automatic detection of plugged in / removed monitor is too aggressive

[Ben Hearsum]

I've found that the monitor detection in Ubuntu 11.10 is too aggressive. Sometimes it will get things wrong, and when I try to fix it with the GNOME Control Center, it automatically reverts back to what it thinks is correct. My configuration is as follows:
* Nouveau Driver
* GDM
* Awesome WM

The problem occurs with both the VGA and DVI ports. I can use xrandr to make changes without them getting reverted.

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 x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Wed Nov 9 10:47:31 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=tl:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=tl_PH.UTF-8
 LC_MESSAGES=tl_PH.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/zsh
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-10-27 (13 days ago)

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi Ben Hearsum,
Hmm... I'm not sure I totally understand your description of the problem. Could you please elaborate and clarify? You may find it helpful to read "How to report bugs effectively" http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html or the Ubuntu-X bug reporting guidelines at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Reporting .

Also, please run apport-collect 888134 after reproducing the bug to attach some logs we usually like to have.

[Ben Hearsum (bhearsum)]

Apologies for the delay in replying. Here's a more exact description of the problem:
1) Try to use external monitor by plugging it in
2) Monitor gets enabled, but monitor layout is wrong
3) Open gnome-control center to the Displays section
4) Re-arrange monitors, hit "Apply"
5) Screens blink and flash for 5-10s, and end up back in the original (wrong) layout afterwards. I can't tell if it temporarily gets the right resolution or not.

I tried to run apport-collect, but I'm not sure it did anything:
bhearsum@voot ~ % apport-collect 888134
Gtk-Message: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"
Package gnome-desktop3 not installed and no hook available, ignoring

[Ben Hearsum (bhearsum)]

This bug is still affecting me, and makes it impossible to use external displays that don't get autodetected correctly (eg, wrong rotation, location - whatever). What can I do to help track down the cause of the problem and/or fix?

[Ben Hearsum (bhearsum)]

I just thought to try to reproduce in Unity, and couldn't do so with it. So, there seems to be some weird interaction between either awesome and whatever is doing this detection, or maybe I'm supposed to have a daemon running that I don't, or I dunno what else.

[Ben Hearsum (bhearsum)]

I also found that when I went back to awesome after making display changes in Unity, that autodetect now defaults to what I want it too. So, that's a workaround for certain use cases (but really sucks if you change your configuration often).

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Hi Ben,

Could you please run "touch ~/gsd-debug-randr", restart your session and then attach the file ~/gsd-debug-randr.log to this bug report after this problem occurs.

[Ben Hearsum (bhearsum)]

Here's the log as you requested Chris. Here's an exact description of what I did:
* touch ~/gsd-debug-randr
* Exit Awesome, GDM restarts
* Login again
* Plug in VGA cable, nothing happens
* Open Display settings, new monitor is automatically enabled but in the wrong position
* I move it to the correct one, and click "Apply". The monitor briefly (~1s) is in the correct place, but gets reverted before I can click the confirmation dialog.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gnome-desktop3 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Ben Hearsum (bhearsum)]

This is still an issue in Ubuntu 12.04.

[Ben Hearsum (bhearsum)]

This was an issue for me initially in 12.04 but it seems to be fixed now.