My laptop screen is damaged and second screen doesn't work with all Linux distro

Aim · 05-03-2009, 03:06 PM

Hi everyone,

I think the long title explains a lot.

I have to note that when it boots everything is fine but when I it starts to run the GUI, KDE or else the screen stops working.

So the only solution is to type few commands from the shell.

Especially, that my second screen is now the main screen

Enlighten me thanks.

wabbalee · 05-04-2009, 07:21 PM

Just a suggestion; on laptops there are 'function' keys. pressing the 'fn' key and the appropriate key (in my case the F5 key) toggles three modes:
1 main screen only
2 main screen and 2nd screen
3 2nd screen only
still the possibility remains that X will keep wanting to use the main screen only.
another suggestion: have you looked on ebay for a screen for your laptop? they are replaceable and after market types may suffice and are cheaper.

the other solution is to edit your /etc/x11/xorg.conf file, but I can't help you with that.
does your laptop boot in a GUI when using a live distro? if so, check the xorg.conf file in live mode.

fotoguy · 05-05-2009, 04:33 AM

Sounds like the driver in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf is not set to the correct one. You may need to set it to something generic like vesa, look for a section like this.

Quote:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 7300 GS"
EndSection

And change the driver to "vesa", depending on what your graphics card is, will depend on the driver to use, but vesa does work most of the time. If you do know what sort of graphics card it has, then we can find out the right one to use.

Aim · 05-05-2009, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotoguy

Sounds like the driver in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf is not set to the correct one. You may need to set it to something generic like vesa, look for a section like this.

And change the driver to "vesa", depending on what your graphics card is, will depend on the driver to use, but vesa does work most of the time. If you do know what sort of graphics card it has, then we can find out the right one to use.

My graphic card is: ati radeon xpress 200M series.

So how can I set or edit the driver?

If there are links that explain this issue I will be waiting.

Thanks in advance.

fotoguy · 05-06-2009, 03:39 AM

To edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file you will need a command line text editor like vi, vim or emacs, at least one of these will be installed on your distro. Then just use either "ati" or "radeon", just look for text in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file that is similar to the one I posted in the earlier post.

An example, change:

Quote:

Driver "nvidia"

To:

Quote:

Driver "ati"

This will tell XServer to load the driver for an ati card, this driver is already part of the linux kernel, thanks to the hard work of the distro developers, and of course the kernel developers and supporters.

Try this with "ati", then try "radeon", if this doesn't work, then try "vesa".