gdm uses incorrect resolution

[Daniel Nelson]

I'm having a similar issue to the one described in #146828, but with Hardy.

My monitor's native resolution is 1600x1200. When I installed hardy (console-based net-install), my monitor (Samsung SyncMaster213T) and/or video card (Intel GMA33 onboard) did not get autodetected properly -- standard 1024x768 VGA mode was used and higher resolutions were not selectable. I had to manually configure them with displayconfig-gtk, setting the video driver to 'intel' and choosing 'SyncMaster 213T/cx210t' for the monitor. Now gnome-display-properties shows all of the supported resolutions I chose 1600x1200, and Gnome displayed it correctly. Unfortunately, GDM still displays at 1024x768. When I log in, the Gnome desktop again shows up at the correct 1600x1200 resolution. I'm attaching my xorg.conf file for reference.

Ubuntu hardy (development branch)
Release: 8.04
completely updated as of Apr 13.

Expected: GDM would use the resolution configured in Gnome.
Actual result: GDM uses a lower resolution.

[Daniel Nelson (packetcollision)]

Setting this as affecting GDM, although it might well be an xorg (or some config package) issue, as I figure the GDM people will know if it's really their job.

[Scott Ritchie (scottritchie)]

I get a similar issue - my login screen is completely off centered and I can't see the buttons for shutdown/language select in the corner.

This started happening only within the last two weeks or so - the beta release didn't do this.

[ferrarius (smitpascal)]

I get the same problem and it started immediately after I ran an update which updated GDM, xorg might also have been updated but I am not sure.

[David Futcher (bobbo)]

I am getting the exact same problem as Scott Ritchie. Seems like it probably happened when it was upgraded to upstream version 2.20.5:

gdm (2.20.5-0ubuntu1) hardy; urgency=low

  * New upstream version
    - Use GDK functions to get proper screen resolution.
    - Move default Welcome/RemoteWelcome strings from gdm.h to
      gdm-daemon-config-keys.h so it isn't defined twice.
    - Translation updates
  * debian/patches/70_mandatory-relibtoolize.patch:
    - new version update

 -- Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:30:52 +0200

[Pavol Klačanský (pavolzetor-deactivatedaccount)]

i have problem with resolution

[Ned (ned-tropic)]

I'm seeing the same behaviour described by Scott and Pavol, immediately after upgrading from 7.10 to 8.04.

[Marcelo Atie (marceloatie)]

we need report it on bugzilla.gnome.org

[Pavol Klačanský (pavolzetor-deactivatedaccount)]

yes i was upgrading from 7.10 to 8.04 (about alfa 1)

[Scott Ritchie (scottritchie)]

By the way, my monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 226BW widescreen.

[Magnus (koma-lysator)]

I'm having this as well directly after upgrading to 8.04 from 7.10.

Using a CRT monitor.

[Magnus (koma-lysator)]

I found my problem.

For some reason there was a "Virtual" line in my xorg.conf.

And it defined a virtual screen larger than the physical.

Gnome looked alright though...

I removed the line, and now GDM works fine.

[David Futcher (bobbo)]

My xorg.conf had the same problem as Magnus'. My Virtual line was:

Virtual 1600 1200

I changed it to

Virtual 1280 1024

and now GDM uses the correct resolution.

[Scott Ritchie (scottritchie)]

confirmed, I have a larger virtual section in xorg.conf than my largest resolution: 1920x1200 vs 1680x1050

[Pavol Klačanský (pavolzetor-deactivatedaccount)]

please, add function, which will do: if i set resolution in System->Resolution screen to 1024 * 768, then gdm resolution is same (1024 * 768)

[jg (jg314159)]

Here's how I fixed the gdm resolution problem on my system (running ubuntu 8.04 32-bit desktop).

In a shell...

1) xrandr -q

This showed the device name used for my monitor (VGA-0) and available resolution modes. The
one I wanted (1280x1024) was included in the list.

2) I edited /etc/gdm/Init/Default to add the line shown below:

 xrandr --output VGA-0 --mode 1280x1024

I put the line near the top of the file, just below the OLD_IFS=$IFS$ statement.

3) When I restarted X, gdm came up with 1280x1024 resolution, as did my subsequent fluxbox session.

[Fernando Miguel (fernandomiguel)]

I have auto login on my GDM, so I just see a reload of the screen and changing the mouse size.
But if I end my session, and login back again, I can see GDM at low resolution.

Laptop screen 1280x800
Intrepid Ibex alpha with all updates as of 10/09/2008
$ uname -a
Linux blubug 2.6.27-1-generic #1 SMP Sat Aug 23 23:19:01 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux
GDM Version: 2.20.8-0ubuntu1
Source: nvidia-graphics-drivers-177
Version: 177.70-0ubuntu1

[Vladimir Hidalgo (vlad88sv)]

GDM is broken for me, after upgrade from 8.04 to 8.10, GDM just does not show up :(

I have to kill X, stop GDM, and start with "startx" to skip GDM :S

Intel video i810.

[Vincent (vinnl)]

Hi Valdimir, please report a new bug for your problem to increase visibility: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug

[Vladimir Hidalgo (vlad88sv)]

Oh thank you. I'm sorry, I thought this was the correct place beacuse the problem is because GDM is starting with a higher resolution that my monitor can't support, so it just flickers and hangs.

I've already solved it, but I'll fill the bug.

[phare (vista01)]

Greeting!
My monitor Dell e771p and the 8.10 one Ubuntu (developer variant) does not recognize it. Refreshing me 54 Hz, the games are going in an 800/600 resolution maximum, there is a game like that what does not start. It would be possible to repair it the bug?

[Fernando Miguel (fernandomiguel)]

This currently fixed for me!
If anyone else can also confirm that this is fixed please close this ticket.

[Daniel Nelson (packetcollision)]

This seems to be fixed for me too. I installed the Intrepid beta and GDM showed the correct resolution once I set up my xorg file (my monitor is not detected properly). I'll mark as fixed.

[Daniel Nelson (packetcollision)]

This appears to have been fixed in Intrepid as of the beta.

[Jaime Carpenter (j.carpenter)]

Greetings, I am using Hardy 8.04.2 and this issue is not fixed for me. Because Hardy is an LTS release, I am hoping that the issue with GDM not using the Gnome settings will be corrected for Hardy users.

I seem to be completely unable to get GDM to use my preferred 1280x800 resolution which is working fine in Gnome. I have tried several options including the Virtual line and also "sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg"

GDM has now gone from 1280x768 to 1360x768. Any help will be appreciated.