Monitor at 1024x768 and won't let me change it
 

I built out a new computer and installed OpenSuse Tumbleweed on it.

It boots up and the resolution is at 1024x768 and won't let me change it in KDE system config (it shows "Default" as the display, and 1024x768 as the only resolution with no option to change it.)

Graphics: integrated Intel on a Skylake Core i7
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5

xrandr:
Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 1024 x 768, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768
default connected primary 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
1024x768 76.00*

cvt 1280x1024:
# 1280x1024 59.89 Hz (CVT 1.31M4) hsync: 63.67 kHz; pclk: 109.00 MHz
Modeline "1280x1024_60.00" 109.00 1280 1368 1496 1712 1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync

I added this information to the xorg monitor conf file (along with a screen section) and rebooted.

It took a long time, and came up to a text login screen.

I rebooted, and at the grub menu picked to boot into recovery mode.

In recovery mode, the resolution was fine, and KDE system config showed the correct monitor (Samsung SyncMaster 213T), and all supported resolutions are listed.

So I deleted the problem config file and restored it from backup and rebooted.

It's back to 1024x768 and won't let me change it.

What'd I miss/do wrong? (and why does recovery mode properly detect the monitor?)

That's configured somewhere in xorg.conf.d/. Try these commands on your box To explain my numbers, I have a setup which lists an external monitor & a projector, as separate left/right screens. Here's what I get You need to set up the Virtual screen size. Loads about it google.

You may also want to compare the /var/log/Xorg.0.log from a normal boot and from a recovery mode boot.

Is that a different log file? There aren't any errors in either. (Well, except the one time that I toasted the config file trying to fix this issue, when I restored from the backup I made and rebooted, no errors, but no adjustable resolution either...)

Yeah, and every few years when I have to mess with it, the entire contents of /etc/X11/ seem to change. Last year when I had this same issue, I had one xorg conf file, and I just had to add the output from cvt (I think that's the command...) to the monitor section. Now I have separate files for monitor, screen, and device.

Do I still have to mess with Virtual screen size with just one monitor? (and yes, I'll google it and post back here...)

Some xrandr output for consideration:

xrandr -q
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 1024 x 768, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768
default connected primary 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
1024x768 76.00*
1280x1024_75.00 (0x293) 138.750MHz -HSync +VSync
h: width 1280 start 1368 end 1504 total 1728 skew 0 clock 80.30KHz
v: height 1024 start 1027 end 1034 total 1072 clock 74.90Hz

xrandr --addmode default 1280x1024_75.00
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default

xrandr --output default --gamma 0:0:0 --mode 1280x1024_75.00
xrandr: screen cannot be larger than 1024x768 (desired size 1280x1024)

on my old computer, the xrandr output looks like this:
xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 32767 x 32767
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA1 connected primary 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 340mm x 270mm
1280x1024 60.02*+ 75.02
1280x1024_60.00 59.89
1152x864 75.00
1024x768 75.03
VIRTUAL1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

It lists VGA, HDMI, and DVI outputs, while the xrandr output on the new computer (the one I'm having the problem on) lists only "default connected primary"
Is that the problem? Driver? Motherboard driver????

Solved my issue.

It's been bugging me that:

a. xrandr didn't list an output type
b. Recover mode worked fine.

So I googled the difference between normal boot and recovery mode (Google doesn't directly answer this by the way. The difference is the command line parameters in GRUB. View them by pressing the 'e' key at the GRUB menu.)

So, I looked at them. Normal mode had "nomodeset" added. (I had to add this to get it boot at setup. (I was using a different monitor))

I removed nomodeset and rebooted, it works fine now, and I can choose various resolutions from KDE settings.

So I feel kinda dumb, as I caused this, but I learned something, so...