16.04 - nvidia-361 driver leads to a low resolution desktop (hsync out of range)

[pubalapoub]

Hi everyone,

I'm on an Asus X751LJ laptop (equipped with an NVidia GeForce 920M GPU) with a fresh install of Kubuntu 16.04.

1st issue (but not the one I'd like to troubleshoot here): as someone else also experienced (http://askubuntu.com/questions/76142...manager-broken), the KDE System Configuration "Driver Manager" is hanging on the "Collecting Information about your system" message.

Thus being unable to get Kubuntu install the NVidia proprietary driver automatically for me (while that went fine with Kubuntu 14.04), I decided to manually install the "nvidia-361/xenial,now 361.42-0ubuntu2 amd64" driver from the official Restricted repository.

Then ran "sudo nvidia-xconfig" and rebooted.

2nd issue (help!):

At startup, I can log in normally, but the screen resolution is extremely low (320x240) and I can only extend it to a poor 640x480, the maximum resolution offered by the KDE System Configuration "Display Configuration" module.

Taking a look at my /var/log/Xorg.0.log file, I could detect that indeed higher resolutions are set aside:

[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using mode "1600x900" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "800x600" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "400x300" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "800x600" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "400x300" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "1024x768" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "512x384" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "640x480" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "640x512" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "800x600" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "896x672" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "928x696" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "960x720" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "1152x864" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "576x432" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "1360x768" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "680x384" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "1360x768" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "680x384" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "700x525" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "1440x900" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "720x450" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "800x512" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "840x525" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "840x525" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "960x540" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "960x600" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Not using default mode "1024x768" (hsync out of range)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Printing probed modes for output eDP-1
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Modeline "640x480"x59.9   25.18  640 656 752 800  480 490 492 525 -hsync -vsync (31.5 kHz d)
[    25.135] (II) modeset(G0): Modeline "320x240"x60.1   12.59  320 328 376 400  240 245 246 262 doublescan -hsync -vsync (31.5 kHz d)

I read here and there that the Nouveau driver should be blacklisted - which I did not try yet - but is it still applicable nowadays?... And could it be the cause?...
Edit: looks like the ubuntu "nvidia-361/xenial" driver package automatically blacklists Nouveau, as I could find an existing /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-361_hybrid.conf file containing the usual directives:
blacklist nouveau
blacklist lbm-nouveau
alias nouveau off
alias lbm-nouveau off

I'm willing to learn how to troubleshoot such issue, but I must admit I don't know where to head to at this stage...

Any hint would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

[pubalapoub]

I made some progress, but the solution I reached so far is dirty... Any improvement (or alternate method) is more than welcome

My current fix was found thanks to this article: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config/Resolution

Using the cvt and xrandr commands, as well as the arandr GUI, I was able to create the following script:

#!/bin/sh
xrandr --newmode "1600x900_60.00"  118.25  1600 1696 1856 2112  900 903 908 934 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode eDP-1 "1600x900_60.00"
xrandr --output HDMI-1 --off --output DP-1 --off --output eDP-1 --primary  --mode 1600x900_60.00 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal --output HDMI-2 --off

Then I automated the execution of this script via the KDE System Configuration (I opted for the "At startup" option, since "Startup before KDE" is worse - my desktop gets back to 640x480 with the latter).

Cons:

- other (lower) resolutions would have to be added one by one to this script - in case I'd wish to get the same list of available resolutions as with the Nouveau driver.

- when I boot up and reach the sddm login screen, my resolution is still 640x480, then it switches to 1600x900 during the loading of the KDE desktop (thanks to the execution of my script) - that is a few seconds later, thus visually not the cleanest solution (ideally, I would like to be running at 1600x900 as soon as the sddm login screen appears).

I'm still wondering why the Nouveau driver provides a long list of available resolutions from the start while the NVidia driver doesn't... (well, it may not be a question of driver itself, but of some other tools/commands being executed in the background, probing all screen resolutions my display can offer)

[pubalapoub]

Ok. Finally I could solve my issue, it was so simple in a way... (hmm)

All the trouble came from the fact that after installing the nvidia driver (from Ubuntu repositories) I had executed:

sudo nvidia-xconfig (DON'T DO THAT!)

This updates configuration file /etc/X11/xorg.conf (no surprise, this is what it's meant for) and - in a way or another - generates screen resolution / display problems...

I realized this when un-installing the nvidia driver again and noticing that file /etc/X11/xorg.conf had gone!

After a reboot to ensure the Nouveau driver was still behaving normally, I reinstalled the nvidia driver with a simple:

sudo apt install nvidia-361

(yes people, apt-get is no longer mandatory)

THAT'S IT. Another reboot and there we go!

I hope my misadventure will help some of you.

Note: /etc/X11/xorg.conf is automatically created again at boot once the nvidia driver has been installed. For those curious enough, here is the diff between this new (working) xorg.conf and the old (dirtily-generated) one:

$ diff clean-xorg.conf dirty-xorg.conf
0a1,3
> # nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
> # nvidia-xconfig:  version 361.42  (buildmeister@swio-display-x64-rhel04-13)  Tue Mar 22 18:37:28 PDT 2016
> 
2,4c5,9
<     Identifier "layout"
<     Screen 0 "nvidia"
<     Inactive "intel"
---
>     Identifier     "layout"
>     Screen      0  "nvidia" 0 0
>     Inactive       "intel"
>     InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
>     InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
7,11c12,15
< Section "Device"
<     Identifier "intel"
<     Driver "modesetting"
<     BusID "PCI:0@0:2:0"
<     Option "AccelMethod" "None"
---
> Section "InputDevice"
>     # generated from default
>     Identifier     "Keyboard0"
>     Driver         "keyboard"
14,16c18,34
< Section "Screen"
<     Identifier "intel"
<     Device "intel"
---
> 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      "Unknown"
>     HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
>     VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
>     Option         "DPMS"
20,23c38,53
<     Identifier "nvidia"
<     Driver "nvidia"
<     BusID "PCI:4@0:0:0"
<     Option "ConstrainCursor" "off"
---
>     Identifier     "intel"
>     Driver         "modesetting"
>     Option         "AccelMethod" "None"
>     BusID          "PCI:0@0:2:0"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Device"
>     Identifier     "nvidia"
>     Driver         "nvidia"
>     BusID          "PCI:4@0:0:0"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Screen"
>     Identifier     "intel"
>     Device         "intel"
>     Monitor        "Monitor0"
27,30c57,67
<     Identifier "nvidia"
<     Device "nvidia"
<     Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "on"
<     Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "CRT"
---
>     Identifier     "nvidia"
>     Device         "nvidia"
>     Monitor        "Monitor0"
>     DefaultDepth    24
>     Option         "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "on"
>     Option         "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "CRT"
>     Option         "ConstrainCursor" "off"
>     SubSection     "Display"
>         Depth       24
>         Modes      "nvidia-auto-select"
>     EndSubSection

[szoupi@gmail.com]

thanks man!
your solution with xrandr commands worked for me to get the desire resolution but without nvdia-3xx drivers.

FIRST SOLUTION
Actually i used
OS: ubuntu gnome 16.04
card: nvidia geforce gt 730
drivers: X.org X server --nouveau display
output: vga
commands:

xrandr --newmode "1920x1080_60.00"  173.00  1920 2048 2248 2576  1080 1083 108$
xrandr --addmode VGA-1 "1920x1080_60.00"
xrandr --output VGA-1 --primary --mode 1920x1080_60.00 --pos 0x0 --rotate norm$

and added the tree above commads to /etc/rc.local

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

so when i logged in i managed to have the resolution 1920x1080 in my profile

2nd SOLUTION BETTER -- OUT OF THE BOX WITH DUAL MONITOR
using the hardware mention before along with two LG monitors
1st monitor --VGA only
2nd monitor -- VGA and HDMI

using only one vga to dual vga output adaptor
without using any xrandr commands
and with X.org X server --nouveau display
i had dual display out of the box.

Also i had the same result connecting
the 1st monitor directly with vga to vga cable
the 2nd monitor directyl with hdmi to hdmh cable

[pubalapoub]

thanks man!

Glad I could help for your 1st solution

I was not familiar with /etc/rc.local, so thanks for reminding its existence Could be really helpful one day.

I would have stuck to Nouveau if there was not a few games I wished to play with... Other than that, Nouveau did the job without problems.

[venezia2]

Based on what you have said I tried deleting the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf and the display became just normal. No need to reinstall the driver Thanks for the inspiring solution!