Help with resolution settings

[NoOp]

On 09/08/2010 01:46 PM, sktsee wrote:
> On Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:11:41 -0700, NoOp wrote:
> 
> [snip]
> 
>> Low resolution settings typically correspond to incorrect refresh rates,
>> make sure that yours are correct. On some systems I've found using the
>> default 'System|Preferences|Monitor/Display' rather than the nVidia
>> manager works - don't know why, but seems to do the trick on occasion.
> 
> Use of xrandr and a gui front-end which uses it like gnome-display-
> properties, with Nvidia's 3D binary driver (whether installed using 
> Nvidia's native installer or Ubuntu's package) is not recommended by 
> Nvidia because the driver lies about the refresh rate in order to support 
> its Dynamic TwinView feature. This causes xrandr to report erroneous 
> refresh rates. 
> Source: /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README.txt
...
> 
> IIRC, gnome-display-properties stores the (virtual)screen resolution and 
> refresh rate in the gconf database. Gnome-settings-daemon reads the gconf 
> values upon user login and sets the display accordingly with xrandr, 
> though it's using an incorrect refresh rate. I can't remember if this can 
> lead to Michael's situation with what sounds like a mis-matched virtual 
> screensize/display resolution problem, or something like an off-center 
> screen placement. I don't really feel like dinking around with my setup 
> to find out, though. Anyway, when using the Nvidia 3D driver, I find it's 
> best to just use nvidia-settings to make any xserver adjustments so to 
> avoid any pitfalls when using an app that only recognizes a small subset 
> of the driver's features.
> 

Interesting & thanks! I do have a test system with the same card (NV25GL
[Quadro4 900 XGL] ) and see that nvidia-settings shows that I can set
for 1600x1024 on that machine; the monitor on that machine
(MegaImage17). Whereas xrandr shows only 1280x1024 at 50.0Hz - as does
'Sys|Pref|Monitor'.

nvidia-settings is set for 'Auto' on the resolution. So I set for
1600x1024 w/Auto for refresh (option is 60hz) using that... and click
'Apply'. xrandr now shows the monitor is set for 1600x1020 at 105hz & the
screen looks like 800xCrap. gnome-display-properties is showing the same
1600x1020 at 105hz. So I go back to nvidia-settings and set the refresh
rate to 60hz... and now xrandr is showing 1600x1024 at 50.0hz.

Go back to nvidia-settings and reset to 1280x1024 at Auto & the screen is
OK again. xrandr and gnome-display-properties are showing
1280x1024 at 51hz. Option to manually change the refresh rate in
nvidia-settings for this resolution is 60hz, so I try that: screen is
still OK & the others are showing 1280x1024 at 105.0hz with options to set
for 105, 51, and 50hz.

The monitor only supports:
	Modelname	"MegaImage 17"
	Horizsync	30-64
	Vertrefresh	50-100

But the nVidia-settings guesses (incorrectly) that it is a JEN (CRT-1 on
GPU-0). Anyway, fiddling between the two gives me a proper screen
display with my '96 driver. Note: on this machine nvidia-settings shows
the correct display model (Dell 1800FP).

So I guess it's back to the chicken bones & witchcraft.