Twinview on Gigabyte GV-NX84S512HP ?

[BitJam]

I just bought this video card to get in on some of that VDPAU goodness.

I've got a motherboard (ASUS M2NPV-VM) with a built in GeForce 6150 which I've been using in twinview mode with one monitor connected via VGA and the other via DVI. When the machine boots up both monitors would be clones of the text screen until X-Windows started.

With the new card (Gigabyte GV-NX84S512HP) it seems impossible for both the VGA and DVI monitors to be on at the same time. At boot time only the DVI monitor is on when both are plugged in. If I boot with only the VGA monitor plugged in and then plug in the DVI monitor before X starts then the VGA monitor loses signal and X starts on the DVI monitor.

I'm on an x86_64 system running Gentoo Linux (amd64). Here is the driver and card info from my bug report:

/proc/driver/nvidia/version
NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module  180.29  Wed Feb  4 23:39:47 PST 2009
GCC version:  gcc version 4.1.2 (Gentoo 4.1.2 p1.3)

____________________________________________

/proc/driver/nvidia/cards/0
Model: 		 GeForce 8400 GS
IRQ:   		 16
Video BIOS: 	 62.98.29.00.00
Card Type: 	 PCI-E
DMA Size: 	 40 bits
DMA Mask: 	 0xffffffffff
Bus Location: 	 03.00.0

I've attached the entire bug report. Is it possible that a GeForce 8400 card with VGA and DVI outputs does not support Twinview?

[zander]

You won't be able to get the VGA console on both heads at the same time due to a hardware limitation. Are you saying that TwinView inside of X also does not work?

[pavlinux]

Originally Posted by BitJam

If I boot with only the VGA monitor plugged in and then plug in the DVI monitor before X starts then the VGA monitor loses signal and X starts on the DVI monitor.

It's no bug, it's new feature

[BitJam]

Thanks for the rapid replies. I remove the card and am now back in Twinview goodness using my lowly built-in GeForce 6150.

Originally Posted by zander

You won't be able to get the VGA console on both heads at the same time due to a hardware limitation.

That's cool. As long as I can get Twinview working in X, then I'm a happy camper.

Originally Posted by zander

Are you saying that TwinView inside of X also does not work?

Yes. I don't know how to get it to work. I've used Twinview for many years on two different computers. I'm totally addicted. I've helped a dozen or so people with Twinview on the Gentoo forums (use the xinerama USE flag) I figured my existing xorg.conf would work with the new card with very minor tweaks, but as I said, there does not seem to be any way to get both monitors lit up at the same time.

When I use the existing xorg.conf and both monitors are plugged in, only the DVI monitor lights up when X starts. I tried to trick it by booting with only the VGA monitor connected and then plugging in the DVI while the computer was still in console mode but when X started, it turned off the VGA monitor and turned on the DVI.

Is it possible that this card does not support Twinview due to the same hardware limitation that prevents the VGA console from being cloned?

[zander]

The hardware limitation I referred to does not apply for high-resolution graphics modes. I recommend that you start X with -logverbose 6 and capture/attach the log file. Please also see http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=46678. You may also want to check if you can get TwinView working using the nvidia-settings X Server Display Configuration page or via nvidia-xconfig (see nvidia-xconfig(1)).

[BitJam]

I already tried nvidia-xconfig. Without my xorg.conf to use as a model, it won't even insert any twinview options. When it has my xorg.conf to go by then it copies over my twinview settings but doesn't add anything useful. In fact it seems to insist on inserting "InputDevice" sections and InputDevice options that I have to delete because I'm using Gentoo's xorg-server-1.5.3 which uses evdev (and HAL) to deal with input devices. The lines that nvidia-xconfig adds cause X to not start.

I will put the card back in and try your other two suggestions. When I start X with a Twinview xorg.conf, the X-server and driver think we are in Twinview mode. If I hit ctrl-alt-plus or ctrl-alt-minus the Xorg.log file says that it is switching metamodes but since it thinks only one monitor is attached, I end up with the same display I started with. The Xorg.log file says it can't find the VGA monitor.

I will try your other suggestions but the problem is that the card acts like the VGA monitor is disconnected when it uses the DVI monitor. In fact, I originally thought it was a bad VGA cable/connection and I was a little surprised when the VGA monitor sprung to life after I rebooted with the DVI disconnected.

But since the X-Server can't see the VGA monitor when the DVI monitor is attached, I don't see how the results of the two experiments could possible differ from what I would get with the VGA monitor actually unattached.

[BitJam]

The nvidia-settings program acted like it couldn't see the VGA monitor. When I tried to enable the VGA monitor, nothing happened. When it listed available metamodes, all of them had the CRT device set to NULL.

I've attached Xorg.0.log after running "Xorg --logverbose 6".

The X server acts exactly as if the VGA device is not connected. But I'm sure it's connected because if I turn the computer off, then unplug the DVI cable without touching the VGA cable and reboot, the VGA monitor works fine. This can also be seen when I boot with just the VGA cable connected and then plug in the DVI cable and then start X. The VGA monitor goes blank before the DVI monitor lights up.

I'll leave the graphics card in the computer tonight because I'm just to tired to take the computer apart yet again.

[BitJam]

Any help?

[zander]

The display devices connected to your GPU are:

(...)
(--) NVIDIA(0): Connected display device(s) on GeForce 8400 GS at PCI:3:0:0:
(--) NVIDIA(0): AMT PL201M (CRT-1)
(--) NVIDIA(0): Acer P243W (DFP-0)
(...)

However, the TwinView configuration you request is:

(...)
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "TwinView"
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "TwinViewOrientation" "DFP-0 RightOf CRT-0"
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "MetaModes" "CRT-0:1600x1200,DFP-0:1920x1200; \
CRT-0:NULL,DFP-0:1920x1200; CRT-0:1024x768,DFP0:1024x768"
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP, CRT"
(...)

Since CRT-0 is not present, the driver falls out of the TwinView path:

(...)
(WW) NVIDIA(0): TwinView requested, but only 1 display devices found.
(...)
(WW) NVIDIA(0): Unable to find all display devices requested in TwinView
(WW) NVIDIA(0): Orientation string "DFP-0 RightOf CRT-0".
(...)

Try changing CRT-0 to CRT-1 in your X configuration file.

[BitJam]

Originally Posted by zander

Try changing CRT-0 to CRT-1 in your X configuration file.

Thanks Zander! I will try that when the new board arrives next week.