Hello,
I am new to Linux and I have difficulties with getting my external monitor to work.
I have just installed opensuse 11.4, and everything works really great expect the external monitor.
During the installation the whole system worked, external monitor included. Nevertheless after the installation was completed , it start booting and than the after the booting screen, the monitor suddenly get black and only the laptop screen is working.
I guess it is a driver problem, but I am not sure on where to get started.
Please help,
Cheers,
Philippe
Hello,
I am new to Linux and I have difficulties with getting my external monitor to work.
I have just installed opensuse 11.4, and everything works really great expect the external monitor.
During the installation the whole system worked, external monitor included. Nevertheless after the installation was completed , it start booting and than the after the booting screen, the monitor suddenly get black and only the laptop screen is working.
I guess it is a driver problem, but I am not sure on where to get started.
Please help,
Cheers,
Philippe
Hello CRTLinx and welcome to the openSUSE forums. It would be helpful to know the following:
openSUSE version: 11.?, 32 or 64 Bit
Desktop Used: KDE or GNOME
Computer Make & Model
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) Make and Model (Intel/nVIDIA/AMD-ATI)
External Monitor Info: VGA or DVI or HDMI connection
As a short thing to try if this is KDE then open:
Menu / Personnel Settings / Hardware / Display & Monitor / Size & Orientation
If this does not show two monitors then the Multiple Monitors sections does not show anything.
Thank You,
I have a similar problem …
OpenSuse 11.4 32 bit – fresh install
Thinkpad T42 on a 2878 Dock/Port Replicator.
KDE
VGA Monitor
Note: The laptop screen remains lit and works properly in all cases listed below.
o The GRUB boot screen initially display’s on both the VGA and the laptop screens.
o Once the boot process begins the VGA goes blank.
o Once runlevel 5 is reached the VGA lights up again with the login screen.
o After login everything works normally under KDE on the VGA screen.
o When I press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to open a text session the VGA screen goes dark.
o If I create a new graphics session and toggle to it via Ctrl+Alt+F8 the VGA works fine.
o It seems that the graphic sessions work fine on both the VGA and laptop screens.
o The non-graphic sessions only work on the laptop screen.
I’ve run suse 9.2, 10.3, 11.1 and 11.2 (a fresh install each time – no upgrades) on this same model T42 Thinkpad and dock without incident. It seems that it is an issue only with 11.4
@clkennedy: Like the OP, you failed to supply the essential details (refer post #2). Graphics card chipset and driver information? Desktop environment?
I thought what I gave you was adequate. Here’s some more off the KDE sysinfo screen.
Display Info
Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
Model: Radeon LW
2D driver: radeon
3D driver: R100 classic (7.10)
Sorry, I missed your KDE declaration, (although the graphics card and driver details are important too). This behaviour is likely to be due to KMS (kernel mode setting) graphics drivers which were introduced with 11.3. I don’t have a docking station, but I do have a ThinPad Z60m (with ATI X300 chipset using the radeon driver), and access to an external monitor, so when I get a chance I will see if I can examine the behaviour you describe.
You might want to experiment with disabling KMS using the following steps
-
Try booting with the nomodeset kernel command line parameter (in /boot/grub/menu.lst). You can achieve this temporarily by typing ‘nomodeset’ at the grub menu prompt.
-
YaST>>System>>/etc/sysconfig Editor>>System>>Kernel>>NO_KMS_IN_INITRD and change it from ‘no’ to ‘yes’.
-
You may also need to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf, and uncomment the line (remove the ‘#’ character)
#Driver "radeon"
to explicitly cause the radeon driver to load. (You’ll need to edit this system file with root privileges).
I can’t guarantee that this will work, because I’ve not yet tried it myself. Docking stations add complexity to display detection with KMS, so if you can’t resolve it to your satisfaction, you should consider submitting a bug report to Novell and/or FreeDesktop Bugzilla
https://bugzilla.novell.com/index.cgi
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/
I typed in nomodeset as you suggested and it worked as it should with the boot log now displaying on the VGA screen as well as text based sessions initiated using Ctrl+Alt+Fn. I then added this to menu.lst as a grub boot option. It seems to work fine.
You had suggested a couple other things for a permanent fix.
o YaST>>System>>/etc/sysconfig Editor>>System>>Kernel>>NO_KMS_IN_INITRD and change it from ‘no’ to ‘yes’.
o You may also need to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf, and uncomment the line (remove the ‘#’ character)
Since it works well now, are theses other changes desirable or necessary?
Thanks 
I typed in nomodeset as you suggested and it worked as it should with the boot log now displaying on the VGA screen as well as text based sessions initiated using Ctrl+Alt+Fn. I then added this to menu.lst as a grub boot option. It seems to work fine.
Well done. (The other 2 steps will not be required).
Thank you so much for your help
Thanks again for your help but I think I spoke too soon with regard to it working properly …
All the problems I mentioned above were solved. However, one nasty little behavior cropped up after adding nomodeset – the computer would intermittently lock up tight – so much so that I couldn’t ping it from another computer. It would lock up when I tried to maximize an app from the task bar. It would not do this every time but every time it it did, the mouse was pointed at the taskbar.
I experimented with other desktops, different applications, running KDE in safe mode and the only commonality was that it locked up when I was in KDE and maximizing an app from the task bar and it would do so within 15-20 minutes of logging in.
I then removed nomodeset, rebooted, logged in and I’ve now been running for a couple of hours uneventfully.
I suggest you file a bug report (refer post #6).