HOWTO: change resolution/refresh rate in Xorg

[heimo]

Howto: change resolution/refresh rate in Xorg
If you can't change your display resolution or refresh rate (no desired option available) these instructions may help.

Backup your configuration file

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup

How to reconfigure Xorg
Notice that auto detection of devices works best if Xorg is not running. Therefore it's recommended to stop X before reconfiguring this will put you to text only mode / command line:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop (or kdm for KDE)

You can do the whole X configuration process by entering:

  sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

To start Gnome/KDE again:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start (or kdm for KDE)

How to test configuration without restarting X?
See this excellent tip from henriquemaia (Thanks!)

How to edit xorg.conf file
Run in terminal or console:

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

online help in nano: ctrl+g (ctrl+x exits)

Where is the log file, how to debug?
File:

 /var/log/Xorg.0.log

contains lots of invaluable debugging information about what's going on as Xorg starts. Watch for lines with EE (errors) and WW (warnings).

How to edit or add HorizSync and VertRefresh lines
Find your monitors manual (manufacturers website and Google are useful).
Look for hozizontal sync and vertical refresh rates, also if bandwidth or maximum dot clock / pixel clock is mentioned, write it down.

Edit xorg.conf and put correct values to your xconf.org's Monitor section. Something like this:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "CM752ET"
    HorizSync     31-101
    VertRefresh    60-160
EndSection

Be sure that Identifier is same as the Monitor line in Screen section.


Adding custom modeline
If you know what your monitor can do, for example 1024x768@75Hz, you can use this page to generate a custom Modeline for you xorg.conf:

• online modeline generator

Copy paste the new Modeline to Monitor section (for example):

 # 1024x768 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 60.15 kHz; pclk: 81.80 MHzModeline "1024x768_75.00"  81.80  1024 1080 1192 1360  768 769 772 802  -HSync +Vsync

Watch that the hsync is in range with the HorizSync on the same section (in this example the range is 31-101 and this modelines hsync is 60.15, so we're safe). Also the VertRefresh and the refresh rate you selected (75Hz in this example) should match - in this example VertRefresh is 60-160 and modeline is 75Hz, so that's all good.

Now you can select the default resolution and colordepth by tweaking the Screen section. It should look something like this:

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Default Screen"
    Device        "NVIDIA Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200]"
    Monitor        "CM752ET"
    DefaultDepth    16
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth        16
        Modes      "1024x768_75.00"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Monitor name here (CM752ET) matches the Identifier on your Monitor Section. Device line here matches the identifier on your Device section - you get the idea? It ties together some settings for your screen - the graphics card and your monitor. You may have more Subsections here, but only one is needed.

Change the DefaultDepth to what you would want it to be, 16 (65536 colors) or 24 (16M colors). Change the Modes line to match the resolutions you want to use - Depth must match DefaultDepth (here it's 16).

Save the config. If you're in X, hit CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE to restart X (if you're running logon manager like xdm, kdm or gdm). Change between virtual consoles with CTRL + F1 F2 F3 and so on - your X should be on F7.

Starting the X:
startx OR sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start (in KDE it's kdm)

If that doesn't work, try fixing the xorg.conf or get back to your original by copying the backup over your changed one with:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf

When you're back in X, you can cycle through different modes by pressing CTRL+ALT++ (plus sign on numpad), or go to System->Preferences->Screen Resolution.

How to adjust position of your screen?
open terminal(Applications->Accessories->Terminal), run xvidtune (type: "xvidtune"), adjust the screen and hit Show-button. You'll see a line with something like this on the terminal screen:

"1280x1024"   157.50   1280 1332 1492 1728   1024 1025 1028 1072 +hsync +vsync

Next you should:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

In Monitor section, add the above line with a prefix "Modeline", like this:

Modeline "1280x1024"   157.50   1280 1332 1492 1728   1024 1025 1028 1072 +hsync +vsync

That should do it. There should be no need to restart X if you did make the change (hit Apply in xvidtune), but you should test that this new change works. Hit ctrl+alt+backspace to restart X. If it doesn't work, you can copy back the old configuration file using:

sudo /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf

and restart X using:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

Problems? Things to try:

• Check notes concerning your video card in Ubuntu wiki https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupp...entsVideoCards
• Check BIOS settings - eg. amount of shared memory
• Add to your monitor section line

  Option "DDC" "False"

• if you're using kvm (keyboard/video/mouse-switch), try reconfiguring without
• try vesa driver instead of your graphics card specific driver
• try nv instead of nvidia
• try ati instead of fglrx
• try intel instead of i810
• try 16-bits colors instead of 24-colors

• adding HorizSync and VertRefresh line in Monitor section with correct values from monitors specification
• adding custom modeline for your monitor in Monitor section
  • online modeline generator
  • gtf generator online: http://www.sh.nu/nvidia/gtf.php
• reconfiguring Xorg

  • sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

• if you have Intel graphics chip, try installing 855resolution, or 915resolution
• if having problems to get very high resolution working with nvidia drivers, try adding some or all of these at your own risk (some of these may be driver specific - check other documentation before using)

  Option "UseEDIDFreqs" "FALSE" Option "NoBandWidthTest" "TRUE" Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "TRUE" Option "ModeValidation" "NoEdidModes, NoMaxPClkCheck, NoVertRefreshCheck, NoHorizSyncCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck"

• Which driver should I use? Is my card supported? See list of supported cards / chipsets.
• Advanced X11 configuration in FreeBSD handbook
• If you're using nvidia driver, try gksudo nvidia-settings
• Try booting from Live-CD, if that works, copy /etc/X11/xorg.conf from there
• Tips and tricks in this howto: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=269052

Check FixVideoResolutionHowto
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FixVideoResolutionHowto
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingXAutoconfiguration
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Fi...esolutionHowto


Miscellaneous resources (may contain outdated information)

Integrated Intel graphics card?
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=24923 (855resolution, hoary)
http://www.x.org/X11R6.8.2/doc/i810.html

Laptop with Intel graphics and widescreen
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=351647

Widescreen
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:F...screen_Support

Useful command line tools

• xresprobe [driver=vesa,ati,nv,nvidia,i810]
• ddcprobe

Why must I set the correct screen resolution on every startup?
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showpost...55&postcount=5

Online modeline generators:
http://sh.nu/nvidia/gtf.php
http://www.dkfz-heidelberg.de/spec/linux/modeline/
http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl
http://koala.ilog.fr/cgi-bin/nph-colas-modelines
http://zaph.com/Modeline/

Complete xorg.conf files:
http://aleks.vigio.pl/

What all those options do?
http://xorg.freedesktop.org/archive/...rg.conf.5.html

Some random links I may need to sort later (mainly about setting widescreen resolution):
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...org/+bug/67369
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Widescr...lutions_(WSXGA)
http://thoughtworker.in/2007/04/24/k...ht-resolution/
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...69/comments/21

Installing proprietary drivers
Envy, Unofficial installer for ati and nvidia drivers:
http://www.albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html



If anyone wants to copy this guide to Ubuntus wikipages, please feel free to do so.

[frodon]

Hi heimo, nice guide ... really complete

The first 2 links under Integrated Intel graphics card? and the link under Problems with login screen refresh rate? are broken.

[heimo]

Originally Posted by frodon Hi heimo, nice guide ... really complete

Thanks! There are lots of tips and tricks from all over Ubuntuforums and I've just collected some of those together in one post. I'm quite happy to see that there's not so much need for this guide anymore, Xorg configuration in Breezy is working better than it was in Hoary.

Originally Posted by frodon The first 2 links under Integrated Intel graphics card? and the link under Problems with login screen refresh rate? are broken.

Thanks for noticing! (removed/updated)

[ubuntuzilla]

OOPS, i cut and pasted
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop into the terminal.

My computer starts but nothing is displayed. I hear the hard drive spinning but my bios doesn't even display. The monitor says it's working properly and to check my cables and computer. I can't boot anything on cd either.

i did sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup first though but still. With nothing displaying i can't really reset the backup. Any and all help would be great. I'm a newbie so i should have known better that to make changed in the terminal but i'm still stuck anyway. Any help or should i just throw it away. Sony Viao p2 400mgz, 128mb ram, 10gig hd

[tseliot]

Originally Posted by ubuntuzilla OOPS, i cut and pasted sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop into the terminal. My computer starts but nothing is displayed. I hear the hard drive spinning but my bios doesn't even display. The monitor says it's working properly and to check my cables and computer. I can't boot anything on cd either. i did sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup first though but still. With nothing displaying i can't really reset the backup. Any and all help would be great. I'm a newbie so i should have known better that to make changed in the terminal but i'm still stuck anyway. Any help or should i just throw it away. Sony Viao p2 400mgz, 128mb ram, 10gig hd

Ok, you shouldn't have put that command into the terminal but the problems you describe sound to me as a hardware problem, a coincidence perhaps. The same fact it doesn't display your bios can't be caused by your operative system.

Either the monitor or the graphic card might have stopped working. If you have another monitor (if your notebook has a VGA port) you can try to connect it to your notebook.

[pbb]

Heimo, thanks for a great howto. I haven't tried it out yet, but it reads easily and seems very complete.
One thing however. Since this guide seems mostly for beginners, I suggest updating the guide with the remark tseliot made ("Ok, you shouldn't have put that command into the terminal..."). Beginners do make beginnner's mistakes, and this saves them from having to read through the comments.

[saivert]

I have nVidia GeForce Go 6600 GPU on my Zepto Znote 6515WD notebook computer.

I want to be able to connect an external monitor and use it to extend my desktop. The monitor will be running at 1280x1024 @ 60Hz (what it supports) and my notebook screen runs natively at 1280x800 (15,4 inch panel) also @ 60 Hz.

Should I use nVidia's TwinView option, the xinerama option or two separate X screens?

I know I have to define two Devices (with same Bus ID) when using two screens, but is TwinView dependant on two Monitor sections or does it simply detect the other monitor and configure it internally using the Option stements in the Device section for my graphics card?

[Ancalagon]

Originally Posted by pbb Since this guide seems mostly for beginners, I suggest updating the guide with the remark tseliot made ("Ok, you shouldn't have put that command into the terminal..."). Beginners do make beginnner's mistakes, and this saves them from having to read through the comments.

As a super-noob, I have a really dumb question. Where (if not in a terminal window) should I enter the following command to close Xorg?

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

Thanks!

[ubuntuzilla]

thanks for the response. Someone suggested i unplug all pci cards then reboot and that worked. Now how do i change resolution without destroying my computer again... hmmmmm.

[briancurtin]

Originally Posted by heimo [b] Problems? Things to try: vesa driver instead of your graphics card specific driver

how would one go about removing the nvidia drivers and returning to the original, or VESA driver?