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Problem with Nvidia + LCD monitor

Yet another prob. Before i thought that setting up Nvidia on linux is less troublesome than ATI. I was terribly wrong. It's even worse. My issue is: using Nvidia i just CAN'T set up a resolution for my LCD monitor higher than 1024x768. Actually it leaves me with 640x480, but sometimes it's still possible to tweak it up to 1024x768, which doesn't even matter. I believe there's a prob of drivers getting acquainted with the monitor i'm using and also it's identified as CRT-0 in xorg.conf. I've tried everything, adding extra resolution modes, messed with xorg.conf - it's all useless. So basically what nvidia/linux is trying to say to me now is either use CRT monitor or go get a life (use Windows). OK, now for the details:

OS: Debian 6 Squeeze amd64
Graphic CardL: Nvidia GeForce GT 420
Monitor: Acer AL1914 19"

Writing all this i don't really hope to see any solution. More like to check the box like "this shit ain't gonna work and nobody's got a clue how to solve it". By the way, ATI works perfectly for me, there's only one little thing: while watching movies i can see some distortion kicking in from time to time. I've realized... that's not THAT bad!!! :) However, even in lowres mode i could see that Nvidia doesn't give anything like that. But still i repay with yet another problem which is evidently twice as disastrous.

unsure about Debian 6 but
every other OS is using the open source nouveau driver
If you use the nvidia.run you will be replacing the nouveau driver.
And rebuilding the bootimage IS required for that

so did you rebuild the boot image ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by John VV (Post 4585403)

of course, that was done by the installation process.
And also i've purged nouveau driver to prevent any intervention.

Just in case take a look at my xorg.conf:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildd@barber) Sun Jun 13 12:08:56 UTC 2010

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Unknown"
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Quote:

of course, that was done by the installation process.

the *.run dose not do that so i guess you ran "dracut "

what is in the xorg log file
there should be errors listed

the xorg.conf looks fine
the current OS's do not need one(xorg.conf) there UNLESS you are manually overriding the system

run "nvidia-settings" as root and resave the /X11/xorg.conf using that

Quote:

Originally Posted by John VV (Post 4585450)

Proprietary drivers always require xorg.conf no matter what. Either created by them, or yourself. Without it they usually don't function normally.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dron (Post 4585389)

So basically what nvidia/linux is trying to say to me now is either use CRT monitor or go get a life (use Windows).

No, what its saying is that you need to check your outputs better.

Here is the thread (on a different forum, LOL) where I found the bit of info you have missed-

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/deb...d-monitor.html

Here is the problem-

Quote:

(WW) Jan 27 03:59:05 NVIDIA(GPU-0): Unable to read EDID for display device CRT-1

You're monitor isnt reporting its EDID information. So it appears as CRT-0, not DFP-0. Its also why you are getting horrible resoultions.

From checking the manual, it looks like the AL1914 should have a valid EDID file. All I can think of offhand is that the EDID has become corrupted for some reason. Though its possible that EDID is fine, just the nVidia drivers have some problem with the EDID (possibly because you are using very new drivers with a much older xorg version (1.7.7)).

This might help you fix the problem-

http://analogbit.com/fix_nvidia_edid

I've never tried it, the EDID works with all the monitors I use. The only times I've found it didnt work, I could force the resolution I wanted from xorg.conf. Again, no idea why that isnt working for you, but I'd suspect that it could be the same 'very new drivers, old xorg version' problem.

LCD panels will usually show up as "CRT" if they're connected via a 15 pin VGA (analogue) connection. It's clearly an EDID problem however as evidenced by the log entries.

cascade9, thank you very much, seems like you know what's the jazz about. I'll try all you said. By the way... everyone tells me about EDID, i tried several options in xorg.conf to ignore that thing, but that didn't work. I guess it's vice versa shouldn't be ignored and gather information from out there properly. As for "go get a life".. i said that because on Windows (as usual) is all fine. I don't mean to say i wanna use Windows, i'm just saying that either it's more universal, or nVidia drivers for Windows are slightly fixed. Also ATI drivers with my integrated radeon worked just fine (got all resolutions possible, even higher than monitor's native 1280x1024), and it was still connected via VGA analogue cable, yet also showing it's CRT-0. Maybe it only seemed ok, but i still had some probs with it like some minor distortions while video playback. However, on Windows all fine as usual.

Quote:

Originally Posted by caravel (Post 4585809)

LCD panels will usually show up as "CRT" if they're connected via a 15 pin VGA (analogue) connection. It's clearly an EDID problem however as evidenced by the log entries.

Yes, i'm using VGA cable. So does that mean i can't use this monitor with linux or what?.. Is it possible to get another cable for it?

***

Thanks guys, i think i solved it. You won't believe HOW i did it. I connected it to BBK TV monitor (which was sucessfully identified by the system) native resolution of which is 1920x...., doesn't matter, i forced it down to 1280x1024 and saved xorg.conf using nvidia-settings, then i connected it back to my monitor... boom! My precious 1280x1024 is here :) And here's xorg.conf thing:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 1.0 (pbuilder@c203) Tue May 18 07:56:38 UTC 2010

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Acer AL1914"
HorizSync 30.0 - 80.0
VertRefresh 60.0 - 75.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce GT 240"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
Option "metamodes" "1280x1024 +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dron (Post 4585918)

By the way... everyone tells me about EDID, i tried several options in xorg.conf to ignore that thing, but that didn't work. I guess it's vice versa shouldn't be ignored and gather information from out there properly. As for "go get a life".. i said that because on Windows (as usual) is all fine. I don't mean to say i wanna use Windows, i'm just saying that either it's more universal, or nVidia drivers for Windows are slightly fixed. Also ATI drivers with my integrated radeon worked just fine (got all resolutions possible, even higher than monitor's native 1280x1024)it was still connected via VGA analogue cable, yet also showing it's CRT-0. Maybe it only seemed ok, but i still had some probs with it like some minor distortions while video playback. However, on Windows all fine as usual.

If windows nVidia, and the ATI/AMD linux driver works with the monitor, and nVidia linux doesnt, that is normally a sign that the issue is with the nVidia linux drivers, not the monitor.

As for the 'distortion' with the ATI/AMD GPU, that would probably be from the drivers. fglrx is a lot better than it has been in the past, but work is ongoing. Its possible that if you had of tried a distro with a newer xorg version (openSUSE 11.4 has xorg 1.9.3, openSUSE 12.1 has the much newer xorg 1.10.4 version) that distortion problem would have been fixed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dron (Post 4585918)

Yes, i'm using VGA cable. So does that mean i can't use this monitor with linux or what?.. Is it possible to get another cable for it?

Nope. well, you can get a cable, but you cant hook it up to the AL1914, its only got a VGA input. No DVI, DVI-D or HDMI inputs on that monitor.

Like caravel said, LCDs on VGA (analog) connections tend to show up as 'CRT-0'. Its not normally a problem, and I'm running a 19'' LCD with a VGA connection that runs just fine, gets all resolutions etc. with the VGA cable and being run as 'CRT-0'.

If you are facing problem related to the resolution setup make sure that you have proper drivers, nVidia is not recommendable with Linux instead ATI may work better in Linux.