Change Resolution of Unknown Monitor in Ubuntu 11.10

I have the HP v185e Monitor and it was unrecognizable by my Ubuntu 11.10. The “Display” setting shows “Unknown Monitor”, and the maximum resolution I could get is 1024 x 768, the optimal resolution is 1368 x 768. I found that the “Unknown Monitor” could be set with XRandr from the posting in the Ubuntu Forum.

I did that right and the resolution is 1368 x 768, but after restarting, the resolution options were reverted back to 1024 x 768. From the Ask Ubuntu, I found that Ubuntu 11.10 have different way to permanenting the XRandr customization than it’s predecessors.

Here’s the summary (I’m using the example of adding 1440 x 900 resolution):

1. Open Terminal and type

$ xrandr

2. The XRandr will show the maximum resolution allowed like this:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1368 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA1 connected 1368x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1368x768_60.00   59.9*+
   1024x768       60.0  
   1024x768_60.00   59.9  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   848x480        60.0  
   640x480        59.9  
   1280x800_60.00   59.8  
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

3. Type “cvt [x resolution] [y resolution]” in the terminal, for my case is like this:

$ cvt 1440 900

4. The Terminal will show the output:

# 1440x900 59.89 Hz (CVT 1.30MA) hsync: 55.93 kHz; pclk: 106.50 MHz
Modeline "1440x900_60.00"  106.50  1440 1528 1672 1904  900 903 909 934 -hsync +vsync

5. For the next step, type:

$ xrandr --newmode [Modeline]

in my case is

$ xrandr --newmode "1440x900_60.00"  106.50  1440 1528 1672 1904  900 903 909 934 -hsync +vsync

Copy the “Modeline” configuration from the previous output

6. To add the new resolution to the “Display” option type:

$ xrandr --addmode VGA1 1440x900_60.00

Now the new resolution is ready in the “Display” option


7. To apply the new resolution, type:

$xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1440x900_60.00

And now the screen will be in the new resolution

8. In order to make it permanent, add the resolution to /etc/X11/xorg.conf

$ sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

9. The xorg.conf will show the output like this:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Monitor0"
    Modeline "1280x800_60.00"   83.50  1280 1352 1480 1680  800 803 809 831 -hsync +vsync
    Modeline "1368x768_60.00"   85.25  1368 1440 1576 1784  768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync
    Modeline "1024x768_60.00"   63.50  1024 1072 1176 1328  768 771 775 798 -hsync +vsync
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Card0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Modes      "1280x800_60.00" "1368x768_60.00" "1024x768_60.00"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Card0"
    Driver        ""
EndSection

10. Add the new Modeline and resolution, for the “Driver” in the “Section Device” I just simply type “Intel” (because I’m using intel standard graphic card), if you are using Nvidia just simply type “nvidia”. The output is like:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Monitor0"
    Modeline "1440x900_60.00"  106.50  1440 1528 1672 1904  900 903 909 934 -hsync +vsync
    Modeline "1280x800_60.00"   83.50  1280 1352 1480 1680  800 803 809 831 -hsync +vsync
    Modeline "1368x768_60.00"   85.25  1368 1440 1576 1784  768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync
    Modeline "1024x768_60.00"   63.50  1024 1072 1176 1328  768 771 775 798 -hsync +vsync
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Card0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Modes      "1440x900_60.00" "1280x800_60.00" "1368x768_60.00" "1024x768_60.00"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Card0"
    Driver        "intel"
EndSection

11. Restart and see the resolution setting is now permanent

Hope it worked

—
Anton Hermansyah

Tags: Linux, Monitor, Resolution, Ubuntu, XRandr