hi when i enable desktop effects i am asked to install the "restricted" drivers for it. once this is done and the computer restarts the screen res is set to 640x480 and cannot be changed. normally it is 800x600 is there a solution for this???
by the way i am using ubuntu hardy heron and the grafix card is built in on my GeForce6100SM-M mother board if that is any help
thanks in advance

The restricted nvidia driver package may include two useful programs:
nvidia-xconfig
nvidia-settings

The nvidia-xconfig program will modify your xorg.conf. You might want to make up a backup of your old one just in case.
This will modify your xorg.conf file, and leave you with a backup and a copy of the new one for reference, if you modify it later.
The nvidia-settings program is a graphical program allowing you to change the settings of your video driver on the fly, including gamma changes. You can try using it to change resolutions. If you want to write changes to xorg.conf, you will need to run it as root: "gnomesu nvidia-settings".

Good Luck!

thanks for that but i cant actually change any of the settings as the windows dissapears at the bottom panel and it wont resize. it is the same when i am on firefox. i have the motherboard drivers disk if that would be of any use thanks again

The nvidia-xconfig program is one you type in the terminal. You can press CTRL-ALT-F2, log into the virtual terminal, and run the three lines I gave from there. You can press the same key combination before logging in at the GDM session manager.

Then try logging in normally. You can press ALT-F2 to bring up the Run dialog, and enter "nvidia-settings". If the window is larger than the screen, holding down the ALT key will allow you to drag the window from anywhere, not just the title bar.

If other resolutions are possible, try CTRL-ALT-[KEYPAD +] or CTRL-ALT-[KEYPAD -] to cycle through the available resolutions.
It that doesn't switch resolutions, look at the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and see if others are listed in the screen section.
Double check in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, inside the [Device] section, that the "nvidia" driver is used and not "nv".

If there are other resolutions listed, but you can't cycle through them, look in the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file. It will list the resolutions it tried. Did all the others fail? Usually this is a problem that is fixed by installing the "nvidia" driver. Especially in the past before xorg supported 16x9 screens itself.

thanks again but there are no other screen resolutions listed. will i need to list my own within the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file next to the other screen res listed???

update - i have managed to get a vesa driver working and in the xconfig file the resolution i want is listed but i have no way of enabling it + on system reboot i configered it at a higher res yet when i log on it is back to 800x600 please help because i may go mad.
thanks again for any help

Post your xorg.conf file. Be sure to include it inside code blocks ( [ code ] ... [ /code ] ) (note: I added spaces inside the square braces so they would be printed. This will make it readable, and allow us to scroll.

Look in your /var/log/Xorg.0.log file. The server will try various resolutions when it starts up.
I'd be interested to see if it says "No valid modes" for everything except "640x480".

See if you can install the nvidia driver from the RPMFusion site. It is able to use resolutions that aren't part of the vesa standard. It will be more capable in communicating with the monitor & graphic device. Such as determining the native resolution of an LCD monitor's screen and the modes that the monitor supports. I've come to expect some problems with video until I install the nvidia driver.

hi again, by the way i upgraded to 8.10 to see if it fixed the problem but all it did was get me up to 800x600 when i did have 1040x728 (or something)
when the driver is installed this time i get the following:
[Knit: no resume image doing normal boot] then
([Failed to initialize kernel module
please ensure there is a suported NVIDIA GPU installed
***Aborting***
Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration])

[[(II) VESA(0): Total Memory: 1024 64KB banks (65536kB)
(II) VESA(0): Configured Monitor: Using default hsync range of 31.50-37.90 kHz
(II) VESA(0): Configured Monitor: Using default vrefresh range of 50.00-70.00 Hz
(WW) VESA(0): Unable to estimate virtual size
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "2048x1536" (no mode of this name)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "1280x1024" (no mode of this name)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "1024x768" (no mode of this name)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "800x600" (no mode of this name)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "640x480" (no mode of this name)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "640x400" (no mode of this name)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "320x400" (no mode of this name)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "320x240" (no mode of this name)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "320x200" (no mode of this name)
(WW) VESA(0): No valid modes left. Trying less strict filter...
(II) VESA(0): Configured Monitor: Using hsync range of 31.50-37.90 kHz
(II) VESA(0): Configured Monitor: Using vrefresh range of 50.00-70.00 Hz
(WW) VESA(0): Unable to estimate virtual size
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "2048x1536" (hsync out of range)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "1280x1024" (hsync out of range)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "1024x768" (hsync out of range)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "640x400" (hsync out of range)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "320x400" (hsync out of range)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "320x240" (illegal horizontal timings)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "320x200" (illegal horizontal timings)
(--) VESA(0): Virtual size is 800x600 (pitch 800)
(**) VESA(0): *Built-in mode "800x600"
(**) VESA(0): *Built-in mode "640x480"
(==) VESA(0): DPI set to (96, 96)
(II) VESA(0): Attempting to use 60Hz refresh for mode "800x600" (115)
(II) VESA(0): Attempting to use 60Hz refresh for mode "640x480" (112)
(**) VESA(0): Using "Shadow Framebuffer"
(II) Loading sub module "shadow"
(II) LoadModule: "shadow" ]]

This sounds like you installed the wrong nvidia kernel package. Some video cards have to use a legacy driver.

thanks but how do i find the right one???

this is my card btw : GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
this is my kernel: 2.6.24-16-generic

if they help at all
thanks again

Have you installed nvidia-glx-96 package? that seems to be the one for your GPU.

I remember from Kubuntu Hardy with KDE3.5 I had to install the driver first, then under hardware drivers enable the driver (reboot may be?) and then under system setting-> display I had to choose the proprietary driver as well and do an X server restart from the login manager window. (the blunt way: ctrl+alt+backspace)

also, make certain you have your system up to date.

hope this helps a bit.
Ron

test

There are a variety of possible operating systems which can be installed on a personal computer. As an alternative to Linux you may wish to consider Microsoft Vista. Although it certainly is more expensive, it is professionally written and you will find that all of the unfortunate issues and problems you are experiencing will simply disappear when using a quality operating system.

cheers

now why didn't I think of that?
what is the name of this forum again?