Connect second monitor on debian labtop

alex___ · 09-28-2021, 06:17 AM

Hello there,

I looked about 100 Q&A for this questions , but never succeed , so I'm making my own.

I'm under debian 10 , and I can't use a second monitor , my computer detect the second screen but nothing is display.

Here are some informations :
$ xrandr

Code:

Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 32767 x 32767
eDP1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 340mm x 190mm
   1920x1080     60.01*+  59.93    40.00  
   1680x1050     59.95    59.88  
   1600x1024     60.17  
   1400x1050     59.98  
   1600x900      60.00    59.95    59.82  
   1280x1024     60.02  
   1440x900      59.89  
   1400x900      59.96    59.88  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1368x768      60.00    59.88    59.85  
   1360x768      59.80    59.96  
   1280x800      59.81    59.91  
   1152x864      60.00  
   1280x720      59.86    60.00    59.74  
   1024x768      60.00  
   1024x576      60.00    59.90    59.82  
   960x540       60.00    59.63    59.82  
   800x600       60.32    56.25  
   864x486       60.00    59.92    59.57  
   640x480       59.94  
   720x405       59.51    60.00    58.99  
   640x360       59.84    59.32    60.00  
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VIRTUAL1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

$ nvidia-detect

Code:

Detected NVIDIA GPUs:
01:00.0 3D controller [0302]: NVIDIA Corporation GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] [10de:1c8d] (rev a1)

Checking card:  NVIDIA Corporation GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] (rev a1)
Your card is supported by the default drivers and legacy driver series 390.
It is recommended to install the
    nvidia-driver
package.

$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "Layout0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Device1"
    Driver "nvidia"
    VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
    Option "NoLogo" "true"
    Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP"
EndSection

#For the configuration with bumblebee installed
#Section that follows come from archlinux adapt it from your distro if necessary.
Section "Files"
  ModulePath   "/usr/lib/nvidia/xorg/"
  ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules/"
EndSection

I hope you can help me with this, or give me a link to resolve it.

frankbell · 09-28-2021, 07:45 PM

This is a long shot, but have you checked your laptop documentation? The laptops I've had in recent years all have hardware switches to switch the display.

For example, on the laptop I most recently hooked up to a second screen, there was an Fn key with a picture of a screen on it in the row of number keys at the top of the keyboard. By holding down the Fn key and pressing that key, the picture would rotate through displaying on both screens, having a separate display on each screen, displaying only on the external monitor, and then back the displaying only on the laptop screen.

alex___ · 09-29-2021, 04:55 AM

Hi thanks for replying,

I check what you said, and this does nothing on my computer, when I plug my hdmi I got a model window which ask me how I want my seccond monitor to be display, I choose my option and nothing happend.

Can you precise me which kind of documentation I need, because my laptob was on window before switching to debian.

computersavvy · 09-29-2021, 04:42 PM

With that image it seems you are selecting to extend the desktop between the monitors.
Are both active?
What happens when you drag a window from one to the other?
Those images appear to allow you to select left only, right only, mirrored, span left --> right, span right --> left. Depending on which mode you select it will determine what you see. The simplest way to verify it is working is to either select mirrored, which will display the same on both, or if you select the span mode then drag a window or mouse around to see if it appears on the other monitor.

obobskivich · 09-29-2021, 07:17 PM

Does this system only use the nVidia GPU, or is it a multi-GPU system? What does nVidia X Server Settings show? Is the second (physical) screen visible? Is it being instantiated as xscreen1 (or otherwise not on the same xscreen as the integrated display)? Do you know the cable you're using to connect these two together to be good? Do you know the port to be good? Do you know the monitor to be good? Is the monitor getting power? Is the monitor set to the right input? Is the monitor even a monitor (or are you using a TV, which can bring a whole second layer of concerns)?

alex___ · 09-30-2021, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by computersavvy

With that image it seems you are selecting to extend the desktop between the monitors.
Are both active?
What happens when you drag a window from one to the other?
Those images appear to allow you to select left only, right only, mirrored, span left --> right, span right --> left. Depending on which mode you select it will determine what you see. The simplest way to verify it is working is to either select mirrored, which will display the same on both, or if you select the span mode then drag a window or mouse around to see if it appears on the other monitor.

This window appear I press one of my topside number keys with screen picture on it, but not matter what I choose , the second monitor stay black. ( My OS just don't know how to work with my hardware to display the second part of my screen )

alex___ · 09-30-2021, 02:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich

Does this system only use the nVidia GPU, or is it a multi-GPU system? What does nVidia X Server Settings show? Is the second (physical) screen visible? Is it being instantiated as xscreen1 (or otherwise not on the same xscreen as the integrated display)? Do you know the cable you're using to connect these two together to be good? Do you know the port to be good? Do you know the monitor to be good? Is the monitor getting power? Is the monitor set to the right input? Is the monitor even a monitor (or are you using a TV, which can bring a whole second layer of concerns)?

I don't know a lot about my own computer, so I will try to give your more informations.
For CPU : I used lscpu command :
(sorry display in french)

Code:

Architecture*:                          x86_64
Mode(s) opératoire(s) des processeurs*: 32-bit, 64-bit
Boutisme*:                              Little Endian
Tailles des adresses:                   39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
Processeur(s)*:                         4
Liste de processeur(s) en ligne*:       0-3
Thread(s) par cœur*:                    1
Cœur(s) par socket*:                    4
Socket(s)*:                             1
Nœud(s) NUMA*:                          1
Identifiant constructeur*:              GenuineIntel
Famille de processeur*:                 6
Modèle*:                                158
Nom de modèle*:                         Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7300HQ CPU @ 2.50GHz
Révision*:                              9
Vitesse du processeur en MHz*:          1007.110
Vitesse maximale du processeur en MHz*: 3500,0000
Vitesse minimale du processeur en MHz*: 800,0000
BogoMIPS*:                              4992.00
Virtualisation*:                        VT-x
Cache L1d*:                             32K
Cache L1i*:                             32K
Cache L2*:                              256K
Cache L3*:                              6144K
Nœud NUMA*0 de processeur(s)*:          0-3
Drapaux*:                               fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid ept_ad fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp

Third question : The second screen is physical

Quote:

Is it being instantiated as xscreen1 (or otherwise not on the same xscreen as the integrated display)?

I don't don't think so. Do you have any commands to see morre informations about this.

For the rest the monitor I used, is used by my co-workers so I'm prettry sure it's working , same for the wire , it's a HDMI to VGA .(old screen)

obobskivich · 10-02-2021, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alex___

I don't know a lot about my own computer, so I will try to give your more informations.
For CPU : I used lscpu command :
(sorry display in french)

Code:

Architecture*:                          x86_64
Mode(s) opératoire(s) des processeurs*: 32-bit, 64-bit
Boutisme*:                              Little Endian
Tailles des adresses:                   39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
Processeur(s)*:                         4
Liste de processeur(s) en ligne*:       0-3
Thread(s) par cœur*:                    1
Cœur(s) par socket*:                    4
Socket(s)*:                             1
Nœud(s) NUMA*:                          1
Identifiant constructeur*:              GenuineIntel
Famille de processeur*:                 6
Modèle*:                                158
Nom de modèle*:                         Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7300HQ CPU @ 2.50GHz
Révision*:                              9
Vitesse du processeur en MHz*:          1007.110
Vitesse maximale du processeur en MHz*: 3500,0000
Vitesse minimale du processeur en MHz*: 800,0000
BogoMIPS*:                              4992.00
Virtualisation*:                        VT-x
Cache L1d*:                             32K
Cache L1i*:                             32K
Cache L2*:                              256K
Cache L3*:                              6144K
Nœud NUMA*0 de processeur(s)*:          0-3
Drapaux*:                               fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid ept_ad fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid mpx rdseed adx smap clflushopt intel_pt xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp

So its possible this is two GPUs and that may be part of your problem. Commands:

To see what GPU(s) the system reports:

Code:

xrandr --listproviders

Code:

inxi -G

What does it list there?

Quote:

For the rest the monitor I used, is used by my co-workers so I'm prettry sure it's working , same for the wire , it's a HDMI to VGA .(old screen)

HDMI to VGA is an active adapter - are you sure it works? Are you sure you've actually got an active adapter, and not some proprietary thing designed to work with some OEM's hatchet-job implementation? Can you test either a native HDMI display or another adapter or another VGA input display here?