nvidia-settings puts primary screen on wrong monitor

[Rocko]

Binary package hint: nvidia-settings

When I connect my Dell XPS M1530 to an external monitor using the VGA port and run nvidia-settings to set it up to be to the right of the laptop screen, it does not matter which screen I set to be the primary screen - nvidia-settings forces the external monitor to be the primary screen (ie gnome-panel appears on this screen). (The relative positioning of the screens is correct, however.)

The workaround is to cancel the change and then reapply it - the second time it sets the laptop screen to primary.

This happens with the nvidia driver version 185.18.31 and .36 and also the latest beta driver 190.25 in Jaunty (with kernels 2.6.28, 2.6.30, and 2.6.31).

It does work correctly if I connect to a monitor using the HDMI port.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: nvidia-settings 180.25-0ubuntu1 [modified: usr/bin/nvidia-settings usr/share/applications/nvidia-settings.desktop usr/share/man/man1/nvidia-settings.1.gz]
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: nvidia-settings
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-020631rc7-generic x86_64

[lspci]
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a00] (rev 0c)
     Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022e]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8600M GT [10de:0407] (rev a1)
     Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022e]

[Rocko (rockorequin)]

Karmic alpha 5 has the same issue.

[idokibovito (idokibovito)]

I have this on Karmic 64-bit.
My external TV is on HDMI.
The checkbox for the primary monitor does not seem to work but as suggested above, I can cancel and play around a little then sometimes it will actually catch the configuration I wanted.
Is there a dev-site for this nvidia-component, with up to date news about bugs/fixes?

[Rocko (rockorequin)]

I've never really had a problem with my HDMI monitor, because nvidia-settings always makes it secondary by default (I never need to tick the primary monitor box). I tried just now making it the primary monitor and switching back to the LCD as primary, and it didn't work the first time (the HDMI stayed primary) but it did work the second time.

[bugbot (bugbot)]

This bug report was filed against an old version of Ubuntu.
Can you confirm whether this is still an issue in natty?

If you don't mind, it would be very helpful if you could update the bug
report in launchpad to 'Fix Released' if it is no longer an issue for
you, or if it is still occurring under natty, please tag the bug 'natty'
so it's easier for us to track.

[Eshwar Andhavarapu (eshwar.andhavarapu)]

Yes the bug still exists!

Even after ensuring that the primary monitor checkbox is ticked!

Tested with Released Natty 64-bit on the Ubuntu Classic Desktop. Didn't even bother with Unity since the bug still exists.

[JeffRoberts (walzmyn)]

I can confirm this bug in 11.04 with a Lenovo Thinkpad T61 and an external LDC monitor.