How to change display resolution? (GNOME,x11) "Unknown Display", 64 bit. nVidia license loop

English Hardware
1

Hello:
The laptop is a Dell Latitude E6410. The BIOS shows an NVIDIA NVS 3100M. The Panel Type is shown in the BIOS as 14" Wide XGA+ with a Native Resolution of 1440 x 900. OS is Leap 15.0, 64 bit.

I installed openSUSE Leap 15.0 on this Laptop 10 days ago and am extremely happy with it, because it seems to be very stable and solid. I have an issue with the video, because it is set to 640x480 (VGA resolution) and things are huge. That makes it very easy on my eyes, but very hard for Navigation. My goal is to simply change the resolution, to 800x600 or 1024x768 and not risk upsetting the stability of the machine.

If someone can give me one or more commands, to use in a terminal, to change the Resolution, I will be very grateful. From searching and reading that I have done, I suspect it may require multiple steps and not be obvious for a Newbie.

Or, if someone can tell me which file(s) I need to Edit and what I need to change in the current settings, to go from 640x480 to 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768, I will be very grateful.

Note: If you need additional data, please tell me which command(s) I should use in a Terminal and I will run those commands and get the additional information you need, so you can help me.

Thank you, in advance, for your time and help, which I greatly appreciate!

unknown display
Resolution is 640 x 480

lanny@linux-h3lc:~> xrandr
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 640 x 480, maximum 640 x 480
default connected primary 640x480+0+0 0mm x 0mm
640x480 73.00*
lanny@linux-h3lc:~>

[sudo] password for root:
default-displaymanager - auto mode
link best version is /usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/gdm
link currently points to /usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/gdm
link default-displaymanager is /usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/default-displaymanager
/usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/console - priority 5
/usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/gdm - priority 25
/usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/lightdm - priority 15
/usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/xdm - priority 10

sudo zypper addrepo --refresh http://http.download.nvidia.com/opensuse/leap/15.0/ NVIDIA

sudo zypper install-new-recommends

Note: After running the 2nd command above, when I try to accept the nVidia license, it seems to be in a loop and not accepting a “y” or a “yes” response from me and I get this error message:

"Do you agree with the terms of the license? [yes/no] (no):
Aborting installation due to user disagreement with nvidia-glG03 package license.
lanny@linux-h3lc:~>

2

Hi and welcome to the Forum :slight_smile:
I’m guessing this is dual graphics Intel/Nvidia?


/sbin/lspci -nnk | egrep -A3 "VGA|Display|3D"

If so then you need to look at Bumblebee for this system…

https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_Bumblebee

3

Hello malcolmlewis and thank you for your welcome and your response! Much appreciated!

The first command you gave me:
/sbin/lspci -nnk
produced the following result:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GT218M [NVS 3100M] [10de:0a6c] (rev a2)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:040a]
Kernel modules: nouveau

Note: I do not see Intel Onboard Video with that command. For Audio, I see the Intel Audio and also the nVidia Audio.

For the 2nd command:
egrep -A3 “VGA|Display|3D”

When I enter all of that line, it goes from a blinking Black cursor to a Stationary Black cursor. There is no other output. Probably I am not entering that correctly?

Note: There may be some information regarding Leap 15.0 and nVIDIA on the link you gave me about Bumblebee that may provide some clues to what is going on. I will try to study the information on that page and to understand it.

Also: I restarted the Laptop and entered the BIOS Setup again. For Video it only shows the NVIDIA. If I assume, I would assume that it also has Integrated On-Board Intel Graphics, but I try not to assume.

I ran the first command you gave me, again, and I see the Intel Audio, but I do not see Intel Video with that command. It does not show a “Kernel Driver in Use” for the NVIDIA graphics.

Question: Do you have any other commands you would like me to try and/or suggestions about how I can get the NVIDIA Drivers installed?

Thank you again, for your time and your help! Much appreciated!

4

Hi
It’s all one command :wink: Can you try again without splitting?

The Nvidia driver you need is 340.107 for that card.

If it’s only one card, then have a read here;
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_drivers

5

I have an older card that had the same problem - I choose not to install anything but to force linux to set the video mode for me.

you find the answer with cvt - here it is for 1920 by 1200 display and put it in the script to force the video. What you have to change and where to get it is in red.

> cvt -v 1920 1200
# 1920x1200 59.88 Hz (CVT 2.30MA) hsync: 74.56 kHz; pclk: 193.25 MHz
Modeline "1920x1200_60.00"  193.25  1920 2056 2256 2592  1200 1203 1209 1245 -hsync +vsync
>

you find the name of your video with the xrandr command. The last entry is added by the next video.sh script it is the resolution I want - you can add as many as you want.

> xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1200, maximum 16384 x 16384
HDMI-0 disconnected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA-0 connected 1920x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1280x1024     60.00  
   1024x768      60.00  
   800x600       60.32    56.25  
   848x480       60.00  
   640x480       59.94  
   1920x1200_60.00  59.88* 
>

Then you tell the video driver to set the options for your machine - I have added mine to a startup script that does this for me at login time. I call mine video.sh VGA-0 is what the system calls my video - this might be different on your computer - the output option set the screen to that resolution.

> cat video.sh
/usr/bin/xrandr --newmode "1920x1200_60.00"  193.25  1920 2056 2256 2592  1200 1203 1209 1245 -hsync +vsync
/usr/bin/xrandr --addmode VGA-0 1920x1200_60.00 
/usr/bin/xrandr --output VGA-0 --mode 1920x1200_60.00
6

Was it always stuck in 640x480, even during installation, or did that mode only begin after installing the proprietary NVidia driver? If all you want is 800x600 or 1024x768 (both of which produce distortion on a WXGA screen), then there should be no need for proprietary software. To switch back, the uninstallation instructions that accompanied the installation instructions for the installed NVidia driver must be followed precisely.

My GT218 (not GT218M; not laptop) supports all my own displays up to 2560x1440 without issue, running exclusively on the default FOSS DDX (modesetting), on all supported openSUSE versions, no proprietary driver needed.

7

NOTE: I was away and apologize for the delay in this response. I had made one other change, because I discovered that I could not hear the Audio when watching Facebook Videos. I installed a FFMPEG (?) package which also installed some other packages. That seems to have improved the Resolution…

Malcolm: I copied and pasted this into a Terminal: egrep -A3 “VGA|Display|3D” The result of that, was a blinking Black cursor. There was no other output from that command.

I will read the information about the nVidia Drivers.

Thank you! Lanny

8

I’ve made some progress this morning, with the information provided in the above replies. Some difficulties, because of the resolution not permitting me to see all of the places where I am supposed to be able to click.

I believe at this time that I have the nVidia Drivers installed and that is recognized in Yast.

I need to learn how to find the Settings for the nVidia card now, and hopefully when I can get to them, I can see how to change the Resolution from VGA to something that doesn’t take up the entire display and more.

I will continue reading the responses here and the online information.

Thank you for the responses. Much appreciated!

9

Below on 20 June 2019:

linux-h3lc:~ # lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT218M [NVS 3100M] (rev a2)
linux-h3lc:~ #

linux-h3lc:~ # xrandr -q
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 640 x 480, maximum 640 x 480
default connected primary 640x480+0+0 0mm x 0mm
640x480 73.00*

partial results of /sbin/lspci -nnk command:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GT218M [NVS 3100M] [10de:0a6c] (rev a2)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:040a]
Kernel modules: nouveau

NOTE that no Driver is shown. Also, note that I had selected “nouveau”.

I do not remember it being 640 x 480 during the installation, but when the machine was rebooted after the installation finished, it came up at 640 x 480 with “unknown display”. I can’t remember if there was a Video issue during the Installation process.

Yesterday, after installing a new CMOS Battery in my Backup laptop, a Dell Latitude E6400, which has Onboard Intel Graphics, but doesn’t have the horsepower this Latitude E6410 has, I installed openSUSE 15.0 Leap, with GNOME and the Default settings. The Video came up at 1280 x 800 or something like that. It has other issues (sluggish, which may be because I need to buy a new Mouse for it) and the Audio on YouTube Videos is distorted, etc.

Question: Would it be better for me to Reinstall openSUSE 15.0 Leap 15.0 (GNOME Desktop) but with different settings for the Kernel and Video Driver? If so, I have the Leap 15.0 DVD and can do that. Please advise any Settings you suggest that I use, at the beginning of the installation. This Laptop does not seem to have Onboard Intel Graphics. If it does, that isn’t reflected in the BIOS settings. THANK YOU

10

You didn’t do what malcomlewis asked. Egrep as you pasted is waiting on further input so that it can proceed. His suggestion was:

/sbin/lspci -nnk | egrep -A3 "VGA|Display|3D"

Please in an X terminal (e.g. gnome-terminal):

sudo zypper in inxi
inxi -Gxx
susepaste -n LannyM -e 10000 /var/log/Xorg.0.log

and paste here using code tags the output from inxi, plus the URL provided by susepaste.

11

Follow-on: Several days ago, before I could check this thread, to see the replies about whether or not I should do a “clean install” and start over, I was notified there were Updates for 36 Packages. After I installed those Updates, things seemed to work properly. When I shutdown the laptop, I could see the nVidia Splash Screen. The next time I powered up, I could see the nVidia Splash Screen, but after logging in with my User Password, it didn’t get to the GNOME Desktop. I did end up doing a “clean install”. Now, I will go thru the commands you’ve given me previously and am starting over with the issue of the Video Resolution. At this time, when Booting or Shutting Down, I do not see the nVidia Splash Screen and still have the huge (VGA) Display Resolution. I will run the commands that were recommended above, and post the results here, ASAP. I appreciate your time and your help! openSUSE LEAP 15.0 continues to impress me with the Stability on this Dell Latitude E6410 laptop. It seems to be “rock solid”.

12

Follow-on: When I did the Fresh/Clean install, before the reinstallation began, I set the parameters to 1024 x 768 for the Video and for Safe Kernel. I suspect that only applied during the installation. Commands I ran on 25 June 2019:

lanny@linux-vrph:~> xrandr
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 640 x 480, maximum 640 x 480
default connected primary 640x480+0+0 0mm x 0mm
640x480 73.00*

linux-vrph:~ # /sbin/lspci -nnk | egrep -A3 “VGA|Display|3D”
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GT218M [NVS 3100M] [10de:0a6c] (rev a2)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:040a]
Kernel modules: nouveau
01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation High Definition Audio Controller [10de:0be3] (rev a1)

linux-vrph:~ # /sbin/lspci -nnk
(only including the responses that seem relevant to this issue)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GT218M [NVS 3100M] [10de:0a6c] (rev a2)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:040a]
Kernel modules: nouveau
01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation High Definition Audio Controller [10de:0be3] (rev a1)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:040a]
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel

linux-vrph:~ # xrandr -q
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 640 x 480, maximum 640 x 480
default connected primary 640x480+0+0 0mm x 0mm
640x480 73.00*

linux-vrph:~ # /sbin/lspci -nnk | egrep -A3 “VGA|Display|3D”
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GT218M [NVS 3100M] [10de:0a6c] (rev a2)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:040a]
Kernel modules: nouveau
01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation High Definition Audio Controller [10de:0be3] (rev a1)
linux-vrph:~ #

linux-vrph:~ # zypper in inxi
Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…
Resolving package dependencies…

The following NEW package is going to be installed:
inxi

1 new package to install.
Overall download size: 199.8 KiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the
operation, additional 756.4 KiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/…? shows all options] (y): y
Retrieving package inxi-2.3.40-lp150.1.3.noarch
(1/1), 199.8 KiB (756.4 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: inxi-2.3.40-lp150.1.3.noarch.rpm …[done (253.4 KiB/s)]
Checking for file conflicts: …[done]
(1/1) Installing: inxi-2.3.40-lp150.1.3.noarch …[done]
linux-vrph:~ #

linux-vrph:~ # inxi -Gxx
Resuming in non X mode: glxinfo not found. For package install advice run: inxi --recommends
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GT218M [NVS 3100M]
bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0a6c
Display Server: X.org 1.19.6 driver: N/A
tty size: 69x20 Advanced Data: N/A for root

linux-vrph:~ #linux-vrph:~ # susepaste -n LannyM -e 10000 /var/log/Xorg.0.log

The command above ends with a solid Black cursor in the terminal. In /var/log I don’t see anything for Xorg. Is that a Hidden file or folder?

13

Inxi is an information collection and reporting script, nothing more.

This is reporting that one of the tools inxi uses is not installed, glxinfo. You can fix this thus:

sudo zypper in Mesa-demo-x

For package install advice run: inxi --recommends
Running inxi --recommends as it suggests would report any other collection tools that might be missing.

Display Server: X.org 1.19.6 driver: N/A
The driver information is missing, due to the above. :frowning:

tty size: 69x20 Advanced Data: N/A for root
Other possibly helpful information is missing.

linux-vrph:~ #linux-vrph:~ # susepaste -n LannyM -e 10000 /var/log/Xorg.0.log

The command above ends with a solid Black cursor in the terminal. In /var/log I don’t see anything for Xorg. Is that a Hidden file or folder?
Not doing anything more means the file to be pasted does not exist - the susepaste command is waiting for input. This is one of the apparent diagnostic shortcomings of using Gnome and/or Wayland. Normally openSUSE’s Xorg invocations copy ~/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log , if it exists, to /var/log/. Either it does not exist, or the expected copy process has failed. If ~/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log exists, please rerun the susepaste command substituting it for /var/log/Xorg.0.log. If it does not, please try this:

journalctl -b /usr/bin/Xorg

If something more than

– No Entries –
results, please do:

journalctl -b /usr/bin/Xorg | susepaste -n LannyM -e 10000

I did end up doing a “clean install”. Now, I will go thru the commands you’ve given me previously and am starting over with the issue of the Video Resolution. At this time, when Booting or Shutting Down, I do not see the nVidia Splash Screen and still have the huge (VGA) Display Resolution.
Were you again stuck in 640x480 on first boot after installation, before installing the proprietary software? Your GT218M should easily do 1024x768 on a 1440x900 display purely using software from the 15.0 installation media.