Updated nVidia driver today to v260.19.36 using the “easy way” which I have successfully used several times in the past. Install finished w/no problems.
Rebooted and one of my 2 monitors lights up and looks normal, I’m using it now, the other is dark. The Configure display settings (monitor preferences) in the menu bar tells me Monitor unknown.
No previous problems with dual-monitors, earlier nVidia drivers and 11.3.
Run nVidia X server settings utility and try to config. 2nd monitor. Utility shows both monitors but when I try to configure and save the config with both monitors the app hangs. Seems like I’m stuck with one (working fine) monitor at the moment.
Searching forums came up empty. Not sure how to proceed from here.
Tried both me and root. Both behave the same. Can now get the 2nd monitor to light up by selecting Twinview in the nVidia server setting utility, but the setting doesn’t “stick”. When I log off the 2nd monitor goes dark and I need to go through the settings in the utility again. Used to be saved in xorg.conf but that went away with 11.3. So did Sax2.
Monitor preferences shows “Unknown” for the monitor. Used to be, before the update today, Viewsonic VP2130. The nVidia utility does show 2 Viewsonic monitors.
You can still use a xorg.conf file it is just not normally setup and no sax2 means you have to do it by hand. I believe that the NVIDIA configure program writes a new xorg.conf that is why it has to be run as root.
Yeah - I noticed something similar - my laptop used to “remember” many configurations when I plugged in a monitor - it would recognize when a 1440 or 1920 resolution monitor was plugged in for the 2nd time. I can’t remember if that went away with 11.3, or when I switched to KDE4.5 on 11.3. Right now, I use the nVidia utility every time I plug in a monitor. I guess for me it’s not a huge deal, since this is a laptop and I don’t always have a monitor connected.
But, if you find out the reason why this is, I’m very interested in a fix too. Sorry I can’t help other than confirming the problem.
>
> gudewdl;2293890 Wrote:
>> Used to be saved in xorg.conf but that went away with 11.3. So did
>> Sax2.
>
> Yeah - I noticed something similar - my laptop used to “remember” many
> configurations when I plugged in a monitor - it would recognize when a
> 1440 or 1920 resolution monitor was plugged in for the 2nd time. I can’t
> remember if that went away with 11.3, or when I switched to KDE4.5 on
> 11.3. Right now, I use the nVidia utility every time I plug in a
> monitor. I guess for me it’s not a huge deal, since this is a laptop and
> I don’t always have a monitor connected.
>
> But, if you find out the reason why this is, I’m very interested in a
> fix too. Sorry I can’t help other than confirming the problem.
>
in order to for your nvidida settings to be “remembered,” you have to
start the config. thingy as root (“kdesu nvidia-settings”) and use the
button “Save to X Configuration File” after applying the desired settings.
this will create a new or modify an existing xorg.conf file. please note
that xorg.conf has been split into different parts these days, but last
time i tried, openSUSE still recognized an existing xorg.conf file.
Did the “Save to X Configuration File” as suggested. Seems OK now. Gnome not kde btw.
Funny thing is I recall updating the nVidia driver before while running 11.3 and I didn’t have to jump through these hoops. Both screens worked fine after the previous update. Don’t mind jumping (I need the exercise) but why now and not before I wonder?
> Did the “Save to X Configuration File” as suggested. Seems OK now.
> Gnome not kde btw.
good; i thought you’d mentioned kde somewhere, but obviously i was wrong.
> Funny thing is I recall updating the nVidia driver before while running
> 11.3 and I didn’t have to jump through these hoops. Both screens worked
> fine after the previous update. Don’t mind jumping (I need the
> exercise) but why now and not before I wonder?
perhaps the last time there was no change to your previous nvidia/xorg
configuration, but this time there is. to change xorg.conf you always have
to be root.
Not to belabor this, but the only thing that changed this time around was the driver version (same as before) everything else was the same - graphics card, monitors, etc.
And the file xorg.conf did not exist before I created it today and copied it to /etc/X11.
If you want to try manual editing … here’s the /etc/X11/xorg.conf I use for nvidia dual screen on Linux (only the relevant sections). You’ll have to change the text in red (dark red is less important) to match your monitors, graphic card and resolution. This xorg.conf actually include 3 layouts (you can have as many as you like). The first layout called “Dual” is the default. The two other layouts called respectively “Right” and “Left” are for single screen setups and allow you to start X either on right or left monitor by adding – - layout Right or – - layout Left to the X server options. I grayed out the code since you won’t actually need it.
Notice that this example uses a single graphic card with dual output (VGA/DVI). If you have 2 graphic cards, you need two device sections instead of one. Also notice that most people and automatic configurations use 2 device sections as well in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, even with a single graphic card.