10.04: GDM resolution is too large

[schein123]

When I boot up my 10.4 laptop I find that the resolution of the login screen is too large. About 50 percent of the time, the portion of the screen where I am to type in the password is off the screen and I am forced to reboot. The other 50% of the time I "get lucky" and have the useful portion of screen space available. Once I do login the screen works fine. How do I control GDM resolution behavior?

In case it matters, the laptop is Acer Travelmate 6493.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

[MAFoElffen]

When I boot up my 10.4 laptop I find that the resolution of the login screen is too large. About 50 percent of the time, the portion of the screen where I am to type in the password is off the screen and I am forced to reboot. The other 50% of the time I "get lucky" and have the useful portion of screen space available. Once I do login the screen works fine. How do I control GDM resolution behavior?

In case it matters, the laptop is Acer Travelmate 6493.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions.
Your laptop uses an Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD for video...
First run this command from a terminal:


sudo hwinfo --monitor
If it says that it can't find the command, intsall it via


sudo apt-get install hwinfo
Note a resolution that you want to try...
Then edit your /ect/grub/default and look for a line that says


# GFXMODE=640x480
Remove the comment mark (#) and change it to that resolution you picked. For example


GFXMODE=1280x1024
After saving, you will have to run


sudo update-grub
To pick up that change.

This will change to resolution of the grub menu and boot messages... Passing on that resolution to the Linux kernel to boot into...
Now, go to /etc/X11/xorg.conf and edit it. > Go to the Screen Section > Dsiplay section > add the entry in green (Virtual) with the resolution that you want gdm to be when it boots....


Section "Screen
Indentifier "name'
Device "devid"
Monitor "monid"
Subsection "Display"
Virtual 1260 1024
EndSubsection
EndSection
Save. That should take care of that GDM resolution. After the gdm login, the default display resolution specified in the xorg.conf file will take over from there.

[schein123]

I have no xorg.conf file. Should I generate one? If so, how?

[schein123]

Here is where I found my solution: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config/Resolution

[schein123]

Another follow up:

The techniques I tried did not totally stop this problem, however what I have found is an effective work around is using the ctrl-alt-f6 key causes the login screen to refresh, and usually with the proper resolution. This is a big win compared to a reboot.

I am sure the problem could be solved more rigorously, but this is good enough.