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Law1213 07-14-2004 09:39 AM

Linux Laptop External Monitor Help Please!!
 
Hi
Just installed Mandrake 10 on my laptop, I have an external monitor plugged in the dual headed ATI Radeon Mobility 9000 graphics card. At the moment both monitors (external and laptop screen) display the same thing, I want my laptop monitor to be turned off, any ideas? I have searched around and found loads of ppl with similar problems but no clear answers. I understand nVidia has a utlilty for Linux called Yanc but thats only for their cards is there any utils for ATI Radeon? There is a built in multiple monitor control in the KDE Control panel somewhere but it doesnt recognise there are two monitors and everything is disabled.

Linux Newbie

BIACS 07-14-2004 09:56 AM

Have you tried the built in switching? FN +F*, depending on your manufacturer it may be FN + F7 or F6 or F8, you should see a FN (function) key toward the bottom left of your keyboard, it may have blue or purple lettering on it. The F* key to use may have CRT/LCD printed on it or small icons to resemble a monitor and LCD screen. You'll see other keys on your keyboard that have that same color lettering, those features to those keys are only available when you press and hold the FN key first. Not all buttons will be availble as some may require drivers or a package to be loaded on the OS first and Linux may not support it, however, I've never come across a laptop that needed the OS to switch between CRT and LCD, you can even switch during the POST when you are first setting up the laptop (no OS loaded).

Don't forget, you have to hold donw the FN key while pressing the corresponding F* key. There should be 3 modes to the CRT/LCD switch. They will be LCD only, LCD/CRT mixed, CRT only.

Law1213 07-14-2004 10:47 AM

Hi thanks for the suggestion

In my case it is Fn+F4 which I tried pressing and nothing happened, however just now at the boot screen before the GUI loads I can pressed the Fn+F4 keys and it worked my laptop screen is now turned off. There are a few problems with this method though:-

1.) Whenever I try and use Fn+F4 in the Linux GUI nothing happens (odd isnt it) but when I press them during booting before the GUI has loaded it works.
2.) I have to press these buttons at just the right time everytime I boot otherwise both screens will be on
3.) When I play a AVI movie I just get a blue screen where the movie should be (before when my laptop screen was on, the movie would only be displayed on that screen only and I would get the same blue screen I get on the external monitor). Basically the video output seems to be displayed on the laptop screen.

Any help would be appreicated,

Thanks alot for the help, guess I am one step closer

BIACS 07-14-2004 11:06 AM

The blue screen could have something to do with not having the correct drivers running that monitor, the current settings trying to run it at a rate out of synch, or the movie player trying to play in windowed or full screen. The first test I would suggest is while the movie is playing (assuming you are using Totem) press the F key on your keyboard, this will attempt to play the movie in Full Screen mode. If the movie player is attempting Full Screen it will then togle back down to windowed mode. If that doesn't help then try to research the specs for your monitor and try changing the settings Linux is trying to drive the monitor with if they don't match.

Are you able to switch LCD/CRT during the BIOS POST? You could install ACME and see if that helps also. ACME is a GNOME app but will run in KDE, it enables some of the multimedia shortcut keys (the other FN + * key). Maybe it will enable your F4 in GUI also.

Law1213 07-14-2004 01:52 PM

Hi,

My graphics drivers are definitely correct and I just tried a few different monitor drivers with no effect (I cannot use exact monitor drivers as my monitor isnt popular and there doesnt appear to be any for linux.)

I had a similar problem once with windows with the AVI video output only appearing on one monitor, I think it had something to do with setting the external monitor to be the primary monitor (as live video only appears on the primary monitor). I dont understand if my laptop screen is off why the external monitor would not be set to primary.
NOTE: If both screens are on external has blue screen during video playback and laptop has actual video output working correctly.

I attempted the full screen in the noatun and Totem Media player and I just get a large blue screen. Its the type of blue screen you get like when you move the video window whilst playing that blue that appears in the background during dragging thats what I am seeing.

As for ACME I managed to download a version and test it, but my Fn+F4 key still had no effect.

I am able to LCD/CRT swtich at the Dual boot menu (LILO with GI) and whenever the Linux GUI isnt up (meaning as soon as I see a mouse pointer the Fn+F4 key stops working)

Thanks alot

BIACS 07-14-2004 02:26 PM

I'm at a loss then for the video problem. What you are describing with primary monitor is only when you have a dual video card and dual monitors. I've run many machines that way and you can choose to have the desktop span both monitors, have one primary, have your desktop icons on one and open applications on the other, have them setup as a wide screen monitor or as a double tall monitor (if you stacked one on top of the other). All of those types of features are only possible with dual monitors and a dual monitor card. When you are using the CRT/LCD switch however, it is displaying a mirror image on the external monitor. It doesn't treat it as a second monitor. You may have had a driver application from ATI that enabled it to act as a second monitor instead of a mirror display when in windows but the default for hardware on a laptop is to mirror.

When you are trying to view video and you have both the LCD and CRT enabled, even though you only see a blue screen on the CRT, do you still see your background/icons and mouse moving on the CRT?

Law1213 07-14-2004 05:49 PM

Hi

Yes, I see a complete mirrior of the LCD on the CRT (when both are enabled) the only difference is that the picture for the video is blue, so I still see the icons and mouse on the CRT in the background. Also when I switch to CRT (with LCD off) I see the icons and mouse pointer but not the video.

Thanks for you input anyway

Law1213 07-14-2004 07:08 PM

Hi,

Just having a midnight strole on the net for answers, when I came across this

From http://whacked.net/ldl/faq
"
Using an external monitor
The ATI Rage driver (and I believe all standard X 4.1.x drivers
should be supporting this interface too, if not now, then soon)
supports the following option:
Option "Display" "string"
where string is one of the following:
"FP" - use flat panel
"CRT" - use external monitor
"Mirror" - use both FP & CRT
"
I think you can add this Option "Display" "CRT" in the XF86Config-4 file somewhere but where? btw I realise it is for an ATI Rage but I am hoping it might work for my Radeon too.

Law1213 07-14-2004 08:02 PM

Wahoo! Success!

I edited the XF86Config-4 file and added the line
Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT" to the device section see below and its worked, video also works.

Section "Device"
Identifier "device1"
BoardName "ATI Radeon"
Driver "radeon"
Option "DPMS"
Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT"
EndSection

However during my trials I overwrote my ATI Radeon Drivers with some others which has disabled my hardware acceleration, anyone know to restore the old ones from CD? The drivers I have overwrote with are from the ATI site and are correct but I have to recompile the kernal to complete the installation I would rather have my old drivers back than do that

Hope that made sense, sleepy after all this fixing lol

BIACS 07-14-2004 09:43 PM

If you know which CD had the drivers you could run rpm -U name of rpm.rpm and it will update the files from the rpm. I think there is a switch that will force the installer to overwrite but I'm not in Linux right now to look. You could type rpm --help to see a list.

Other than that, you could go to the Mandrake Control Center and remove the ATI app, then add it right back.

Law1213 07-15-2004 07:11 AM

I gave it a try, removing the package "xglrx" after eventually finding it, however I then couldnt find the package on the CD but I messed around the graphics drivers, restarted and it appears to be back hardware accel is now working wahoo.

Thanks a lot for your help

BIACS 07-15-2004 08:40 AM

You may want to post what your steps were and end result in the HCL (Hardware Compatiblility List). Use the link below the LinuxQuestions.org banner at the top of the page. It's just a resource area where others could search when they try to do the same thing with a similar card.

Law1213 07-15-2004 03:52 PM

Ok done

Under Video Devices->ATI->Radeon Mobility 9000
http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/sh...p?product=1421


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