External Monitor does'nt work after kernel update to "2.6.37.6-0.7-desktop"; FSC Lifebook E8410

For a few days I’ve updated my laptop via online update to kernel “2.6.37.6-0.7-desktop”.
I’m using the actual Gnome 2 but unfortunately since the update, the external monitor (hp zr24w) is found via yast:hwinfo but it is not available in the “gnome-display-properties”.
When I’m boot the laptop from a Live CD (Opensuse 11.4 Gnome, kernel 2.6.37.1-1.2-default) the external monitor is found correctly.

Laptop FSC E8410 with “Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller”

I like to solve this issue but I’m not sure if I should downgrade the kernel or wait to update for a new kernel or …
Thanks in advance, frank

Are you certain the problem is with the kernel update and not some other application updating ?

Did you try to manually display/drive the external monitor using variations of the xrandr command?

To do so, try something like this:

(1) with external monitor NOT plugged in, type as a regular user:


xrandr

and make name of what your monitor is called, and make note of what resolution/frequency your monitor is using. For example, lets say you get LVDS (as your laptop monitor name) and that it is using 1024x768 at 60 Hz . (your resolution will likely be higher, this is just an example).

(2) Then plug in your external monitor.

Then again type (as a regular user):


xrandr

and make note of what name your external monitor is called, and look for a resolution that is the same as what you had with no external monitor. Lets say you also see it called “VGA-0” and you also note a 1024x768 at 60 Hz resolution.

(3) then to clone your display as a regular user type:


xrandr --output LVDS --auto --output VGA-0 --auto --same-as LVDS

or if you wanted to display to the right you could type:


xrandr --output VGA-0 --auto --right-of LVDS

(4) and to stop the external monitor you could type (as a regular user):


xrandr --output VGA-0 --off

= = = = = = =

There is a guide here: Xorg RandR 1.2 - ThinkWiki and to get more help :


xrandr --help

or even better:


man xrandr

where if you scroll far enough in the ‘man’ page you will a number of documented examples.

If xrandr works then it is likely not the kernel but rather some other update that broke this.

at first, thanks a lot for the quick reply

It seems that the DVI connection is at least pat of the problem. I’ve started with “xrandr” plugged and unplugged, but in both cases VGA1 appears as disconnected. Then I’ve plugged the external monitor with a VGA cable, and it works with that change (???).

frank@idefix:~> xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1680 x 1050, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1680x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1680x1050      60.0*+
...
VGA1 connected 1920x1200+1680+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 546mm x 352mm
   1920x1200      60.0*+
...

Back to the first part of you answer: It’s of course also possible that another update piece and not the kernel is the root cause.

Again, thanks for help.
Do you know how can I try to find why the DVI seems to be problematic?

I do not know why nor do I KNOW how to find why.

You could look at the content of dmesg when you plug it in and out.

ie after you finish trying, type ‘dmesg’ and if that scrolls by too fast, redirect the output to a text file with ‘dmesg > dmesg-output.txt’ and open the text file and see what you can learn from the contents.

You could also look inside /var/log/Xorg.0.log to see if it has any hints.