screen resolution

[craigtrom]

hi everyone
im having a problem with my screen resolution.
whats happening is, the desktop environment is fine, everything fits on the screen, but when i open any application, that window is huge wont fit on the screen, cant click anything. i already tryed with the display settings i end up "losing" the screen was so big. but this only happen when i open a application even firefox.
my screen resolution at the moment is
any suggestion?
640x480 (4:3)
50 hz



thanks

[chriskin]

why do you have such a low resolution?
the lower the resolution , the bigger everything seems to be

just choose a higher resolution and things might be better
if you can't choose anything higher than 640x480 , you might need to install the graphic card drivers or something

[craigtrom]

thank you for the reply.

thats my only choice for resolution. but there used to be more choices but now there only that one.

[chriskin]

what about the graphic card drivers?
are they installed?

if they are, try switching to another driver, there are usually more than one to choose from.

[craigtrom]

they are and in use. like the desktop is normal everything is normal size but when i open a application that windows is oversized cant even click the buttons have to use the keys shortcuts

[chriskin]

i don't know then, sorry :S

[craigtrom]

thanks for your help.

happy xmas

[samden]

What is your xorg.conf? If you post the "Device", "Monitor" and "Screen" sections of your xorg.conf we will know more about what we are dealing with. Use:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

and copy the relevant sections.
My "Screen" section is below.

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Device		"Configured Video Device"
	Monitor		"Configured Monitor"
	SubSection "Display"
		Modes   "1024x768"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

If under Modes you only have "640x480" listed, try changing it to:

Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

Save that, log out and log back in again, see if you have more screen resolution options now.

[craigtrom]

thank you for your reply, this is my screen.


# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously
# in this file, now are automatically configured by the server and settings
# here are ignored.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

[samden]

Before we try editing anything manually, try running

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

as suggested in the xorg.conf file itself. Then restart X (log out and log back in again) and see if it has fixed itself.

If that doesn't work, run

lspci | grep VGA

and post the result here. That will tell us what video card you have so we can make sure you are using the correct driver.

If dpkg-reconfigure didn't work, try editing the "Screen" section to read:

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Monitor		"Configured Monitor"
	Device		"Configured Video Device"
        SubSection "Display"
                Modes "1024x768" "800x600"
EndSection

Then log out, log back in again, see if you have more resolution options.

Before you edit the xorg.conf file yourself, make sure you back it up:

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

Then if it all turns to custard you can restore your old xorg.conf by running:

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

I had a similar issue recently, you may like to check out the discussion here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1003102