I just bought a new toshiba laptop with a widescreen 17" display. I installed the latest drivers from nvidia because every resolution past 1024x768 is larger than the physical screen size, i.e. the desktop is larger than the display. So installed the newest drivers and now I can't get X to display anything larger than 1024x768. Any ideas? Is there a way to change the aspect ratio that X displays in?

/etc/X11/XF86Config

everything is in it.

I know everything is in there. I have the mode lines in there as well but for some reason it won't go higher than 1024x768. Is there a way to change the aspect ratio?

can you show us your file?

Here's my XF86config-4 file:

# File generated by XFdrake.

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the XF86Config man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "Files"
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Mandrake 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
FontPath "unix/:-1"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
#DontZap # disable <Crtl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse doesn't work
#DontZoom # disable <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
Load "extmod"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx" # 3D layer
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "Keyboard"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
Option "XkbCompat" ""
Option "XkbOptions" ""
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons"
Option "Emulate3Timeout" "50"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "monitor1"
VendorName "Generic"
ModelName "Flat Panel 1400x1050"
HorizSync 31.5-90
VertRefresh 59-75

# Sony Vaio C1(X,XS,VE,VN)?
# 1024x480 @ 85.6 Hz, 48 kHz hsync
ModeLine "1024x480" 65.00 1024 1032 1176 1344 480 488 494 563 -hsync -vsync

# TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
# 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
ModeLine "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630

# 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
ModeLine "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "device1"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen1"
Device "device1"
Monitor "monitor1"
DefaultColorDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
Screen "screen1"
EndSection

Like I said before, the resolution won't go past 1024x768 and I am using the latest nvidia drivers from their site. Plus don't forget I have a 17" widescreen laptop display that can't be probed.

well I suppose XDrake haven't be able to probe your screen so he give you a "safe" setting that can get better than 1024x768. It is not a nvidia problem for sure.

You'll have to change your XF86Config to give it the real setting of your screen about horizontal and vertical setting. Well... take a look at my "Monitor" section :

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "LG Studioworks 775N"

# HorizSync is in kHz unless units are specified.
# HorizSync may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.

HorizSync 30 - 70

# VertRefresh is in Hz unless units are specified.
# VertRefresh may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.

VertRefresh 50-160

EndSection

So these setting are horizontal/vertical setting for my screen.
Here is my "Screen" section... note that I have a single "resolution" for each font color. This prevent my desktop to be larger that my real screen size. Hope this will help you...

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "NVIDIA Geforce2 MX 400"
Monitor "LG Studioworks 775N"
DefaultDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "800x600"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection

Ok, I have two questions. Is there any way to create a custom resolution? I checked my owner's manual and the widescreen supports up 16 million colors at 1440x900 and it also has some virtual screen sizes which I don't understand. Secondly, I tried to boot up Knoppix on the laptop to try and see the screen settings that it found and sure enough, it ran the resolution at 1024x768 but the vert. & hor. syncs were different. I'll try to keep playing around with it. One last question though, is it the fact that I have a widescreen screwing things up?

The answer is probably in /var/log/XFree86.0.log
There X prints why it ignored certain resolutions etc.

If I use the VESA driver for X, I am able to go up to 1280x1024 with no problem, however the bottom of the desktop in Gnome is off of the screen. How do I resize the desktop to make it all fit on my physical display?

you'll need to resize the physical display (these butons in the bottom of the screen). Or maybe there is something wrong with your vertical/horizontal setting?