Xorg changes make Ubuntu unuseable

[Canuck.old]

A week ago I had a nicely running 8.04 Hardy system, but
the system disk died. As a paranoid old software type my
backups are (barely) good enough but neither a new copy
of 8.04 or the new 9.04 work after some xorg changes.

In both cases a new install works, for a while at
1856x1392. a number that cannot be changed using any of the
tools I can find. But this does not remain the problem.
After a reboot or two - perhaps 3 the best resolution
changes to 800x600. Both of these values are completely
useless! 1856x1392 is way to small for my eyes. However at
least NetBeans is usable for a few minutes of eye strain.
800x600 is totally useless. There is not enough on the
screen to make programming practical.

I have played with xorg.conf on both systems but there is
not enough stuff around to modify. (I have not played with X
in many years). I did a backup & I KNOW the xorg.conf file
remained unchanged through this metamorphosis.

How can I get a working system back? Windows is not
an option. Perhaps I have to go to solaris. I used it in the
90's but I want linux for several reasons. I am sure you all
understand this well.

Where is the solution? Help me please!

Thank you for your time.

dkr

PS
My system has a Gforce 6600LE video card but I am not sure
why it matters, but it seems that not everyone is having this
problem.

[Jabz.biz]

Hmm, isn't the xorg.conf file empty on default? Mine is completely empty since 8.04.

I always found help at system > Screenresolution. Seems to work without the xorg.conf

Good luck. I will update next week...hope it will be a smooth process.

[Canuck.old]

Hmm, isn't the xorg.conf file empty on default? Mine is completely empty since 8.04.

I always found help at system > Screenresolution. Seems to work without the xorg.conf

Good luck. I will update next week...hope it will be a smooth process.

system>Screenresolution will not change anything (FYI I usually use
KDE but I will try anything).
Not empty but just a bare outline. I'll try removing this & see!
Thanks for you effort.
dkr

[Canuck.old]

A week ago I had a nicely running 8.04 Hardy system, but
the system disk died. As a paranoid old software type my
backups are (barely) good enough but neither a new copy
of 8.04 or the new 9.04 work after some xorg changes.

In both cases a new install works, for a while at
1856x1392. a number that cannot be changed using any of the
tools I can find. But this does not remain the problem.
After a reboot or two - perhaps 3 the best resolution
changes to 800x600. Both of these values are completely
useless! 1856x1392 is way to small for my eyes. However at
least NetBeans is usable for a few minutes of eye strain.
800x600 is totally useless. There is not enough on the
screen to make programming practical.

I have played with xorg.conf on both systems but there is
not enough stuff around to modify. (I have not played with X
in many years). I did a backup & I KNOW the xorg.conf file
remained unchanged through this metamorphosis.

How can I get a working system back? Windows is not
an option. Perhaps I have to go to solaris. I used it in the
90's but I want linux for several reasons. I am sure you all
understand this well.

Where is the solution? Help me please!

Thank you for your time.

dkr

PS
My system has a Gforce 6600LE video card but I am not sure
why it matters, but it seems that not everyone is having this
problem.

OK I tried removing xorg.conf and as a result gnome-display-properties
gives me the following options:
800x600
640x480
400x300
320x240
which are all less than wonderful.
I did not actually try any of them.

[Jabz.biz]

Have you tried adding your preferred resolution to xorg.conf?

Maybe this helps.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=48195

BTW: What graphics card do you use?

[Canuck.old]

Have you tried adding your preferred resolution to xorg.conf?

That reference is a start - but the outline xorg.conf is so
lacking in
content that it is to easy to screw up. (I have had to resort to
Knoppix to recover once already) Is there a more complete example
somewhere I can look at?

snip

BTW: What graphics card do you use?

Gforce 6600 LE

thanks again
dkr

[Canuck.old]

Hmm, isn't the xorg.conf file empty on default? Mine is completely empty since 8.04.

I always found help at system > Screenresolution. Seems to work without the xorg.conf

Good luck. I will update next week...hope it will be a smooth process.

system > Screenresolution at best offers the 800x600 resolution.
Even if that was ok in a bit / cm way 800x600 is 4x3 my relic
is 5x4 (my preference is 1280x1024)

[Canuck.old]

Will someone please post a copy of the xorg.conf file before
details were removed. It would be nice if the data was for
a Gforce card but anything would be a help.
Thank you.
dkr

[Canuck.old]

More stuff - I upgraded to linux 2.6.24-24-generic and upon reboot
the resolution went to 1856x1392. I did try to change this to 1280x1024 using gnome-display-properties but it did not seem to take. This morning when I restated the machine the resolution was
back to 800x600.
I checked and there is now no xorg.conf file. I deleted the
outline version that was there.
Thank you for your time.

[Mark Phelps]

Try "sudo displayconfig-gtk" and see if that helps. Lets you choose different monitors with different resolution settings.

[Canuck.old]

Thank you Thank You THANK YOU!!

Next time please beat me with a stick - until I investigate all of the
applications parameters!
Thank you for your time.
dkr

[Canuck.old]

It appears that the real problem is:
A KVM interferes with the ability to detect monitors. I
have a kvm switch. So if this is indeed a problem; I
have it.

Thanks again for all of your help!
dkr
PS is is working fine now!

[CBHedricks]

I have had some KVM's work with Linux for about 6 months then 'poof' nothing. Does not seem to matter what brand you put into the mix - they all are pretty much worthless POS's after about 6 to 8 months of use.

Windows / Linux does not make much of a difference with most of the IOGEAR units that I have been using. Ones that I stay away from are Belkin (killed a DVI port on both monitor and computer), TrendNet (never lasts more than 6 months) and CablesToGo (dies in 3 months).

Ones that I have found to be best bang for the buck:

IOGear
LinksKey
Tripplite


Hope that helps out.

CB