bios thinks 1920x1200 lcd is 1280x1024 [nv no, nvidia ok]

[Fredrik Schön]

When I use the proprietary nvidia driver, it can use the native resolution of
1920x1200x60Hz on my Hewlett-Packard f2304 LCD monitor. When I try to use the
free nv driver it refuses to accept that resolution. The error message is:

(II) NV(0): Mode "1920x1200" is larger than BIOS programmed panel size of 1280 x
1024. Removing.

The graphics adapter is a NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT.

/var/log/Xorg.0.log for the respective both drivers attached, as well as
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.

[Fredrik Schön (fredrikschon)]

Created an attachment (id=4845)
/var/log/Xorg.0.log - nc driver

[Fredrik Schön (fredrikschon)]

Created an attachment (id=4846)
/var/log/Xorg.0.log - nvidia driver

[Fredrik Schön (fredrikschon)]

Created an attachment (id=4847)
/etc/X11/xorg.conf

[Fredrik Schön (fredrikschon)]

Created an attachment (id=4848)
/var/log/Xorg.0.log - nv driver

Misspelling corrected.

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

I can confirm this on my Dell 2405 using a GF5200FX. I can't even get 1600x1200 with the free nv driver because of this (not that I'd use it).

[Matthew Lange (matthewlange)]

Same as bug #5801?

[Fredrik Schön (fredrikschon)]

Yes, most likely.

[Fredrik Schön (fredrikschon)]

I did some further investigation into the roots of this bug, and it seems more hairy the more I look into it.

First, the nv driver somehow reads erroneous screen dimensions (1280x1024) from the graphic card bios (nv_setup.c:684). This makes the mode validation fail (nv_driver.c:957) and invalidate the mode.

When I hard-code my way through these checks, the driver accepts the mode, but then the core X server code believes that the monitor doesn't support the reduced blanking in the supplied mode (xf86Mode.c:828), and disallows the mode for that reason.

I tried to recompile the entire X server with this check disabled, but I couldn't get my newly compiled X server to boot.

I still nurture some hope that this bug will eventually be fixed by the work in fdo Bugzilla #5386. If anyone has an idea of a fix in a shorter time frame, I am all ears.

[Fredrik Schön (fredrikschon)]

If i add Option "ReducedBlanking" to my xorg.conf (and patch nv_setup.c), I can get the X server to start without errors, and the logs indicate that the 1920x1200 mode is accepted.

All I get to see is a blank, black screen, however...

[Fredrik Schön (fredrikschon)]

This bug is still open with xserver-xorg-video-nv 1:1.2.0-0ubuntu2

The error message has changed, however:

(II) NV(0): Not using mode "1920x1200" (exceeds panel dimensions)

[Fredrik Schön (fredrikschon)]

This bug is still open with xorg-server 2:1.3.0.0.dfsg-4ubuntu1

The DDC/EDID modeline injection code seems to produce correct modelines,

> (II) NV(0): Modeline "1920x1200" 154.00 1920 1968 2000 2080 1200 1203 1209 1235 -hsync +vsync

but that mode is invalidated with the message

> (II) NV(0): Not using driver mode "1920x1200" (exceeds panel dimensions)

[Fredrik Schön (fredrikschon)]

The nouveau driver from https://launchpad.net/~raof/+archive works for me when I enable Randr12.