Dell Inspiron 8100 boots with vesa (800x600) instead of with -nv

[Greg Lund-Chaix]

After upgrading from Gutsy to Hardy/8.04 this machine insisted on coming up in 800x600 resolution.

Dell Inspiron 8100
PIII 1.2Ghz, 512mb RAM
nVidia GeForce2Go video
1600x1200 LCD

Boots into "low resolution mode" using vesa driver instead of nv or nvidia. Manually setting driver in the low resolution mode configuration tool to nvidia fails when testing. It accepts being set to nv, but when X is restarted, it reverts to vesa. Once booted into GNOME, the monitor resolution applet shows only 640x480 and 800x600 as possible resolutions.

Used "update-manager -dc" to upgrade from Gutsy (where X was working perfectly on nvidia driver at 1600x1200 resolution) to Hardy.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

(II) PCI: 01:00:0: chip 10de,0112 card 1028,00e6 rev b2 class 03,00,00 hdr 00
(--) PCI:*(1:0:0) nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 Go] rev 178, Mem @ 0xfc000000/24, 0xe0000000/27

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

That's odd, the pci-id is listed as supported. But if your xorg.conf had nvidia on it (and for some reason the binary driver was not updated) it will fall back to vesa (due to bulletproof-x).

[Greg Lund-Chaix (gchaix)]

Unfortunately, I didn't think to save off a copy of the old xorg.conf before upgrading. But I am reasonably sure it was set to nvidia (not nv). Manually editing xorg.conf and setting the driver from vesa to nv and restarting X does allow it to come up in 1600x1200, but I couldn't find a way to make it happen via any of the usual config tools.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

I looked into this a bit yesterday but didn't come up with solid ideas. I checked other bug reports where Hardy came up with -vesa instead of the expected driver, but in all cases the issue was something clearly unrelated to this. Those were not using nvidia hardware, though. Have you had install issues with this system before? Maybe it's just a peculiar piece of hardware?

I also doublechecked that your pci id is listed for the driver, and yes it is. ( { 0x10DE0112, "GeForce2 Go" }, ) so there seems little reason why the xserver ought to pick -vesa for it. One thing you could doublecheck next time you have the system on would be to do ` grep 10DE0112 /usr/share/xserver-xorg/pci/nv.ids` to verify the id is actually in the system where the X server can see it. But I'd be surprised if this was the cause.

Next time I see you, if you can lend me the hw I can take a more involved look into it (I'd like to be able to do some re-installs on it).

[Ubuntu Nigel (hogwartsnigel)]

Hi Guys,
Im on the forum adding this very same thing asking for advice, I am about to full disc wipe all 4 HDDs in my box and complete re-install.
My Box
Li-lian Case 450W PSU, K8ne-Deluxe AMD 64 3400 2.4ghz. 2gb Gskill Ram, 1 x LG dvd/rw 1x LG DVD rom. Nvidia geForce 7300GT 512mb, 1IDE Seagate 3200, 1 IDE Maxtor 250, 2 x SATA (non Raid) 120GB Western Dig. Dell 1905sb (Prim. Digital) and Mitubishi 2070SB (CRT) Attatched Blue tooth dongle, wireless mouse, usb keyboard, 2 USB drives (off), 1 USB Hub.
I did a fresh install on the 3200gb (Replacing an openSUSE 11 beta install) used 8.04 lts uncomplicated install, after finishing updates and rebooting x2 activated restricted driver and rebooted. Low resolution mode splash and option for configure option of two low resolutions inc 800x600 and another. On this occassion I did configure for the Dell LCD and selected driver from driver type selecting geforce 7 series and logged in. vesa was in effect and resolution remained same.
Rebooted and tried non config same result as I expected. (Can't remember my xorg configs but I amended to include monitor and card etc with assistance from forum posts but on reboots kept going to same defult.
Unticked no propritetary drivers and lost one monitor but gained 1280x 1024 resolution on the dell. (this is a familiar look for me when installing previous versions of Ubuntu. But alas didn't help.
Re-installed this time Ubuntu Ultimate to save time on some options later (I know it may compound diagnosing the problem) cloned view of monitors from uncomplicated install at 1280 x 1024 then activating proprietary drivers resulted in the same thing as above. Tried doing a manual install of the latest downloaded from site NVIDIA driver, followed installation formulae and rebooted...same low res. result. Uninstalled all nvidia related files and then tried ENVY...reported success but on reboot same thing. Installed the nvidia configure and ran it and got an xserver not running splash, tried restarting xserver and no improvement.

Forgive the encapsulated view of things I am not on said box at present but at work..planning tonight to commence install after wiping ALL four drives to ensure no ghosting, will use Ubuntu Ultimate again as it gives me a headstart, same problem so I can't imagine any problem generated specific to this install.

Looking to resolve this issue.

Thanks

Nigel

[Ubuntu Nigel (hogwartsnigel)]

My xorg after trying to configure for my mitsubishi is as follows

"Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
 Driver "kbd"
 Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
 Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
 Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Configured Mouse"
 Driver "mouse"
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
 Boardname "vesa"
 Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
 Driver "nv"
 Screen 0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Configured Monitor"
 Vendorname "Mitsubishi"
 Modelname "Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2070SB"
 Horizsync 30.0-140.0
 Vertrefresh 50.0-160.0
  modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
  modeline "640x480@72" 31.5 640 664 704 832 480 489 491 520 -vsync -hsync
  modeline "640x480@75" 31.5 640 656 720 840 480 481 484 500 -vsync -hsync
  modeline "640x480@85" 36.0 640 696 752 832 480 481 484 509 -vsync -hsync
  modeline "800x600@56" 36.0 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "800x600@72" 50.0 800 856 976 1040 600 637 643 666 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "800x600@75" 49.5 800 816 896 1056 600 601 604 625 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "800x600@85" 56.3 800 832 896 1048 600 601 604 631 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "832x624@75" 57.284 832 864 928 1152 624 625 628 667 -vsync -hsync
  modeline "1024x768@85" 94.5 1024 1072 1168 1376 768 769 772 808 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1024x768@75" 78.8 1024 1040 1136 1312 768 769 772 800 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1024x768@70" 75.0 1024 1048 1184 1328 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
  modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
  modeline "1024x768@43" 44.9 1024 1032 1208 1264 768 768 776 817 +hsync interlace +vsync
  modeline "1152x864@75" 108.0 1152 1216 1344 1600 864 865 868 900 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1280x1024@75" 135.0 1280 1296 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1280x960@60" 102.1 1280 1360 1496 1712 960 961 964 994 -hsync +vsync
  modeline "1280x960@85" 148.5 1280 1344 1504 1728 960 961 964 1011 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1280x1024@85" 157.5 1280 1344 1504 1728 1024 1025 1028 1072 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1280x1024@60" 108.0 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1280x960@75" 129.86 1280 1368 1504 1728 960 961 964 1002 -hsync +vsync
  modeline "1400x1050@60" 122.61 1400 1488 1640 1880 1050 1051 1054 1087 -hsync +vsync
  modeline "1400x1050@75" 155.85 1400 1496 1648 1896 1050 1051 1054 1096 -hsync +vsync
  modeline "1600x1200@65" 175.5 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1600x1200@60" 162.0 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1600x1200@75" 202.5 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1600x1200@70" 189.0 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1600x1200@85" 229.5 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
  modeline "1792x1344@75" 261.0 1792 1888 2104 2456 1344 1345 1348 1417 -hsync +vsync
  modeline "1792x1344@60" 204.8 1792 1920 2120 2448 1344 1345 1348 1394 -hsync +vsync
  modeline "1856x1392@60" 218.3 1...

[Ubuntu Nigel (hogwartsnigel)]

Cancel any problem above for me...not a BUG at all a rushed box construction and an unattatched power cable to the nvidia...what a Jerk I am.
Thanks anyway

Nigel

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

Closing the bug since there's no way to debug it currently. If you can reproduce it, feel free to reopen and attach the relevant logs/conffiles. Thanks.

[godmarck (godmarck)]

Hey I think I'm experiencing the same sort of problems here, I installed some updates (from today), and after I rebooted it started with low-res mode, I installed some driversusing envyNG and now I dont get the message when I boot (it used to give me a message telling me to select my monitor and video card) but I still have the problem. Only 640*480 and below to select.
I solved this problem before by reinstalling an old driver I had, the one that was "like default" when I installed ubuntu.
I have a Nimitz monitor that supports up to 1200*1024, and a nvidia 6100 nforce 430.
This is my xorg.conf
I guess it does not detect my monitor at all.
# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by failsafeDexconf, using
# values from the debconf database and some overrides to use vesa mode.
#
# You should use dexconf or another such tool for creating a "real" xorg.conf
# For example:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Device "Configured Video Device"
 Monitor "Configured Monitor"
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 24
  Virtual 640 480
  Modes "640x480@60"
 EndSubSection
 Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
 Defaultdepth 24
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
 Boardname "vesa"
 Busid "PCI:0:13:0"
 Driver "nvidia"
 Screen 0
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
 Driver "kbd"
 Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
 Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
 Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Configured Mouse"
 Driver "mouse"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier "Default Layout"
  screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Module"
 Load "glx"
 Load "v4l"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Configured Monitor"
 Vendorname "Plug 'n' Play"
 Modelname "Plug 'n' Play"
  modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
 Gamma 1.0
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
 Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection
----------------------------------

Oh, and when I open the NVIDIA X server settings it shows up everything just fine, but detects a CRT monitor, it says: "@@@ 1780 (CRT-0 on GPU-0).

Any ideas?