[ale] Alt+Ctrl+F# blank screens

[Michael Trausch]

On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 12:15 PM, Gray Frost <grayf327 at gmail.com> wrote:
> The Graphics card is a Nvidia 8800GTX (same card have been using for
> years with same duel monitor setup) with Nviida drivers.
> Nothing hardware has changed, just the ubuntu version to 9.04 to 9.10
> clean install. The Xorg.0.log files shows
> all kinds of stuff but not sure what to look for. There is not a debug
> log because I don't know how to create one.  One thing that
> can see is that my monitor1 (my 46 inch LCD TV) shows a shadow of a
> 4:3 box and switches to 1280x1024 res like it is attempting to show
> something while my
> monitor0 (22 inch LCD) shows the "Check source and Connection"
> message.  That cant be good :(

With most NVIDIA cards in Karmic I have had to do some tweaking,
though I can usually do that tweaking from the point where a
single-monitor setup is working.

Which NVIDIA driver is being used here?  Is the 8800GTX one of the
cards supported by the most current and up-to-date driver (185, I
believe)?

Ironically, I am running NVIDIA on everything—save for my laptop.  I
just got this laptop with ATI graphics, and I don't know when ATI got
workable (good, even), but it seems to be.  Of course, take that with
a grain of salt; I have not tested any other ATI hardware but the
stuff that came with this laptop.  It could be a fluke.

> Here are some things from the Xorg.0.log file I grep'd for WW and
> EE(no errors found).
>
> (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.
>        Entry deleted from font path.
> (==) FontPath set to:
>        /usr/share/fonts/X11/misc,
>        /usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled,
>        /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled,
>        /usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1,
>        /usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi,
>        /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi,
>        /var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType,
>        built-ins
>
>  and it has a message like this for just about every resolution
>
> (WW) NVIDIA(0): The EDID for WDE LCM-22w2 (DFP-0) contradicts itself: mode
> (WW) NVIDIA(0):     "640x480" is specified in the EDID; however, the EDID's
> (WW) NVIDIA(0):     valid VertRefresh range (56.000-67.000 Hz) would exclude
> (WW) NVIDIA(0):     this mode's VertRefresh (75.0 Hz); ignoring VertRefresh
> (WW) NVIDIA(0):     check for mode "640x480".
>

Is that on the TV?  If so, I think that's pretty "normal", at least
for TV sets.  Most TVs I know fail to report anything accurate about
their modes.  I haven't the foggiest as to why.

> I have used xrandr and cvt to set a mode for the monitors but that
> didn't relove anything.
> The current xorg.conf file is generated by nvidia-settings which has
> always worked fine in the past distro versions.

Try tweaking the xorg.conf file a bit and see if you can get a single
monitor working, and then try using the NVIDIA control panel (as root)
to get dual-monitor going.  That is the approach I most often use.  If
that doesn't work, you may have to bust open the xorg.conf file with a
text editor...

   --- Mike

> From: Michael Trausch <mike at trausch.us>
> Subject: Re: [ale] Alt+Ctrl+F# blank screens
>
> What graphics card and driver combination are you using?  Is there
> anything telling in /var/log/Xorg.0.log (substitute your display
> number if it isn't zero) or in /var/log/kern.log or
> /var/log/debug.log?
>
>  --- Mike
>
> On Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 3:14 PM, Gray Frost <grayf327 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> If I use a simple non-duel monitor xorg.conf file then all is well.
>> With a duel monitor xorg.cong file my duel screens work just fine, I
>> just cant see my alt+ctrl+F# sessions.
>>
>> When using duel monitors my Alt+Ctrl+F# screens are blank. No cursor,
>> nothing! I have been operating in duel screen mode for years but for
>> some reason have this problem in Ubuntu 9.10. I am using the
>> nvidia-settings built xorg.conf file and tried all sort of suggestions
>> from others postings to no avail. If I default back to a single
>> monitor then my Alt +Ctrl+F# X sessions work fine..
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