Nvidia Dual Monitor missing in Karmic 9.10?

**PeggySue** · November 9th, 2009

Hi,

I have two monitors on an Nvidia FX5200 card. I have enabled the restricted, but Ubuntu recommended, Nvidia driver but can't save the configuration. I can enable the features I need but can't save them. Error is: Failed to parse existing xorg.conf file.

I have followed the threads which say make the changes as super user and delete xorg.conf and refresh using nvidia-settings but still get the error. Other threads mention problems which suggest they have figured out how to save the Nvidia configuration but I can't work it out. It looks for all the world that the Nvidia software is trying to work with xorg.conf and Ubuntu 9.10 now just ignores it. Any ideas please?

Also; any ideas why the Ubuntu team think it is a good idea to remove features without suggesting how to work around the chaos this causes? I would love to know how to make inputs to the people that make these decisions.

**P4man** · November 9th, 2009

Its not entirely clear to me if you understood you have to run the nvidia applet as root by starting

gksudo nvidia-settings

and then cick "save to X configuration file" from the X server Display Configuration tab (deselect the merge option).

If that fails for some odd reason try this:

Code:

sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.backup
sudo nvidia-xconfig
gksudo nvidia-settings

(save as explained above)

**PeggySue** · November 9th, 2009

Hi P4man,

Yes, I was running nvidia-settings as root.
I have cut and pasted your instructions but still get the 'Failed to Parse' error when I click on 'save to X configuration file'. (I have also tried these instructions after flusing out the existing xorg.conf.)

I have a very slim /etc/X11/xorg.conf and an identical xorg.conf_20091109141343. Both contain this:

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Configured Screen Device"
DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

I'm sure xorg.conf used to be loaded with data. Hey ho!!

**P4man** · November 9th, 2009

thats odd, Running nvidia x-config should generate a complete xorg.conf. Below is what I get when I let it create one. You can probably copy paste it in yours and see if it helps

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

edit: leave out the red lines perhaps they wont match your monitor

**PeggySue** · November 9th, 2009

Well well well!

I cut and pasted ONLY the sections referring to the monitor into my xorg.conf and restarted X. I had the usual single screen on boot up so I changed the configuration and clicked 'save to X configuration file'. It gave me the option to merge with what was there so I did this and the set up was saved. Yipeee.
Oddly enough my xorg.conf now contains info on the keyboard and mouse, that I didn't copy from yours, and my 5 button mouse no longer works!!
This is certainly the right track so I will play some more tomorrow with another blank xorg.conf and maybe edit it by hand so select the bits that work. At least I have the text from the Nvidia set up!

Many thanks.

FYI my xorg.conf now looks like this:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 1.0 (buildd@palmer) Sun Feb 1 20:21:04 UTC 2009

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "SEG RM170"
HorizSync 30.0 - 80.0
VertRefresh 58.0 - 75.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce FX 5200"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "1"
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
Option "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP: nvidia-auto-select +1280+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

**PeggySue** · November 9th, 2009

P.S.
Just deleted the mouse and keyboard settings from xorg.conf and the displays come up fine and the extra buttons on the mouse work again so all seems to be well. I only have the task bars on one screen rather than both so I guess I have mixed up twin screens and cinerama.

I can't figure out why this works; I guess 9.10 has an alternative to xorg.conf and only checks xorg.conf for additional settings.

Still... it works so thanks for your help. A life saver!

**P4man** · November 9th, 2009

Originally Posted by PeggySue

P.S.
Just deleted the mouse and keyboard settings from xorg.conf and the displays come up fine and the extra buttons on the mouse work again so all seems to be well. I only have the task bars on one screen rather than both so I guess I have mixed up twin screens and cinerama.

Its like that. If you want panels (thats the right term) on each screen you have to make new panels and drag them there, then add the menu's and stuff you want on them. Just right click a panel > new panel then start adding whatever you want there.

Code:

I can't figure out why this works; I guess 9.10 has an alternative to xorg.conf and only checks xorg.conf for additional settings.

xorg.conf is optional these days yes.

**P4man** · November 9th, 2009

afterthought... you can also have 2 independent X screens. In that case each would have their own panels, but you'd have to log in in each ( I think) and you wouldnt be able to drag windows from one screen to another etc, so I doubt thats what you want.