I will help yall with this because I spent all day today and part of yesterday trying to figure it out - and I eventually started to FULLY understand how the Xserver works, where its logs are located, what is in the logs, how the drivers work after chasing antiquated driver options.
You guys using ATI cards - need to read the manuals for the X driver for your video cards
For "Radeon" users, open /etc/X11/XF86Config with a text editor like gedit or vi (note - this works for Xorg too)
this is the file that has all your video card and monitor cofiguration information
there should be a section in XF86Config entitled "Device"
this section lists your video card's driver- if you have a card that is supported by XFree86 and it is configured properly
it should look similar to this
Code:
Section "Device"
Identifier "radeon"
Driver "radeon"
VideoRam 32768
Option "AGPMode" "4"
Option "AGPSize" "64"
Option "AGPFastWrite" "1"
Option "EnablePageFlip" "on"
Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT, NONE"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection
this is the line you are missing Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT, NONE"
Option "MonitorLayout" "string"
This option is used to overwrite the detected moni-
tor types. This is only required when driver makes
a false detection. The possible monitor types are:
NONE -- Not connected
CRT -- Analog CRT monitor
TMDS -- Desktop flat panel
LVDS -- Laptop flat panel
This option can be used in following format:
Option "MonitorLayout" "[type on primary], [type on
secondary]"
For example, Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT, TMDS"
Primary/Secondary head for dual-head cards:
(when only one port is used, it will be treated as
the primary regardless)
Primary head:
DVI port on DVI+VGA cards
LCD output on laptops
Internal TMDS prot on DVI+DVI cards
Secondary head:
VGA port on DVI+VGA cards
VGA port on laptops
External TMDS port on DVI+DVI cards
The default value is undefined.
justletmein-there is an option for flat panels "TMDS"
you guys have the ati radeon 9000 card - if you would like to fix this monitor problem and add 3D support so that you can play games please do a search for flgrxconfig on google or here in the forums and you will see plenty of instructions on how to install it- its a config program which comes with an updated driver for your video cards and the config program will give you the option of setting your primary display to a CRT(a monitor) or a FLATPANEL ( justletmein take note) or whatever
hopefully this will help others looking to add an external monitor to a laptop with a radeon chip since google has zero friggin hits
Good luck mr murdahh
this was typed while looking at my radeon 7500 M7 displaying a beautiful 1600x1200@ 75HZ on a nice 21in monitor