Testing the E6510 (7383) with Oneiric. I have discovered that neither external VGA nor Display port work with the nvidia driver from nvidia_current. I have also discovered that DisplayPort does not work with nouveau. However, External VGA does seem to work with nouveau. BUT the problem arises when you unplug the external display.
I've managed to recreate this every time by doing the following:
1: Verify you're running nouveau
2: plug in a monitor via external VGA on the 6510.
3: Verify desktop has been extended. I do this simply with CTRL+ALT+Arrow to open the switcher. When configured for dual desktops, you'll see each quadrant split into two with a blue bar under the Primary desktop.
4: Unplug the monitor
5: wait a few seconds and then do CTRL+ALT+Arrow to open the switcher and notice that the desktops are STILL split into two as though the monitor was connected.
6: open something that creates secondary popups. Typing ubuntu-bug xorg in a terminal window does great. You'll notice that while the main apport window may or may not appear on the visible screen, if you open the switcher again, you'll notice that popups are appearing on the extended display, and without the external monitor, there's no way to get to them.
You can further confirm this by plugging the monitor back in and you'll see the popup once that monitor comes online.
This is a blocker as well because once this happens, the only way to restore usablility is to reboot. I tried unity --reset and tried simply logging out and back in to restart X. Both cases resulted in the system freezing, necessitating a reboot anyway.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: xorg 1:7.6+7ubuntu7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module 280.13 Wed Jul 27 16:55:43 PDT 2011
GCC version: gcc version 4.6.1 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.6.1-9ubuntu3)
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,mousepoll,vpswitch,regex,animation,snap,expo,move,compiztoolbox,place,grid,imgpng,gnomecompat,wall,ezoom,workarounds,resize,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,scale,session,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Tue Oct 18 15:34:27 2011
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: oneiric
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus: nvidia-current, 280.13, 3.0.0-12-generic, i686: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, whatever it takes to get this fixed in Ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
nVidia Corporation GT218 [NVS 3100M] [10de:0a6c] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Dell Latitude E6510 [1028:040b]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release i386 (20111012)
JockeyStatus:
kmod:wl - Broadcom STA wireless driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use) [auto-install]
xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, In use)
xorg:nvidia_current_updates - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (post-release updates) (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Latitude E6510
PccardctlIdent:
Socket 0:
no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
Socket 0:
no card
ProcEnviron:
PATH=(custom, no user)
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=8ba496ee-b35c-4ef3-917c-d6869b0ac641 ro quiet splash initcall_debug vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
XorgConf:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Default Device"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection
dmi.bios.date: 11/20/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A06
dmi.board.name: 0N5KHN
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A03
dmi.chassis.type: 9
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA06:bd11/20/2010:svnDellInc.:pnLatitudeE6510:pvr0001:rvnDellInc.:rn0N5KHN:rvrA03:cvnDellInc.:ct9:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Latitude E6510
dmi.product.version: 0001
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.6+bzr20110929-0ubuntu3
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.26-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+7ubuntu7
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.6.0-1ubuntu13
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20110811.g93fc084-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.15.901-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110411+8378443-1
This has been observed on a Latitude E6510 (7383) and a Lenovo Edge 13 (6964) so I think it's not limited to one video card or driver, but more a problem with X.