Screen Resolution stuck at 640x480 after installing Bumblebee

Question

I have a Dell XPS 15z laptop.

As you can see here, there are some issues with NVidia drivers. The site recommends installation of Bumblebee (instructions given in the link). I am posting it again for ease: $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade $ sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia $ sudo usermod -a -G bumblebee $USER

After restarting the computer however, the screen resolution was stuck at 640x480 and I got the following error message as soon as I logged in:

**Could not apply the stored configuration for monitors**
none of the selected modes were compatible with the possible modes:
Trying modes for CRTC 63
CRTC 63: trying mode 640x480@60Hz with output at 1366x768@60Hz (pass 0)
CRTC 63: trying mode 640x480@60Hz with output at 1366x768@60Hz (pass 1)
Trying modes for CRTC 64
CRTC 64: trying mode 640x480@60Hz with output at 1366x768@60Hz (pass 0)
CRTC 64: trying mode 640x480@60Hz with output at 1366x768@60Hz (pass 1)

Prior to the update, the display was absolutely normal and thus there is no doubt about the cause. Albeit, there was no support for graphic drivers. In case it helps, some features of graphics drivers seem to be functional after bumblebee, ie, all features are in order except for the resolution.

And if the resolution can't be fixed, please suggest a way to retract the changes so that atleast the prior state may be reachieved.

Any help in the matter would be highly appreciated.

Answer 1

I have a Dell XPS 17 laptop and just had the same problem after running nvidia-xconfig and then rebooting. Got stuck with 640x480. I deleted the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and the resolution returned to normal after rebooting again. It worked, but I'm just not sure this was right thing to do to return to a previous state..

Answer 2

I have been having the same issue. For some reason nvidia-current drivers are broken. But these two lines of change atleast let me revert back to proper display settings

In /etc/X11/xorg.conf, look for these two lines :

HorizSync 28.0 - 33.0
VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0

and replace them with

HorizSync 30.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 75.0

that solved my problem and so it should for you as well. Maybe you would want to look into the ironhide project. Its a continuation of Bumblebee and loads of people claim its much better. Haven't tried it out meself though.

Answer 3

For the record, I've just installed Ubuntu 12.04 on my new Dell 17R SE laptop with a discrete NVidia 650M. After installing the latest greatest NVidia drivers, (310.32,) I find myself stuck in 640-480 too, though the screen image seems to be scaled up to full height.

I tried installing Bumblebee to no avail, & will try the solutions listed here as well, (including Ironhide.) If nothing works, I will reinstall afresh & try again.

In any case, I will post results here.

***EDIT:****** The above suggestion on editing the hsync & vsyns settings in /etc/X11/xorg.conf worked for me: I once again have settings choices besides "640x480" in my Displays dialog. However, when opening the NVidia X Server settings, I get the following message:

You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X driver. Please edit your X configuration file (just run nvidia-xconfig as root), and restart the X server.

Will try this & post an update.