PCI:0:13:0″ before restarting X.

I managed to boot into recovery mode but how do I remove the nvidia packages once I'm there? Are the rest of the instructions to be carried out in recovery mode?

Update. Found another bit of info on the web advising "Use alt+f2 and "gksu nvidia-settings" to launch it as root - it'll then be able to write to the file okay." I tried this and sure enough the file was saved, however, I still haven't got anywhere as I still get the Cannot Apply message when I click Apply and the changes I make in the settings, e.g. separate screen, etc, always return to the original values.

Update. Ok, we're FINALLY getting somewhere. The alt+f2 and "gksu nvidia-settings, along with a restart made the second monitor appear!!!! HOWEVER, if I go to Preferences, Display, I get an error box saying Could not get screen information. RandR extension is not present. I've searched for this problem on the web but there are not many results or solutions. I cannot access the nVidia settings anymore except via a command line. I also still get the Cannot Apply error box.

I am certain that with not being able to access the settings via System, Preferences, Display, things are still not 100% as they should be. I want everything to work as it should before I install the drivers on my main hard drive.

A question - Can I not open Firefox in one monitor and another instance of it in the other? Or GIMP in one and another GIMP in the other, etc? How do I rotate the other screen? I tried followed the steps at this link but got an RandR error. http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-976120.html

Update - By following the same instructions from fuzzybear3965 in the link above, I was also able to rotate one of my screens. I did the wrong one first and then had to go back and change it to the correct one. For some reason, in the nVidia settings, the monitors are 0 and 1 but in the xorg file, they are the other way around.

[disturbed1]

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Jaunty#Configure_Dual_Monitors_with_nVidia

There's a couple of different settings for TwinView. Clone means to clone the desktop onto each display - useful for TV out.
Valid values for ORIENTATION are: "RightOf" (the default), "LeftOf", "Above", "Below", or "Clone" If the second monitor is to the right of the main monitor, set it as "RightOf" .

These values are documented in Nvidia's documents.
man nvidia-xconfig

Or if you need it in a web browser it's located here - file:///usr/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/html/index.html on my system. Ubuntu may place it somewhere else. The documentation is also on Nvidia's website - http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/190.42/README/index.html or http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/185.18.31/README/index.html for the 185 driver.

Nvidia also offers a Linux support forum - http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=14

[jagabo]

Clone means to clone the desktop onto each display - useful for TV out.

That is the way I use it. A monitor in one room, an HDTV in another.

[disturbed1]

Clone means to clone the desktop onto each display - useful for TV out.

That is the way I use it. A monitor in one room, an HDTV in another.

What's nice about the Nvidia driver, is if you don't have a monitor connected, and just plug in a TV, everything is auto configured and just works. Unless you need a special mode line I'm glad Nvidia brought back the overscan options with their newer beta drivers.

VDPAU is unbelievable. My Celeron dual core can play 1080P H264 content using less than 20% CPU. The most expensive piece of hardware in that setup is the $80 Antec HTPC case .
Nvidia has new entry level 210 cards that add MPEG-4 ASP decoding. I almost bought one on my last trip to Microcenter ($50), but decided to get a couple more Samsung 500GB drives ($45/each). It's not the hardware assisted decoding, but the filtering that I like with VDPAU. There's a definite quality difference between using my 7600GT (no VDPAU) and our 9400GT's with VDPAU.

If you did not know, here's how to invoke some of the filters -

 -vo vdpau (with -vc ffmpeg12vdpau, ffwmv3vdpau, ffvc1vdpau or ffh264vdpau)
              Video output that uses VDPAU to decode video via hardware.  Also supports displaying of software-decoded video.
                 sharpen=<-1-1>
                      For positive values, apply a sharpening algorithm to the video, for negative values a blurring algorithm (default: 0).
                 denoise=<0-1>
                      Apply a noise reduction algorithm to the video (default: 0, no noise reduction).
                 deint=<0-4>
                      Select the deinterlacer (default: 0).  All modes > 0 respect -field-dominance.
                         0    no deinterlacing
                         1    Show only first field, similar to -vf field.
                         2    Bob deinterlacing, similar to -vf tfields=1.
                         3    motion adaptive temporal deinterlacing May lead to A/V desync with slow video hardware and/or high resolution.  This is the default if
                              "D" is used to enable deinterlacing.
                         4    motion adaptive temporal deinterlacing with edge-guided spatial interpolation Needs fast video hardware.
                 chroma-deint
                      Makes temporal deinterlacers operate both on luma and chroma (default).  Use nochroma-deint to solely use luma and speed up advanced  deinter-
                      lacing.  Useful with slow video memory.
                 pullup
                      Try to apply inverse telecine, needs motion adaptive temporal deinterlacing.
                 colorspace
                      Select  the color space for YUV to RGB conversion (default: 1, BT.601).  In general BT.601 should be used for standard definition (SD) content
                      and BT.709 for high definition (HD) content.  Using incorrect color space results in slightly under or over saturated and shifted colors.
                         0    Guess the color space based on video resolution.  Video with width >= 1280 or height > 576 is assumed to be HD and BT.709 color  space
                              will be used.
                         1    Use ITU-R BT.601 color space (default).
                         2    Use ITU-R BT.709 color space.
                         3    Use SMPTE-240M color space.

Our 9400 can handle the most powerful deinterlacer with 1080i MPEG2 content, but interlaced H264 1080i content is a little much. Not quite powerful enough for that. I don't have an HDPVR yet, so the 9400GT's work perfectly.

[A Traveller]

Thanks disturbed1. As stated, I've managed to rotate one screen. I used separate X Screens and not TwinView because from what I have read so far, they say that you can't rotate only one of the screens in TwinView.