Triple monitor setup: x crashes when moving to the second graphics card (third monitor)

English Hardware
#1

This is a triple-monitor setup with two video cards, where the mouse pointer gets “stuck” if it tries to cross from one video card to the next one. It worked correctly in openSUSE 11.2 and doesn’t work in openSUSE 11.3 with the same xorg.conf.

//youtu.be/EiKgbmJbBIU

This is a 64-bit openSUSE 11.3 with xorg 7.5-11.3 (the openSUSE prepackaged version). I’ve already tried NVidia drivers 256.53-16.1 (the openSUSE NVidia repository version) and 260.19.12 (the latest off of the NVidia website).

This is the same xorg.conf that I used successfully in openSUSE 11.2. I tried a new automatically generated xorg.conf using nvidia-settings and it had the same problem.

This forum won’t let me upload the relevant files, but here:

http://morrfact.phy.uic.edu/~jfiggi2/nvidia_bug.tar

is a tar-ball with my xorg.conf, Xorg.*.log, /var/log/messages, and the NVidia debugging output.

#2

I am not sure the problem is with the nVidia driver or just with openSUSE 11.3 when you try to use multiple monitors. Here is another thread on the subject you might read, but not for using nVidia.

[HOWTO] Solve dual monitor problem on Intel graphic cards after updating kernel on 11.3](http://forums.opensuse.org/english/information-new-users/unreviewed-how-faq/448293-howto-solve-dual-monitor-problem-intel-graphic-cards-after-updating-kernel-11-3-a.html)

I had a similar problem just using two monitors on a Dell Laptop with openSUSE 11.3 and my solution was to drop back to openSUSE 11.2 where it worked just fine. Even with 11.2, you can update the kernel to any version you want and update KDE to anything you want. Right now openSUSE 11.2 is still fully supported and in my mind if you can’t find a solution, you will want to drop back one and wait till openSUSE 11.4 comes out next year.

Thank You,

#3

I have dual monitiors on openSUSE11.2 64bit and running Gnome and KDE and here is my xconfig if this helps you.

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Samsung SyncMaster"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Samsung SyncMaster"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 260"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 260"
    BusID          "PCI:2:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Screen"

# Removed Option "TwinView" "0"
# Removed Option "metamodes" "DFP-1: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "1"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-1"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-0: 1680x1050 +1680+0, DFP-1: 1680x1050 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Now I will tell you that in Gnome it’s set just fine but under KDE I have two different Desktops. Here are screen shots of whats happening on mine but it’s not really a big deal to me because I use Gnome most of the time.
Xorg config file

#4

Yeah, I agree, dropping back to 11.2 would be a solution, as I had this working like I wanted in 11.2, but there was a switching between multiple users bug which I haven’t seen in 11.3, so I think I need to stay here. Plus, I want to take advantage of the latest KDE version since the earlier 4.x versions don’t have very good multi-monitor options.

If someone could at least give me a hint as to how I could diagnose which component of the software stack this bug is in (xorg, KDE, or NVidia) I would appreciate it.