why is linux always such a pain with video drivers?!?

[gsrcrxsi]

this is the second time this has happened to me. i switch out video cards, and all of the sudden the resolution cant be fixed. the first time it happened, i switched from a 7300GT to a 7200GS, they use the exact same drivers, but once you change cards the resolution ALWAYS defaulted to 800x600, reguardless of the previous settings. the only way i was able to fix it was to do a fresh install and let the monitor get auto detected. i dont know why it cant do it any other time.

well now its happened again. i switched from the 7200GS to a 9400GT. they use the same driver (i checked) then why does ubuntu **** a brick over the change? nothing ive tried has allowed me to get the monitor back to its native 1920x1080 res. this is a 42" plasma. best i can get is the 1680x1050, and thats only after unistalling and reinstalling the drivers. the drivers successfully install but it doesnt give me the option to go back to 1920x1080. if i try to force it it fails. it even says in the Nvidia X server settings that the native res of the TV is 1920x1080, yet only gives me the option to go to 1680x1050.

also on bootup my screen is kind of windowed to have about a 1" border, whereas before it was stretched all the way to the edges.

someone PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me restore my video settings. i would rather not do a fresh install again as i dont want to have to reconfigure everything again. any help is appreciated

thanks.

 

[Outcast_Aussie]

Reboot
Choose the SECOND option on the grub list (Recovery)
When it's done its thing you will get a graphic box... Choose bottom option... X server

Then choose boot as normal


The one little thing you NEVER have to do is re-install

It's just one of those little things you just DON'T do.

 

[gsrcrxsi]

already tried that and it didnt work.

in the process of reinstalling now...

 

[shuiends]

Did you by any chance3 actually check xorg.conf to make sure you had a line for 1920x1080?

 

[pharoer]

Please try to force the desired resolution again and paste the resulting /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Error messages are a wonderful thing

 

[gsrcrxsi]

too late. already reinstalled the OS and reinstalled drivers. everything works perfectly now and its back to its native res.

its just stupid that replacing a video card with a new one that uses the same drivers would break anything. this doesnt happen in windows.

and i didnt change my xorg.conf file. nothing should have changed. i only replaced the card. it was using the same xorg.conf file that it had before with the old card runnig at the same res

 

[Neuromancer]

LOL

You think that is bad try running unix.

You have the ethernet cable unplugged and you cant boot to X cause of errors.

Its all fixable via commandline of course. But it is why when you have a nix rig you have to have a second PC (nix or windows)? Because at some point, you are going to have to ask why your machine doesnt XXXX. (It happens in Windows too.. but windows has a repair install option...and the learning curve is so much shorter that even without that you can usually get back online to find out what hte problem is...)

 

[Enablingwolf]

Linux is no harder to repair if you know it is laid out. What makes it easier to repair. You can dd partitions. Depending how you laid out the tables. No disc really needed.


One neat thing that Linux can do. Which I wished MS did. Is being able to leave the home folder intact. In case you just say screw it. It is faster to reload this than figure out a fix. When you do reload, Most to all of your desktop settings are just like you left them. Which saves a lot of time.

If you take it even further. You can have a partition for your installed programs. Then when you reinstall. You do not have to reinstall everything.

If we take it even farther than that.. You can save other select partitions. Then if one thing goes crazy. You have less downtime. Just dd the partition over. That hour of reinstall and get updates. Becomes the exact speed tranfer times of the drives involved. Oh and a reboot to make sure.


Now for xorg. All you really have to do is purge the driver. Wipe the xorg file clean and then rebuild it. Then reinstall the driver. Make sure the xorg rebuilds to the new driver. .. and walla! All set.

A hint for next time..

Make sure your /home is a seperate partition. Back up any name_config.backup files you edit for your specific needs in a named folder here.. And keep them in that home folder. I know I have a few config files that I keep in my /home. If and when I reload. I just cp them in place.
The time is reduced if you meess up or Linux does something you rather would reload than make it school of Linux google adventure.


If your inerested in the specifics or don't unsderstand. Chime in, I or most Linux users would be glad to help. Since it is partially how you plan ahead for issues.

Here is a very nice article to understand how Linux is laid out.... And actually mentions which ones you might want to make a partition for. Awesome possum stuff.

http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/linuxdir.html

 

[Zerix01]

The xfix thing and change your settings may work if you are using the Nvidia restricted driver installed from Ubuntu. But if you manually installed the driver from Nvidia directly then you might just have neede to re-install it to detect the new card and rebuild your xorg.conf file. I've messed up my xserver before and have had to do this.

On another note I have changed out video cards before and had everything detected correctly with the right resolution in Linux. I have also done this with Windows and had to deal with a 640x480 screen until I not only re-installed the driver but first made sure all traces of the old driver have been removed. It goes both ways.

 

[MRD]

Not sure... I've never had a problem yet with nvidia. Then again, that's in Gentoo. I seem to remember once having Ubuntu not handle video drivers well, and I just wrote my own xorg.conf and then it worked.

 

[Aynjell]

The reason it's such a pain is because the kernel is not catered to closed source drivers at all. NVidia and ATI have released a middle ware for thier closed driver and the kernel, which is open source. It has to be specifically patched by joe bloe or ubuntu guy to get it working.

Switch to gentoo, if you can figure out how in the hell to install drivers in the first place, you'll never have issues with them again. Switch back to ubuntu and you'll wonder how in the hellto fix **** again because it's completely different.

Post /etc/X11/xorg.conf (I think that's the path, I don't run linux anymore, but I can still fix the file for you)

 

[gsrcrxsi]

i tried reinstalling the drivers and it didnt work. closest thing it gave me was 1680x1050. for whatever reason it just refused to do the nativ res. and it even recognized that 1920x1080 was native and it still wouldnt do it. lol. but its all good now. im back up and running.