erratic widescreen intel gma 3000

[Robert Olsen]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-intel

Having multiple problems with the Ubuntu Studio version of Gutsy on a new Acer Veriton 6900. This entry is to report a problem where the full widescreen is not being used. There is a black bar at the left of the screen (usually!). I don't think it is the same as other widescreen bugs I have seen reported.

I am using an analog connection (there is no dvi output) to a ViewSonic VA2026w monitor. This is a 20" widescreen LCD display with a preferred resolution of 1680 x 1050. This is a dual boot machine and Windows XP has no problem using the entire display at this resolution.

I have seen Ubuntu make use of the full screen as well. Every once in a while, when it comes back from the screensaver, and on one or two occasions when I have disconnected the cable to the monitor and reconnected it, it displays correctly. I have not figured out a way to force this behaviour.

I have tried to use System->Administration->ScreensAndGraphics. My Viewsonic model isn't listed, so I select Generic and LCD Panel 1680x1050 and check the Widescreen Monitor box. This doesn't work.

I will attach relevant files I know about.

[Robert Olsen (olsen-bnl)]

This ddcprobe output is the most suspicious to me. It doesn't list the resolution I am interested in.

[Robert Olsen (olsen-bnl)]

This *does* list the resolution I am interested in.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Sounds like possibly the modeline used for your monitor may be incorrect.
Try using http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl to generate a correct modeline - if you get one that works, please let us know, and we can fold it into our monitors database.

[Robert Olsen (olsen-bnl)]

The web page that you suggested http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl was not helpful.

As I said earlier, every once in a while, coming back from a blank screensave mode, the monitor will have the correct resolution and aspect ratio. I discovered that the monitor has an "information" menu selection available using the buttons below the screen. When it is in a good state is says that

Resolution: 1680x1050
H.Frequency: 65.2 kHz
V. Frequency: 59.9 Hz
Pixel Clock: 146.0 MHz

When I enter those values in the modeline generator fields it suggests the following:

Modeline "1680x945@60" 134.03 1680 1712 2216 2248 945 964 973 993

A height of 945? Where did it come up with that? I wasn't successful getting it to give me a modeline with 1680x1050.

I tried entering a modeline with the 146.0 MHz Pixel Clock by hand -- the xorg.conf file that I came up with is attached.

Logging out and back in again gave me the black border on the left, i.e. not widescreen.
The monitor information menu reports a different Pixel Clock than what I tried to specify when it's in this state:

Resolution: 1680x1050
H. Frequency: 65.1
V. Frequency: 59.8O
Pixel Clock: 119.7

Have a made an error in xorg.conf, or is it ignoring the file for some reason?

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can give me. I don't want to believe that XP can handle this monitor/graphics-card pair, but Ubuntu cannot.

[unggnu (unggnu)]

Does it work if you move your xorg.conf and start without it?

[Robert Olsen (olsen-bnl)]

Moving xorg.conf and restarting doesn't work. I got a resolution of 640x480 when I did that.

I have found a workaround which I don't understand. If I use System->Preferences->ScreenResolution and set my preference to
1600x1024, I get widescreen behavior which looks pretty good after I finish logging in. In fact, when I use the buttons on monitor to get the information feature, as I described above, it reports 1680x1050. It looks like there *may* be some unused lines at the bottom of the screen, but I'm living with it. The login screen itself is not widescreen, but once I finish logging in things look o.k.

[protoman (protomank)]

I have the exact same problem.
At native resolution (1400x900) my w17e widescreen LCD monitor gets a black border on the left side.

As the original poster, using xrandr makes the screen full, but then I can't use xgl and desktop effects because the screen isn't redrawn :-(

[unggnu (unggnu)]

Hardy Heron Alpha5 was recently released. It contains an updated version of the Intel driver. You can download and try the new Hardy Heron Alpha5 Live CD from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/alpha-5/ . If you can, please verify if this bug still exists or not and report back your results. General information regarding the release can also be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/alpha5 .

[Robert Olsen (olsen-bnl)]

I didn't beat on it extensively, but the alpha-5 live CD does appear to work with my graphics card/monitor combination! Which is great, because the Gutsy Live-CD never worked properly on my Acer system, and I don't mean just the graphics (it was a very unusual install process getting it working at all) so Hardy may fix two problems I was having. I will be looking forward to the release of the Ubuntu Studio version of Hardy Heron.