boot-up: Cannot display this video mode

**alzie** · December 7th, 2011

fantab thank you for some most excellent instructions!

I had about given up on the idea of running unity for the time being since I couldn't find any instructions to manually set the resolution on an old Daewoo monitor. Oddly the ddcprobe did hit my monitor and model number

Cheers!

**burnsmicro** · January 4th, 2012

Aaaaaaaargh!!!!

I just fired up my Ubuntu-11.10 PC after the holidays and I got the dreaded "Cannot display this video mode" instead of the sign-on screen I had expected. I thought I had licked this problem, thanks to Fantab's help (post 11505651).

On firing up the PC with the original Ubuntu-11.10 CD from Nov 26th, my screen displayed perfectly. With it, I found out that my link to my fixrandr.sh script, /media/b7.../etc/X11/Xsession.d/45fixrandr, had been wiped out, perhaps by a "smart" update.

I should mention, my original boot partition shows up as /media/b7..../, where the b7... is a mile long hex number. Similartly, my Home directory is on a different partition which shows up as /media/47.../, another mile long hex number. Entering these mile long hex numbers in a command line is not as bad as one would expect; one just enters the first 2 numbers and a tab will autocomplete.

I was able to find /media/47..../my_name/scripts/fixrandr.sh with the file/folder viewer on the UBUNTU-11.10 CD. The CD offers no terminal window, but I discovered one can open a terminal window by entering CtrlAltF1 (and CtrlAltF7 to return to the Ubuntu desktop).

So, the solution seemed simple enough: Recreate the missing simlink in /media/b7.../etc/X11/Xsession.d/ and link to /media/47..../my_name/scripts/fixrandr.sh.

It failed to execute on rebooting from the hard drive.

Back to booting from the CD:

I tried to execute the fixrand script from the link, /media/b7.../etc/X11/Xsession.d/45fixrandr
- -bash: 45fixrandr: no such file or directory
I tried to execute /media/47..../my_name/scripts/fixrandr.sh.
- Can't open display

I then borrowed my wife's super wide-screen LCD monitor. But now my Ubuntu will not talk to it, either.

Help!!!

RF

**burnsmicro** · January 4th, 2012

I just learned to open the more familiar terminal window with Ctrl-Alt-T. The beauty of this terminal is it has more capabilities than the Ctrl-Alt-F1 terminal.

With it, I was able to execute "xrandr" and find out that the fixrandr.sh script failed because the display label has been changed from "CRT1" to "VGA-0".

I ran the updated (VGA-0) version of fixranadr.sh and the display went black for a couple of seconds and then reappeared, leading me to believe I had cured the problem.

Not so. on rebooting from the hard drive, I still got "Cannot display this video mode".

Rebooting from the Ubuntu-11.10 CD and listing 45fixrandr, the link to the fixrandr.sh, showed:

Code:

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root   70 2012-01-03 22:07 45fixrandr -> /media/48e09e30-e4fd-4d10-920a-232c55527d66/robert/scripts/fixrandr.sh

However, executing the link to the fixrandr.sh script failed:

Code:

ubuntu@ubuntu:/media/b7b55bff-998c-4d2c-8c0e-af22e922c099/etc/X11/Xsession.d$ sudo ./45fixrandr
sudo: ./45fixrandr: command not found

..whereas executing the fixrandr.sh script appeared to work:

Code:

ubuntu@ubuntu:/media/b7b55bff-998c-4d2c-8c0e-af22e922c099/etc/X11/Xsession.d$ sudo /media/48e09e30-e4fd-4d10-920a-232c55527d66/robert/scripts/fixrandr.sh

Help!!

Thanks,

RF

**burnsmicro** · January 4th, 2012

I stand corrected. After booting from the Ubuntu-11.10 CD, I am able to execute the fix resolution script from the link in /etc/X11/Xsession.d/ in what would normally be the boot partition of my PC's hard drive.

Code:

sudo /media/b7b55bff-998c-4d2c-8c0e-af22e922c099/etc/X11/Xsession.d/45fixrandr

Moreover, on examining System Settings --> Display, it appears only 2 resolutions are supported by the Ubuntu-11.10 CD: 1024x768 and 800x600.

As a consequence, I changed the fix resolution script, fixrandr.sh, to support 1024x768_60.0 resolution/Hz. The script works as intended and so does the link to the script. But I still get "Cannot display this video mode" when I attempt to boot from the hard drive.

The evidence seems to be pointing at me barking up the wrong tree. I am really at a loss.

RF

**Chrysopras** · October 21st, 2012

fantab's instruction worked well to get 1280 x1024 for Intel D945GCL onbord graphics using Ubuntu 12.04
Thank you.

**Gelevera** · May 8th, 2013

Originally Posted by fantab

What is your Graphics Card? Does it have Proprietary Drivers? If yes, then have you tried installing or reinstalling those Drivers?
Have you tried un-installing Thunderbird? (I doubt that Thunderbird could cause this) Try it first.

(I use this workaround on one of my monitor where, Ubuntu does not use the recommended optimal resolution. In your case it does not boot at all saying "cannot display this video mode"... So I really don't know how this will help you. It would be a good idea to Back up Data and be prepared to reinstall Ubuntu).

Lets try this:

We first need to find out if your system recognizes 1280x1024 resolution. If it does then perhaps we can force it.

Run the following commands in the terminal.

Code:

sudo apt-get install xresprobe

sudo ddcprobe

This should reveal the supported resolutions.

Then find out the name of your interface, like VGA1 or HDMI1 or HDMI2 etc. as an example I am using HDMI2.
Also make note of the Resolution and refresh rate. (I assume you know these already).

Code:

xrandr

Now replace the resolution and refresh rate in the command below with your own.

Code:

gtf 1920 1080 59.9

From the output copy every thing after the word "Modeline"
What you copy will be something like this: "1920x1080_59.90" 172.51 1920 2040 2248 2576 1080 1081 1084 1118 -HSync +Vsync

Having done that run this one after another in Terminal using your outputs.

Code:

xrandr --newmode "1920x1080_59.90"  172.51  1920 2040 2248 2576  1080 1081 1084 1118  -HSync +Vsync

xrandr --addmode HDMI2 "1920x1080_59.90"

xrandr --output HDMI2 --mode "1920x1080_59.90"

This should give you your desired monitor resolution. This is only temporary.

To make this permanent you will have to write a script and save it as follows:

Code:

mkdir ~/Scripts
gedit ~/Scripts/fixresolution.sh

This will open a blank document with gedit. Add following to the document and save it:

Code:

#! /usr/bin/env sh
xrandr --newmode "1920x1080_59.90"  172.51  1920 2040 2248 2576  1080 1081 1084 1118  -HSync +Vsync
xrandr --addmode HDMI2 "1920x1080_59.90"
xrandr --output HDMI2 --mode "1920x1080_59.90"

Now to load this file at each start-up run following in terminal:

Code:

chmod +x ~/Scripts/fixresolution.sh
sudo ln -s ~/Scripts/fixresolution.sh /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45fixresolution

Try restarting with your wide-screen and see with xrandr if it is using 1280x1024.
If it is then use your old dell monitor and see if it works.
If it doesn't then I am afraid you either have to wait for a solution or re-install.

Good Luck.

Woooooww
its alive! hehe

thanks fantab. i try it and work like a charm!
i wanted a higer resolution and ubuntu only permit 1024x768

for the record i have :

Notebook Lenovo ThinkPad R61i with Ubuntu 12.04 64bit
Graphic card : Intel 965GM
and HP L1706 Monitor in extended desktop mode.

this is the config i used (sorry, my english is..)
--------------------------------------

Code:

ThinkPad-R61:~$   sudo ddcprobe
vbe: VESA 3.0 detected.
oem: Intel(r)Crestline Graphics Chip Accelerated VGA BIOS
vendor: Intel Corporation
product: Intel(r)Crestline Graphics Controller Hardware Version 0.0
memory: 7616kb
mode: 1280x1024x256
mode: 1280x1024x64k
mode: 1280x1024x16m
mode: 1024x768x256
mode: 1024x768x64k
mode: 1024x768x16m
mode: 640x480x16m
mode: 800x600x64k
mode: 800x600x16m
mode: 640x480x256
mode: 800x600x256
mode: 640x480x64k
edid: 
edidfail

Code:

ThinkPad-R61:/usr/bin$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2304 x 800, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 304mm x 190mm
   1280x800       60.0*+   50.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 connected 1024x768+1280+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768       60.0* 
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   848x480        60.0  
   640x480        59.9  
DVI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Code:

ThinkPad-R61:~$ gtf 1280 1024 59.9


  # 1280x1024 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 63.60 kHz; pclk: 108.88 MHz
  Modeline "1280x1024_60.00"  108.88  1280 1360 1496 1712  1024 1025 1028 1060  -HSync +Vsync

Code:

xrandr --newmode "1280x1024_60.00"  108.88  1280 1360 1496 1712  1024 1025 1028 1060  -HSync +Vsync
xrandr --addmode VGA1 "1280x1024_60.00"
xrandr --output VGA1 --mode "1280x1024_60.00"

after your sug..

Code:

ThinkPad-R61:~$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2560 x 1024, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 304mm x 190mm
   1280x800       60.0*+   50.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 connected 1280x1024+1280+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   848x480        60.0  
   640x480        59.9  
   1280x1024_60.00   60.0* 
DVI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

**carib909** · March 28th, 2014

Originally Posted by fantab

Can you boot the Ubuntu LiveCD using your Dell monitor?
If yes, then use it to run xrandr from LiveCD and you will be able to find the video interface label as xrandr knows it.

Remember the video interface of your Dell monitor may not work with the other monitor, so just create the fixresolutioh.sh and chmod it using your borrowed monitor. Shut down the computer, plugin your old monitor and restart.

The script should start...

How do you do that?

**fantab** · March 28th, 2014

carib909 this is an old thread. Please start your own new thread and describe the problem you are facing as clearly as possible.
Back in the day, some Intel Graphics had issues running on Linux, like GMA500. However this has been fixed some time back....