ATI Resolution problem in 16.04

[jellybaby]

Hi,

I've just upgraded to 16.04 LTS from 14.04 LTS.

Problem:

I can't change the resolution to 1280x1024 which is the native res. for my monitor; the highest available res. is 1024x768.

Attempted fixes:

I put the xorg.conf file from my 14.04 installation in the /etc/X11 folder, but no joy;

I tried installing the AMD driver (amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.1-legacy-linux-x86.x86_64.run); it installed fine, but after restarting the PC crashed. I reinstalled 16.04 LTS.

Here my info:

2x AMD Athlon II X2 245 Processor;
Gallium 0.4 on AMD RS880 (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.8.0) (ATI Radeon HD4200 integrated on an ASUS M4A785-M motherboard);
2 GB RAM (the video chip uses 256 MB of that, so usable RAM is 1792 MB).

Output of xrandr:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA-0 connected primary 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
1024x768 60.00*
800x600 60.32 56.25
848x480 60.00
640x480 59.94
DVI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

I read here (https://tjaalton.wordpress.com/2016/03/11/no-catalystfglrx-video-driver-in-ubuntu-16-04/) that AMD will be bringing out new drivers later this year, but surely the driver that Xenial uses should be capable of changing resolution?

I hope someone has a bright idea!

Regards

[mörgæs]

There might be a solution for 16.04 but in this case it seems like the easiest approach is to carry on with 14.04. I understand the desire to use the latest software available but it might take some time before the open source ATI drivers have caught up with the closed source ones.

[jellybaby]

Thanks for the answer, mörgæs.

Yes, I think you're probably right. I will reinstall 14.04 alongside 16.04, I guess. That way, I can try out things without endangering my work.

[jellybaby]

Hi,

I just thought I'd share the fix I use on 16.04 using the "cvt" tool and "xrandr":

in a terminal, I type


cvt 1280 1024

That gives me the following:


# 1280x1024 59.89 Hz (CVT 1.31M4) hsync: 63.67 kHz; pclk: 109.00 MHz
Modeline "1280x1024_60.00" 109.00 1280 1368 1496 1712 1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync

I then type


xrandr --newmode "1280x1024_60.00" 109.00 1280 1368 1496 1712 1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync (this is everything that comes after "Modeline")

then


xrandr --addmode VGA-0 1280x1024_60.00 (VGA-0 is my video device)

and it works instantly.

Of course, I have to run it every time I log in, but I wrote an executable script that I can just double-click.

Cheers!

[jellybaby]

Hi,

mörgæs suggested I mark this thread as solved. It's a good idea, so I will.

Just for interest's sake by the way, now that this resolution problem is solved, I have completely switched over to Ubuntu xenial; after putting in 4 more gigs of ram, Unity runs much more quickly and smoothly. I'll be able to work on this old PC for years!

Regards