11.3: Problem booting on DELL laptop with external screen attached to VGA plug

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Could somebody give a hint regarding the following issue:

  1. When booting standalone (no extra display) everything works just fine
  2. After plugging in an external display on VGA slot, the boot process hangs during xdm start

Config:
OpenSuse 11.3
KDE environment

DELL Latitude e6510 with 8G of RAM
Graphic card is DDR3 NVIDIA® NVS 3100M 512 Mo

Many thanks,

François

#2

It is worth examining /var/log/Xorg.0.log for any errors or relevant messages (with monitor plugged in at boot). Maybe upload to pastebin and post the link here.

  1. Are you using nvidia or nouveau driver?

  2. If using the nvidia driver, have you tried configuring via the ‘nvidia-settings’ utility? You will need to run this with root privileges like this

kdesu nvidia-settings

If using Gnome

gnomesu nvidia-settings

This might be useful to you:

http://www.brighthub.com/computing/linux/articles/31614.aspx

#3

Many thanks Deano,

First let me apologize: this line of DELL Latitude laptop comes with either Nvidia or Intel graphic cards. After double-checking mine is using an Intel HD Graphics card.

Still, following your advice I wanted to check the log files. To my surprise, both kdm.log and Xorg.0.log in /var/log are unchanged when the second screen is connected !?

Another information that might be of help: After a successfull login with the second screen disconnected, it is then possible to connect the monitor to VGA and use both display using krandrtray. Maybe the X server is not the bad guy?

  • What other log file can I use to track down where the boot is hanging up?

Cheers,

François

#4

deleted - question answered in previous post.

#5

What about /home/userid/.xsession-errors?

Also, do you have to setup something in your Dell bios for the switch to external screen?

And ina later post oldcpu recommended “nomodeset” and I say maybe vga=0x314 to the boot process.

#6

Thanks tararpharazon.

Let me answer your questions in sequence:

  1. The problem occurs before kdm login: what userid should be used?

  2. Nothing has been changed to the DELL BIOS setup coming from manufacturing.

  3. Indeed, those options help to get kdm login and to log in successfully. Here is a summary of combinations that work and those not:

  • default options: black screen, no kdm login
  • options include “vga=0x134”: black screen, no kdm login
  • options include “nomodeset”: successfull kdm log in
  • options include “nomodeset vga=0x134”: successfull kdm log in

It looks like nomodeset is sufficient. Nevertheless, after successfull log in with nomodeset option, krandrtray does not allow to activate the second screen nor to change the laptop screen definition.

I’ll now check the “later post” from oldcpu.

Cheers,

François

#7

What does the ‘xrandr’ command report (with external monitor plugged in)?

#8

Great news glad you’re getting in with the external monitor.
I’m not familiar with krandrtray, so, I leave that for KDE users

I suggested looking at the BIOS to see if there was an unchecked option to tell the laptop you’re using an external screen vs. the internal screen.

#9

Here are the various xrandr ouput:

  • using nomodeset:
    [INDENT]Screen 0: minimum 1024 x 768, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768
    default connected 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
    1024x768 76.0*[/INDENT]
  • using default boot command with external display disconnected:
    [INDENT]Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1600 x 900, maximum 8192 x 8192
    VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    DP1 connected 1600x900+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 194mm
    1600x900 60.0*+ 40.0
    HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    DP2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    HDMI2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    HDMI3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    DP3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    DP4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)[/INDENT]
  • using default boot command and then plugging in the external screen:
    [INDENT]Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1600 x 900, maximum 8192 x 8192
    VGA1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    1280x1024 60.0 + 75.0 60.0
    1400x1050 60.0 60.0
    1440x900 75.0 59.9
    1280x960 60.0
    1360x768 60.0
    1280x800 74.9 59.8
    1152x864 75.0
    1280x768 74.9 59.9
    1024x768 75.1 75.0 70.1 60.0
    832x624 74.6
    800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
    848x480 60.0
    640x480 75.0 72.8 72.8 72.8 75.0 66.7 60.0 59.9 59.9
    720x400 70.1
    DP1 connected 1600x900+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 194mm
    1600x900 60.0*+ 40.0
    HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    DP2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    HDMI2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    HDMI3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    DP3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    DP4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)[/INDENT]

Not sure where to go from here after reading many oldcpu posts (many thanks for this comprehensive compendium!). Could any one point me to some documentation regarding KMS? I did not find much usefull links regarding “OpenSuse KMS” search…

On another forum, I found folks using boot options such as “i915.modeset=1” or “splash=silent”. Will investigate in that direction.

Later,

François

#10

Four .xsession-errors files have been posted on pastebin.com:

#11

This might be worth a try: Create a basic xorg.conf file with both displays (laptop display and monitor) defined, as explained here:

Intel Linux Graphics: Dual Head Setup How To

#12

This task is now in progress. Thanks to past experience with OpenSuse 11.1 and oldcpu’s Practical Theory post that should not be too painful.

I do recall from Xorg.conf manual that it is possible to test a configuration before moving it to /etc/X11/xorg.conf by entering “Xorg -config <new config file>”. I recall, in the no so unlikely event that the configuration fails, there exists a key combination that either kill the X server or comes back to run level 3:

  • Who does remember this shortcut?

Many thanks,

François