1280x800 resolution won't work

[Quim Gil]

Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller in a Dell Inspiron 630m

1280x800 resolution worked properly on Dapper with 915resolution, but it doesn't come up with the xserver-xorg (and 915resolution seems no support it anymore).

etc/x11/xorg.conf shows the correct information as far as I see, but at the end what I get is a deformed 1024x768.

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller"
 Driver "i810"
 BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Generic Monitor"
 Option "DPMS"
 HorizSync 28-64
 VertRefresh 43-60
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Device "Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller"
 Monitor "Generic Monitor"
 DefaultDepth 24
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 1
  Modes "1280x800"
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 4
  Modes "1280x800"
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 8
  Modes "1280x800"
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 15
  Modes "1280x800"
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 16
  Modes "1280x800"
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 24
  Modes "1280x800"
 EndSubSection
EndSection

[Quim Gil (qgil)]

Sorry, forgot to say that this is happening with an Edgy upgraded today - xserver-xorg-video-i810 1:1.6.5-0ubuntu3

[Aaron Whitehouse (aaron-whitehouse)]

I have a 1400x1050 that doesn't work out of the box. I filed Bug #6271 about it and that was moved to 915resolution. 915resolution fixes it (it was updated - Bug #54188) but it still doesn't work out of the box.

The comments in those bugs clearly suggest that people think the "modesetting branch" should fix this issue without the need of 915resolution.

What is the story?

[Quim Gil (qgil)]

From https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/915resolution/+bug/54188 I had understood that 915GM cards didn't need 915 resolution anymore since the i810 driver would handle correctly the 1280x800 resolution. That package in the 915resolution package didn't help realizing what was wrong since the "auto" mode was dropped and I had no way to select my resolution for the current list of supported modes.

Today that 915resolution bug has been fixed, I have installed the package again and now I'm writing this comment with the correct 1280x800.

I'm still not closing this bug though, since I still don't know if the i810 driver should be able to deal with this resolution without the help of 915resolution.

[Joakim Larsson (joakim-bildrulle)]

My understanding is that the 1280x800 mode in the i810 driver, that I just got to work on an Acer Travelmate 3002WTMi BTW, is enabled by having this mode in the BIOS and not otherwise. The rationale behind this, I have been told, is that the i810 driver for the 915GM has no chance to know about DAC:s and clock settings external to the device itself, thus it relies on the BIOS resolutions. Apparantly this is a bit going safe-safe but since it figures out the settings when it finds the resolution in the patched (by 915resolution) BIOS I guess it must be possible to add in the driver too. Maybe something expensive can break if the DAC:s and clocks are set to provide a crazy resolution, what do I know?

So I think this is by design rather than because of a bug. File it as a feature request.