I had to take drastic measures, and do another total reinstall, but at the end of the day, my resolution is now showing correctly, and I now have sound, thanks to the qasmixer.

So, my question is, how do I back it up (using luckybackup, or if you have another suggestion) so that when the sound goes on the blink again,I can just restore the backup.

That was my idea, I'm always open to suggestions....

Pen guin

I see several alternatives here.

The easiest thing to do might be just to back up the files that you changed, along with notes on what exactly you did in what order.

You could also use rsync -a to back up your entire system to external media. The media would have to be large enough to accommodate the backup. Alternatively, you could back up simply the directories containing the files and libraries that you had to modify. See man rsync for more (a web search will turn up many articles and tutorials about rsync).

You could image the system using clonezilla.

My own choice would be the first action.

Thanks for the reply.

All I did, was:

Create a new partition table, and reinstall LM.20.1 (Once installed,) applied updates to the system, and as a consequence of the new OS install, my resolution (1920x1280 in a dual monitor setup,) have returned to their proper resolution, and now, the monitor on the right side is now being recognized. (instead of dark.) I installed qasmixer via the terminal, and checked the box "HP/Auto Detect Input", and that fixed my sound.

But I couldn't tell you what was going on "behind the scenes," to make all of that happen. For instance, the folder locations, and what changed.

Other than that, I installed a few more programs, like: Gsync, and luckybackup, among others unrelated programs to the issues I was experiencing.

And that's about it.

Thanks,
Pen guin

This.