Ad-hoc second monitor problem

megaloman · 03-04-09, 10:26 AM

I use a Dell laptop - occasionally I have to present something on the bigger screen in the board room, every time I get the same issue - after connecting an external monitor and applying changes (via nvidia-settings) external monitor becomes a number 1 monitor, which I would expect to be my laptop's display. It's confusing, but it gets worse, when I want to switch off TwinView - it does not switch off automatically when I disconnect external monitor; if I switch TwinView off while external monitor is still connected, I get my laptop's display switched off; when I unplug external monitor - I have no way to come back to my desktop other then restarting X.

Is there any way to force NVIDIA drivers to keep laptop's display as a primary one? It is really annoying bug in NVIDIA drivers (or maybe it's not nvidia driver's fault?).

**AaronP** · 03-04-09, 11:05 AM

Does this problem still occur if you check the "Make this the primary display for the X screen" checkbox for the laptop monitor in the nvidia-settings display configuration page?

megaloman · 03-04-09, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AaronP

Does this problem still occur if you check the "Make this the primary display for the X screen" checkbox for the laptop monitor in the nvidia-settings display configuration page?

When I select this check box and move second screen to the left side of the primary screen, part of the content of the primary screen is on the second screen and desktop becomes unresponsive.

I have set a driver option:

Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"

and with this settings switching off TwinView leads me to either crash or blank screen.

Surprisingly, now it worked fine (!).

What confuses me - when I want to switch TwinView, it actually switches off the screen, which is currently highlighted - how can I force DFP-0 to be always on and always a primary screen regardless what I attach to the external monitor's port?

megaloman · 03-04-09, 11:21 AM

btw: thanks for a very quick reply!

megaloman · 03-04-09, 11:25 AM

actually, laptop's display is still not a primary display - I've got a layout like that:

[CRT:1280x1024][DFP:1680x1050]

when I right click within Firefox on DFP screen, popup menu appears on the CRT screen - it does not happen if I do that on the desktop though...

megaloman · 03-04-09, 11:35 AM

and after a few minutes of trying to do something with above configuration, display freezes though it seems to work still.

the “Make this the primary display for the X screen” checkbox seems to be selected by default for the primary screen - could it be thanks to the xorg.option I mentioned above?

Flickering between TwinView and single view seems to be unstable and working on random basis. Hope it could be improved / fixed soon.

For the record: I am using Fedora Core 10 with nvidia drivers from RPM Fusion repo, my hardware is Dell Precision M4300 laptop with Quadro FX 360M on board, screen has 1680x1050 resolution.

megaloman · 03-04-09, 11:49 AM

I forgot to mention - thanks to NVIDIA crashes I've lost my desktop settings - panels, applets' settings etc. had to set up everything from the scratch.

**AaronP** · 03-04-09, 12:56 PM

Several of these problems sound like bugs in your desktop environment, where it fails to properly handle the screen resize events. How exactly are you "switching off TwinView"? Can you please run "xdpyinfo -ext XINERAMA" and attach the stuff at the bottom, starting at "XINERAMA version 1.1 opcode: foo", in both the successful and failing cases? If you're running with so-called desktop effects (i.e. compiz) running, please disable that and try again.

uto · 04-03-09, 07:09 AM

I noticed the issue with turning on TwinView with nvidia-settings and do the following to get what I want:

when I mark my laptop's DFP as a primary display and press "Apply" button, additional monitor gets primary (setting “Make this the primary display for the X screen” is ignored). Then I press "Cancel" on "Would you like keep current settings?" dialog box. Then I simply press "Apply" button again (making no changes in configuration!!!) and then my laptop's DFP stays primary.

This issue is present for a long time. It should be fixed because it is annoying...

03-04-09, 10:26 AM	#1
megaloman Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 56	Ad-hoc second monitor problem I use a Dell laptop - occasionally I have to present something on the bigger screen in the board room, every time I get the same issue - after connecting an external monitor and applying changes (via nvidia-settings) external monitor becomes a number 1 monitor, which I would expect to be my laptop's display. It's confusing, but it gets worse, when I want to switch off TwinView - it does not switch off automatically when I disconnect external monitor; if I switch TwinView off while external monitor is still connected, I get my laptop's display switched off; when I unplug external monitor - I have no way to come back to my desktop other then restarting X. Is there any way to force NVIDIA drivers to keep laptop's display as a primary one? It is really annoying bug in NVIDIA drivers (or maybe it's not nvidia driver's fault?).

03-04-09, 11:05 AM	#2
AaronP NVIDIA Corporation Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2,487	Re: Ad-hoc second monitor problem Does this problem still occur if you check the "Make this the primary display for the X screen" checkbox for the laptop monitor in the nvidia-settings display configuration page?

03-04-09, 11:21 AM	#4
megaloman Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 56	Re: Ad-hoc second monitor problem btw: thanks for a very quick reply!

03-04-09, 11:25 AM	#5
megaloman Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 56	Re: Ad-hoc second monitor problem actually, laptop's display is still not a primary display - I've got a layout like that: [CRT:1280x1024][DFP:1680x1050] when I right click within Firefox on DFP screen, popup menu appears on the CRT screen - it does not happen if I do that on the desktop though...

03-04-09, 11:35 AM	#6
megaloman Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 56	Re: Ad-hoc second monitor problem and after a few minutes of trying to do something with above configuration, display freezes though it seems to work still. the “Make this the primary display for the X screen” checkbox seems to be selected by default for the primary screen - could it be thanks to the xorg.option I mentioned above? Flickering between TwinView and single view seems to be unstable and working on random basis. Hope it could be improved / fixed soon. For the record: I am using Fedora Core 10 with nvidia drivers from RPM Fusion repo, my hardware is Dell Precision M4300 laptop with Quadro FX 360M on board, screen has 1680x1050 resolution.

03-04-09, 11:49 AM	#7
megaloman Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 56	Re: Ad-hoc second monitor problem I forgot to mention - thanks to NVIDIA crashes I've lost my desktop settings - panels, applets' settings etc. had to set up everything from the scratch.

03-04-09, 12:56 PM	#8
AaronP NVIDIA Corporation Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2,487	Re: Ad-hoc second monitor problem Several of these problems sound like bugs in your desktop environment, where it fails to properly handle the screen resize events. How exactly are you "switching off TwinView"? Can you please run "xdpyinfo -ext XINERAMA" and attach the stuff at the bottom, starting at "XINERAMA version 1.1 opcode: foo", in both the successful and failing cases? If you're running with so-called desktop effects (i.e. compiz) running, please disable that and try again.

04-03-09, 07:09 AM	#9
uto Registered User Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 8	Re: Ad-hoc second monitor problem I noticed the issue with turning on TwinView with nvidia-settings and do the following to get what I want: when I mark my laptop's DFP as a primary display and press "Apply" button, additional monitor gets primary (setting “Make this the primary display for the X screen” is ignored). Then I press "Cancel" on "Would you like keep current settings?" dialog box. Then I simply press "Apply" button again (making no changes in configuration!!!) and then my laptop's DFP stays primary. This issue is present for a long time. It should be fixed because it is annoying...