[i945] Second display not enabled with "intel" video driver

You should be able to enable it by running the following command in the terminal:
    xrandr --output VGA --auto

If a monitor is attached, it should enable it. If one isn't attached, it should disable it again. I guess what is needed here is some daemon to perform the appropriate xrandr commands in response to the key presses.

Is this what I am running into? When I install gutsy, either the alternate installer or the graphical installer, it gets to the point where it's installing the packages, and all of a sudden, goes into a "colored and gray blocks" mode. Switching between terminals, I can see it working, and it will install ok, but it's all in these blocks, showing that something is wrong with the video. You can kind of tell what's going on, based on experience (i.e., you can see that it's proceeding line by line), and by hitting enter when you think it should be at the finishing point, it ejects the cd, etc., and on reboot it's fine. Then later xserver crashes on logout (a different bug). Chipset is Intel 915GM...

Oops, that must not be the right bug, sorry, missed that it was for a second terminal. I thought it meant when it switched to another terminal internally during install. Should this be a separate bug?

I had the same problem you are experiencing, I guess it was a bug in the console switching code, however it seems to me that it has been solved in recent updates. What version of gutsy are you using to install it?

Dan: that has been fixed.

Vincenzo: do you still see the original issue with uptodate gutsy?

Unfortunately my power charger is broken and I am really busy, so I don't have the time to think about that. I am using another laptop in the meantime, so can't provide additional information. Please don't close the bug, just leave it in incomplete status, I will provide required info as soon as possible.

Hi Vincenzo, just checking back in - it's been 3 months, are you still interested in this bug?

Bryce, sorry for delayed reply. Yes, I am still interested. I completely forgot about the issue until a couple of weeks ago. With fully up-to-date gutsy, I had to do a presentation and my vga out didn't work at all. Then I found on the web to use

        Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO" # "COMPOSITE"

in my "Screen" section in /etc/X11/xorg.conf

This worked on my two vga monitor (one analog and one digital) but DIDN'T work on the projector, even though I changed resolution to the usual 1024x768 and the frequency reported by the screen resolution properties was 50 hz (but let me doubt about that :-)) Hence, this bug is still present in gutsy and was a bad publicity for ubuntu at the meeting we had (my laptop always worked on that projector until feisty).

Regarding hardy, if I press the key for switching to VGA output on my laptop (with correct resolution) the only thing that happens is that I see gtk widgets getting back to the default gtk theme for a moment, and then to the "human" one. This is quite strange, seems like the gnome-settings-daemon has been restarted.

In any case, fiddling up with the new tools that were introduced in hardy, I succeded in having a vga out, but at some strange frequencies that my external monitor cannot handle... it keeps switching settings (I hear it clicking) and sometimes for a moment it displays garbled output.

I have now the power charger and the time to debug the issue a little more so feel free to ask more information. I am running hardy nowadays so my system is up-to-date for testing.

Hi Vincenzo,

Thanks for getting back to me - and sorry to have not replied sooner!

You may have noticed that there is a new Xrandr GUI, which can prove helpful in setting up projectors and secondary (cloned) monitors. I've been testing projector support on -intel the past month or two, and while there are still some glitches, it more or less works. I'd be very interested in hearing your findings of it.

I've also been pumping in a ton of bug fix patches to -intel, and while the issues you describe don't sound identical to ones we've addressed, it's possible yours got fixed in the process. So re-testing would be a big help.

Some of the test data that is worth attaching to this report would be your Xorg.0.log, the output of `xrandr`, and your /etc/X11/xorg.conf. A photo of the screen showing "garbling" can also be helpful - some of the screen corruption modes will be immediately recognizable by sight, but prove difficult to describe in words. What I've done in testing is just cycle through all listed resolutions and note down particular ones that have problems.

Thanks Bryce for your reply. For now a quick update, I will then report more tomorrow or on sunday, since I have a deadline tomorrow morning: I installed fresh hardy beta, it is up-to-date. The new gui for resolution is pretty cool. However, I personally found no way to set up the second display, it just keeps powering on and off (seems like it is protecting itself from damage). However, second monitor is autodetected correctly and that was a positive surprise to me.

I now have attached an LCD panel to my vga out. In the new resolution tool, after clicking on "detect displays", it does NOT show the second display, however when I click in the preview area showing the monitors layout, the new screen suddenly is drawn.

There, I enabled it selecting its native resolution (1280x1024) and clicked on "apply". The external monitor was not turned on, and the laptop lcd disappeared from the preview in the resolution tool. My panels have changed their position (they are reflecting a 1280x1024 display) but the desktop remained at its original resolution, 1400x1050. I attach a screenshot of the resolution applet after clicking "apply", and of my desktop (however, the top panel was not captured - I don't know why) after setting 1280x1024.

Then, I logged out and in, and tried to put my resolution back. I attach the result, which is a desktop with a rectangle (i suspect of the old size) working, and the rest black. However notice that the black area has been captured by the gnome screenshot tool.

If I press my vga-out switch, the panels resize and move to match the resolution of the second display. However, the desktop and the windows are NOT resized. If I press it again, everything comes back to normal. I attach a screenshot of this too.

 I also attach my xserver configuration, out-of-the-box with hardy, and my x server log. The external LCD was never turned on, and it does not turn on with xrandr --output --auto.

I forgot to add the output of Xrandr. Everything seems ok as you can see, but the CRT monitor reports that frequencies are out of range. I paste both sony crt and acer lcd output.

Sony CRT:
==========================

vincenzo@frattaglia:~$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1400 x 1050, maximum 1400 x 1400
VGA connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 312mm x 234mm
   1024x768 85.0*+ 84.9 75.1 70.1 60.0 43.5
   1280x1024 74.9 75.0
   1280x960 74.9
   1152x864 84.8 75.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 84.9 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 84.6 75.0 72.8 66.7 60.0
   720x400 87.8 70.1
LVDS connected 1400x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1400x1050 60.1*+ 85.3 74.8 70.0 60.0
   1280x1024 85.0 75.0 60.0
   1280x960 85.0 60.0
   1280x800 60.0
   1152x864 85.1 75.0
   1280x768 60.0
   1152x768 54.8
   1024x768 85.0 75.0 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 85.1 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 85.0 72.8 75.0 59.9
   720x400 85.0
   640x400 85.1
   640x350 85.1
TMDS-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
TV disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
vincenzo@frattaglia:~$

ACER LCD
========================

vincenzo@frattaglia:~$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1400 x 1050, maximum 1400 x 1400
VGA connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 337mm x 270mm
   1280x1024 60.0 + 75.0 59.9
   1280x960 59.9
   1152x864 74.8
   1024x768 75.1 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 75.0 72.8 66.7 60.0
   720x400 70.1
LVDS connected 1400x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1400x1050 60.1*+ 85.3 74.8 70.0 60.0
   1280x1024 85.0 75.0 60.0
   1280x960 85.0 60.0
   1280x800 60.0
   1152x864 85.1 75.0
   1280x768 60.0
   1152x768 54.8
   1024x768 85.0 75.0 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 85.1 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 85.0 72.8 75.0 59.9
   720x400 85.0
   640x400 85.1
   640x350 85.1
TMDS-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
TV disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Same thing happens to me.
With i810 drivers everything works. Even the fn-F5 key cycles between LCD, CRT, LCD+CRT...

with intel driver xrandr reports VGA monitor connected (When I connect it), and with the same resolution and position that the LCD one, but the external monitor doesn't wake up.
In the debugged logs I can see that the Samsung monitor or an external EPSON projector is detected and the EDID chat is done. But I have no signal.

I can turn off the LCD and it works. I can turn it on by typing blindly, and it works, but when I change any VGA output setting, even when xrandr reports the settings has been applied, nothing happens.

I think the problem could be the VGA power saving option that keeps enabled.
Anyone knows how can I interact directly with VGA card energy saving settings.

I also have some stange problems with the intel driver and external output.

It all started the other day when I tried to make GDM show in a higher resolution. I tried doing "xrandr ---output LDMS --auto --output TDMS-1 --auto" in the end of /etc/gdm/Init/Default. This seemed to work fine, restarted, resolution was correct on both monitors, pulled out the external screen, restarted, everything seemed to work fine. Then came the choke - putting back the external screen and restarting resulted in picture on the laptop screen only. Since then I revoked the oneliner and tested again, but the problems now seem to be permanent, I can't get display on my external monitor back.

I ran xrandr and only got

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 800, maximum 1280 x 1280
VGA disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 261mm x 163mm
   1280x800 59.9*+ 60.0
   1280x768 60.0
   1024x768 60.0
   800x600 60.3
   640x480 59.9
TV disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

That is, no TDMS-1 detected at all!

I'm really at a blank here....

Oh by the way, If you think this i separate bug please feel free to open a new one.

Bryce: ping :)

@Vincenzo, initially this sounded like another bug, but looking at the logs and screenshots it's clearly something different.

The next step here will be to test against the upstream git-version driver and verify the problem still occurs there, and then report the issue upstream. If you can build the driver on your own and verify it occurs there too, then it can be forwarded upstream. If not, now that 8.04.1 is out I will be producing debs of the git-version of the driver within a week or so.

@ea2973929, what you describe sounds like it is unrelated to Vincenzo's. Please refer to http://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Reporting and report a new bug.

Bryce: I finally found time to test.

I tested again with freshly installed, and upgraded, hardy, and with intrepid. The bug and the symptoms remain. In intrepid, the GUI configuration tool for screens is not working anymore and does not detects displays.

Now I built git version of the drivers, and installed it. The difference is that now the external CRT/LCD display is not even detected by xrandr (it says "VGA disconnected").

[Please attach files individually, not in tarballs, as it makes it harder to link to them when upstreaming bug reports.]

Hi Vincenzo, I've forwarded the bug upstream here: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16702

Please subscribe to the upstream bug there in case they need further info from you or have things for you to test.

Fixed my VGA problem upgrading to a backport 2.3.2-2ubuntu3
Just downloaded the deb src from intrepid, compiled and installed in hardy fixed my problem enabling VGA out on my Toshiba A10S100 notebook

I tried the same: downloaded xserver-xorg-video-intel sources and rebuilt version 2.3.2 from a hardy live usb, but nothing changed, and the bug is still there.

I resolved this Issue was resolved by updating xserver-xorg-video-intel to latest from xorg-edgers starting a session in gnome-failsafe.

Please provide a update on the progress towards a fix on this issue, (If possible).

Have a blessed day,

Carl

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Also affects Ubuntu 12.04:

I have a Intel GM965 integrated video card and SVGA out is not working. It does work with 10.04, all subsequent versions it no longer works.

The TV is detected, I can see the screen flicker while it is being detected, and I can move the mouse to it, but the TV screen is black.

stefan@stefan-Extensa-5220:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary) (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (secondary) (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA Controller [IDE mode] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
04:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01)
0f:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
0f:06.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
0f:06.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)
0f:06.3 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller

stefan@stefan-Extensa-5220:~$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2080 x 800, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 331mm x 207mm
1280x800 60.0*+
1024x768 60.0
800x600 60.3 56.2
640x480 59.9
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
TV1 connected 800x600+1280+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
848x480 30.0 +
640x480 30.0 +
1024x768 30.0
800x600 30.0*

Stefan

Since this bug is still an issue in Precis AND multiple people are affected,
I will marked confirmed.

Thank you!

If anyone is still reproducing this problem, please post a dmesg and /var/log/Xorg.0.log to the upstream bug report, and an explanation of what you're experiencing.

(Or, post it here to this bug in launchpad by just replying to this email, and a triager can copy the info up to the upstream bug.)

Issue still present in 12.04. Attached dmesg and xorg.0.log

Problem is that when I connect SVGA-out cable to laptop and TV, the screen stays black. I can see it flicker when it tries to detect it, the system can see the tv but there is no image on the TV.

(tv is detected as 848x480)

and xorg.0.log attached

Hi Raylene, thanks for indicating you are reproducing this problem back in June. A few months have passed (and several kernel updates) since then; are you still seeing the bug in precise?

If at all possible, I'd encourage you to join the discussion on the upstream bug report for this issue:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16702

Hi Bryce,

In Precise the issue seems to be resolved, as well as in Quantal. I can
attach my TV through my S-Video cable, and it works excellent. I do not
have to reboot anymore, it works right away!

Best regards

On 12-10-22 03:06 PM, Bryce Harrington wrote:
> Hi Raylene, thanks for indicating you are reproducing this problem back
> in June. A few months have passed (and several kernel updates) since
> then; are you still seeing the bug in precise?
>
> If at all possible, I'd encourage you to join the discussion on the upstream bug report for this issue:
> https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16702
>
> ** Changed in: xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>
> ** Changed in: xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu Hardy)
> Status: Confirmed => Won't Fix
>

I faced this problem in Toshiba Dynabook SS RX1 SE120e/2W notebook

External Display works only when connected at the boot time and the same External Display if connected after boot, there is no Display at all. The Display is detected with all modes properly by there is nothing on the Screen.