Natty testing on the ThinkPad T510. The external VGA port does not work when connected to an external monitor. I tried both waiting for the automatic config that should happen as well as using the hotkey to turn on the external monitors.
WORKAROUND: The system needed the proprietary nVidia drivers, and those require the nVidia config tool to do anything at all with the external ports.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.38-8-generic-pae 2.6.38-8.42
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic-pae 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: CONEXANT Analog [CONEXANT Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 1427 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf2420000 irq 45'
Mixer name : 'Conexant CX20585'
Components : 'HDA:14f15069,17aa218b,00100301'
Controls : 8
Simple ctrls : 5
Card1.Amixer.info:
Card hw:1 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xcdefc000 irq 16'
Mixer name : 'Nvidia GPU 0b HDMI/DP'
Components : 'HDA:10de000b,10de0101,00100100'
Controls : 16
Simple ctrls : 4
Card29.Amixer.info:
Card hw:29 'ThinkPadEC'/'ThinkPad Console Audio Control at EC reg 0x30, fw 6MHT43WW-1.18'
Mixer name : 'ThinkPad EC 6MHT43WW-1.18'
Components : ''
Controls : 1
Simple ctrls : 1
Card29.Amixer.values:
Simple mixer control 'Console',0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Date: Tue May 3 11:54:25 2011
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=2f64ec10-4e57-41f7-bbe3-40ee6fbde9e8
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110427.1)
MachineType: LENOVO 434926U
ProcEnviron:
LANGUAGE=en_US:en
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic-pae root=UUID=c8c79b9d-25da-45db-9a71-870e4c4a1bbb ro quiet splash initcall_debug vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
linux-restricted-modules-2.6.38-8-generic-pae N/A
linux-backports-modules-2.6.38-8-generic-pae N/A
linux-firmware 1.52
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/26/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 6MET81WW (1.41 )
dmi.board.name: 434926U
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr6MET81WW(1.41):bd10/26/2010:svnLENOVO:pn434926U:pvrThinkPadT510:rvnLENOVO:rn434926U:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 434926U
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T510
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
I think we may be able to invalidate this one if it's OK with you.
The system needed the proprietary nVidia drivers, and those require the nVidia config tool to do anything at all with the external ports. I don't know that we can do anything to change that.
So I'm going to suggest that using the nvidia tool is the proper path to using external video on systems that require the nVidia drivers. I didn't find any that used the OSS drivers that needed extra steps.