Comment 0 for bug 979748

I am able to get an external VGA monitor (or projector) to work if I start my laptop with it connected. However, if I start the laptop with it disconnected there is no signal on the external. The Displays screen shows the external, and thinks that it is active, but there is no signal being sent to it. This has been a persistent problem since 10.04 (I am now on 12.04.... each upgrade hoping something is improved).

I should note that even when it works (starting with display connected), Displays still says the monitor is "unknown" (but it sends the signal). For the correct resolution to display, I have had to add a few xrandr lines for my monitor to my .xprofile file... otherwise resolution is limited to default 1024x768. So, resolution issues can be worked around, but the main issue is that the external doesn't get a signal without starting the machine with it connected.

I have tried:

adding i915.modeset=1 to grub (also i965.modeset=1 since someone posted that this helped even though lshw shows i915)

adding following ppa and doing a dist-upgrade: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa (I have since done a ppa-purge on this ppa so all packages have been reverted)

Here are the details:

Laptop: Toshiba Tecra M10

lspci listings for video:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07)

sudo lshw -C video listing:

*-display:0
     description: VGA compatible controller
     product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
     vendor: Intel Corporation
     physical id: 2
     bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
     version: 07
     width: 64 bits
     clock: 33MHz
     capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
     configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
     resources: irq:46 memory:ff400000-ff7fffff memory:e0000000-efffffff ioport:cff8(size=8)
*-display:1 UNCLAIMED
     description: Display controller
     product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
     vendor: Intel Corporation
     physical id: 2.1
     bus info: pci@0000:00:02.1
     version: 07
     width: 64 bits
     clock: 33MHz
     capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
     configuration: latency=0
     resources: memory:ffc00000-ffcfffff

"System Info" shows my graphics as the following

Mobile Intel® GM45 Express Chipset x86/MMX/SSE2

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: xorg 1:7.6+12ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-23.36-generic-pae 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-generic-pae i686
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,vpswitch,snap,mousepoll,resize,place,move,wall,grid,regex,imgpng,session,gnomecompat,animation,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Thu Apr 12 13:08:21 2012
DistUpgraded: 2012-04-02 03:21:05,114 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: precise
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 virtualbox, 4.1.12, 3.2.0-22-generic-pae, i686: installed
 virtualbox, 4.1.12, 3.2.0-23-generic, i686: installed
 virtualbox, 4.1.12, 3.2.0-23-generic-pae, i686: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, whatever it takes to get this fixed in Ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device [1179:0009]
   Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device [1179:0009]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release i386 (20111012)
MachineType: TOSHIBA TECRA M10
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic-pae root=UUID=969ec06a-f27d-41db-818a-b9a23fe0009f ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-04-02 (10 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 09/08/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.bios.version: Version 3.00
dmi.board.asset.tag: 0000000000
dmi.board.name: Portable PC
dmi.board.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.board.version: Version A0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0000000000
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: TOSHIBA
dmi.chassis.version: Version 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnTOSHIBA:bvrVersion3.00:bd09/08/2009:svnTOSHIBA:pnTECRAM10:pvrPTMB1U-02L01H:rvnTOSHIBA:rnPortablePC:rvrVersionA0:cvnTOSHIBA:ct10:cvrVersion1.0:
dmi.product.name: TECRA M10
dmi.product.version: PTMB1U-02L01H
dmi.sys.vendor: TOSHIBA
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.7.4-0ubuntu3
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.32-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 8.0.2-0ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 8.0.2-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.11.4-0ubuntu10
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.0-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20111219.aacbd629-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.17.0-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20111201+b5534a1-1build2