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Resolution issue on Acer AL1916W running Ubuntu

K, so I just freshly installed Ubuntu on my desktop, get it up and running, looks a little fuzzy. Check the resolution, and it didn't pick up my screen's native resolution of 1440x900. I download and run nvidia-xconfig, then restart, and to my amazement, the outputted file that nvidia-xconfig created, X didn't like. I'm stuck running at a subpar resolution right now, and can't seem to find out how to get it working.

Here's my xorg.conf file for appropriate sections.

Code:

Section "Monitor"

    Identifier    "Acer AL1916W"

    Option        "DPMS"

    HorizSync      30.0-82.0

    VertRefresh    56.0-76.0

    ModeLine      1440×900″ 136.0 1440 1520 1672 1904 900 903 909 934 +hsync +vsync

EndSection



Section "Device"

    Identifier    "nVidia Corporation G71 [GeForce 7900 GS]"

    Driver        "nvidia"

EndSection



Section "Screen"

    Identifier    "Default Screen"

    Device        "nVidia Corporation G71 [GeForce 7900 GS]"

    Monitor        "Acer AL1916W"

    DefaultDepth    24

    Option        "AddARGBVisuals" "True"

    Option        "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"

    Option        "NoLogo" "True"

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      1

        Modes      "1440x1440" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      4

        Modes      "1440x1440" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      8

        Modes      "1440x1440" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      15

        Modes      "1440x1440" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      16

        Modes      "1440x1440" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      24

        Modes      "1440x1440" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

EndSection

In section "screen" subsection "display", under modes, you've got a few "1440x1440" entries. I'd recommend changing all of those to "1440x900" and restarting Xwindows, and see if that fixes it.

If not, I'd say take a look at that ModeLine entry under Section "Monitor", specifically that 1440x900" entry. That looks a little fishy to me somehow. Try taking out the 1440x900" part as a second pass and see if it likes it better.

A few things about LCDs, you must set the refresh frequency at 60hz, nothing higher.

If you can't get the nVidia driver to work, go back and select VESA as your driver. You will have your 1440x900 resolution, you just won't have 3D graphics without the vendor's driver.

I have a very similar setup as you, regarding video card and monitor...........The monitor is the same , but my video card is an nVidia GeForce FX 5200.......

At first I had some problems getting it to work right, but now everything is working as it should......Here are the relevent portions of my xorg.conf:

Code:

Section "Monitor"

        DisplaySize          410  260

        Identifier  "WidescreenLCD"

        VendorName  "ACR"

        ModelName    "AL1916W"

        Option            "DPMS"

        HorizSync    31.0 - 84.0

        VertRefresh  56.0 - 76.0

        #  Modeline not really necessary

#        Modeline  "1440x900"  86.0  1440 1488 1520 1600  900 903 909 926 +hsync +vsync

EndSection



Section "Device"

        Identifier  "nVidiaCard"

        Driver      "nvidia"

        VendorName  "nVidia Corporation"

        BoardName  "NV34 [GeForce FX 5200]"

        BusID      "PCI:1:0:0"

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen0"

        Device    "nVidiaCard"

        Monitor    "WidescreenLCD"

        DefaultDepth 24

      # metamodes option not really necessary

#      Option        "metamodes"  "1440x900 +0+0"

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      1

        Viewport    0  0

        Modes      "1440x900" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      4

        Viewport    0  0

        Modes      "1440x900" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      8

        Viewport    0  0

        Modes      "1440x900" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      15

        Viewport    0  0

        Modes      "1440x900" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      16

        Viewport    0  0

        Modes      "1440x900" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

    SubSection    "Display"

        Depth      24

        Viewport    0  0

        Modes      "1440x900" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubSection

EndSection

I used to have the Modeline in the monitor section, and the Options 'metamode" in the screen section, but found they weren't really necessary.......So try it without them and see if it works, else uncomment them to see if it helps.....

HTH :)
---thegeekster

PS: BogusTrumper is right about the incorrect "1440x1440" entries in the screen section..........Each entry should read "1440x900", instead........

And the values for the Modeline seem rather high.........JohnE1 is also correct about too high a refresh rate for LCDs........You can burn them out if they actually accept such a high refresh rate.........

Wow, didn't even realize how badly nvidia-xconfig murdered the resolutions there...

Anyways, ran a dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and got all the settings to appear properly. Now running 1440x900@60.

Great! Glad to hear you got it working correctly and thanks for sharing your solution. No doubt, someone else will benefit from your "experience".

JohnE1