[sf-lug] More Self inflicted Display Issues

[Tom Haddon]

On Thu, 2008-05-08 at 12:07 -0400, Blake Haggerty wrote:
> Hey all,
>  
> Hoping someone will have a simple fix for this. 
>  
> This problem is on Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10 W/ Nividia 8500GT
>  
> I was messing with the screen resolutions in my xorg.conf and I
> changed some of the values and like an idiot I didnt back it up. Now
> when I boot I cant see my desktop. 
>  
> I tried to edit my xorg.conf (sudo nano /etc/x11/xorg.conf) the file
> is empty as in it is a blank page that nano pulls up (this has always
> been a problem for me with nano no matter what file I try to edit)

There may well be other files in this directory that may be of use - I
know that every time you invoke the magic dpkg-reconfigure command it
backs up the old one, so take a look in /etc/X11 and see if there's
anything in there dated sometime that looks useful.

>  
> I tried the sudo dpkg -reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh xorg.conf (not
> sure if that is the correct syntax I usually am going off a cheat
> sheet) That brought a screen to choose the correct resolutions and I
> did so and still no go.

I would try starting with the basic driver (vesa) and see if you can get
it working on that. It's possible that at the same time/related your
nvidia module (which I'm assuming you're using) got hosed. If so, trying
another driver (such as vesa or nv) might at least get you to a GUI so
you can move from there.

What does /var/log/Xorg.0.log look like? Might be some clue as to what's
going wrong...

Cheers, Tom

>  
> Now here is the really strange part.
>  
> I have a Belkein KVM switch that I use to switch between my two
> computers sharing one monitor. When I switch over to my puppy Linux
> Box and start working on that everything is good. If I switch over to
> the non working Ubuntu box I can briefly see the login screen. I then
> blindly enter my login and password. I will then switch back to the
> puppy machine and then switch back to non working Ubuntu machine and I
> can briefly see my desktop for just a flash. So its there and its
> running but it just wont display on the monitor.
>  
> Thank you for any help you can lend in advance!
>  
> 
> Blake Haggerty
> Permanent Placement Specialist 
> 
> Work:
> 415-788-8488 x6062
> Fax:
> 415-788-2592
> 
> Email:
> blake.haggerty at sapphire.com
> 
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/blakehaggerty
> 
> Sapphire
> Technologies
> 
> 
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