G210m Blank Laptop Display

TaylorT · 10-25-09, 11:48 AM

I just recently got a Sony Vaio laptop which has a G210M graphics card.

After installing various versions of the driver, both production (185.18.36) and the latest beta I could find (190.42), and setting up X to use the 'nvidia' driver, the laptop display goes blank and actually turns off when X starts.

After a few hours of googling and trying things, I believe that it's incorrectly detecting that no monitors are attached and it's trying to display through the vga port.

Including Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP" causes the screen to come on at least, but it's just grey and back lines. I would guess that it's a resolution problem at that point but I'm not sure where to go from there.

I've tried generating some mode lines but I can't even get one for the native resolution (1366x768) and 1280x720 didn't work either.

Any ideas?

**AaronP** · 10-25-09, 01:30 PM

Please see the forum sticky posts about how to generate an nvidia-bug-report.log.gz file.

TaylorT · 10-25-09, 02:30 PM

The report is now attached. I generated this with the 190.42 driver with the most basic options possible.

xorg.conf is as follows:

Code:

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Configured Video Device"
	Driver		"nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Monitor		"Configured Monitor"
	Device		"Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Oops, I never metnioned my distro. Ubuntu 9.04 64bit, kernel is 2.6.28-16

**AaronP** · 10-25-09, 04:07 PM

Hmm, that's very strange. The driver indeed doesn't seem to think that there are any monitors connected. I'll need to see if I can find one of these laptops to reproduce the problem.

TaylorT · 10-25-09, 05:22 PM

Ok thanks. My laptop is a Sony Vaio VPCCW17FX but I believe most of the VPCC series is similar.

**AaronP** · 10-26-09, 06:20 PM

Thank you for reporting this problem. I tracked down the laptop in question, reproduced the problem, and filed a bug.

andrewkoff · 11-02-09, 03:32 PM

I have the same problem with Acer Aspire 5739G.
Installing 190.42 on Ubuntu 9.10 causes black screen, caps lock flushing and rebooting in a few minutes.
Aaron, please, see at my nvidia-bug-report. Hope you can help me.

Thank you in advance.
Alex

rohitvis · 11-02-09, 10:01 PM

I have the same problem. Does anyone have any creative solution?
I have been using the vesa driver but its blurry and does not set the resolution correctly.

My laptop is also a Sony Vaio VPCCW17FX

lakerssuperman · 11-02-09, 10:53 PM

For the time being I would recommend using the 'nv' driver instead of the vesa driver. I have the same laptop and this will at least provide you with proper resolution. The nv drivers lacks any 3d acceleration so compositing will not function but you will at least you will have a functional machine until the official driver gets sorted out.

rohitvis · 11-03-09, 08:25 AM

Can you post your xorg.conf file?

I'm having no luck with any of the drivers. I tried using nv but not luck.

When I use nv, the laptop behaves the same way i.e. screen goes black.

Thanks

gnm · 11-03-09, 10:26 AM

I also have the Sony - same thing - blank screen. The vesa driver works (using mandriva 2009.1) but of course I have no hardware acceleration. Eagerly awating any patches!

-Brian

rohitvis · 11-03-09, 11:40 AM

What did you have to do to get the vesa driver to work. I'm using Fedora 11 64bit. I logged into runlevel 3 and did an Xorg -configure followed by copying the xorg.conf to the /etc/X11/ dir. Then I updated the Driver string to say "vesa". Also I tried using the system-config-display.

Both of them work fine in that they display a GUI but not at the correct resolution. On Mandriva or any other distro -- what did y'all have to do to get the vesa driver to display at the correct resolution?

10-25-09, 11:48 AM	#1
TaylorT Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 8	G210m Blank Laptop Display I just recently got a Sony Vaio laptop which has a G210M graphics card. After installing various versions of the driver, both production (185.18.36) and the latest beta I could find (190.42), and setting up X to use the 'nvidia' driver, the laptop display goes blank and actually turns off when X starts. After a few hours of googling and trying things, I believe that it's incorrectly detecting that no monitors are attached and it's trying to display through the vga port. Including Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP" causes the screen to come on at least, but it's just grey and back lines. I would guess that it's a resolution problem at that point but I'm not sure where to go from there. I've tried generating some mode lines but I can't even get one for the native resolution (1366x768) and 1280x720 didn't work either. Any ideas?

10-25-09, 01:30 PM	#2
AaronP NVIDIA Corporation Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2,487	Re: G210m Blank Laptop Display Please see the forum sticky posts about how to generate an nvidia-bug-report.log.gz file.

10-25-09, 04:07 PM	#4
AaronP NVIDIA Corporation Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2,487	Re: G210m Blank Laptop Display Hmm, that's very strange. The driver indeed doesn't seem to think that there are any monitors connected. I'll need to see if I can find one of these laptops to reproduce the problem.

10-25-09, 05:22 PM	#5
TaylorT Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 8	Re: G210m Blank Laptop Display Ok thanks. My laptop is a Sony Vaio VPCCW17FX but I believe most of the VPCC series is similar.

10-26-09, 06:20 PM	#6
AaronP NVIDIA Corporation Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2,487	Re: G210m Blank Laptop Display Thank you for reporting this problem. I tracked down the laptop in question, reproduced the problem, and filed a bug.

11-02-09, 10:01 PM	#8
rohitvis Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 8	Re: G210m Blank Laptop Display I have the same problem. Does anyone have any creative solution? I have been using the vesa driver but its blurry and does not set the resolution correctly. My laptop is also a Sony Vaio VPCCW17FX

11-02-09, 10:53 PM	#9
lakerssuperman Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 2	Re: G210m Blank Laptop Display For the time being I would recommend using the 'nv' driver instead of the vesa driver. I have the same laptop and this will at least provide you with proper resolution. The nv drivers lacks any 3d acceleration so compositing will not function but you will at least you will have a functional machine until the official driver gets sorted out.

11-03-09, 08:25 AM	#10
rohitvis Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 8	Re: G210m Blank Laptop Display Can you post your xorg.conf file? I'm having no luck with any of the drivers. I tried using nv but not luck. When I use nv, the laptop behaves the same way i.e. screen goes black. Thanks

11-03-09, 10:26 AM	#11
gnm Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 3	Re: G210m Blank Laptop Display I also have the Sony - same thing - blank screen. The vesa driver works (using mandriva 2009.1) but of course I have no hardware acceleration. Eagerly awating any patches! -Brian

11-03-09, 11:40 AM	#12
rohitvis Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 8	Re: G210m Blank Laptop Display What did you have to do to get the vesa driver to work. I'm using Fedora 11 64bit. I logged into runlevel 3 and did an Xorg -configure followed by copying the xorg.conf to the /etc/X11/ dir. Then I updated the Driver string to say "vesa". Also I tried using the system-config-display. Both of them work fine in that they display a GUI but not at the correct resolution. On Mandriva or any other distro -- what did y'all have to do to get the vesa driver to display at the correct resolution?