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I just hooked up a large (30" Dell) monitor over VGA to my ubuntu system (Thinkpad T420 with Intel grpahics running Narwal), and it sort of works, however there's a few things that are very off. On the external monitor only about 3/4 of the space is usable, anything not in that block (which goes from lower-left to middle of the screen) works fine, buy anything outside it is just black, EXCEPT for the top bar, which works, except of course none of the dropdowns can display anything because they go into the black void. On the laptop display things are just generally screwed up, the unity layover is stuck in an awkward half state (not interactive, but still visible) , and no new windows display there. I've also tried using the DisplayPort, however that doesn't work due to a bug in the Narwal kernel I've found.

Edit: http://i.stack.imgur.com/4t1sI.png is a screenshot of what I'm seeing, the only area that is usable is the firefox window.

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This is a 2560x1600 display? – Stefano Palazzo♦ Jun 14 '11 at 17:27
Yes, it is, I realize it can't run at native res on VGA, but shouldn't it at least stretch? – Alex Gaynor Jun 14 '11 at 17:44
I think that's the display's job, not the operating system's. Could you check the manual? – Stefano Palazzo♦ Jun 14 '11 at 19:16
Can you state the options for the resolution under Monitors please? I have a 32" monitor and it's currently running at 1360x768 without the problem that you are experiencing. – scouser73 Jun 14 '11 at 21:43

closed as too localized by Stefano Palazzo♦ Jun 19 '11 at 3:19

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1 Answer

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After rebooting my computer it now works perfectly, thanks for the help guys.

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Cool, that was easy :-) – Stefano Palazzo♦ Jun 19 '11 at 3:19
Please don't add "thank you" as an answer. Instead, vote up the answers that you find helpful. – Stephen Myall Aug 21 '12 at 10:31
@StephenMyall This is not a "thanks" answer. This post is by the OP and it's explaining that the problem is solved (and, minimally, what happened that may have contributed to the solution). Typically, the canned comments about not posting "thanks" or "thank you" as an answer are appropriate when someone other than the OP comes along and makes a thanks post as an answer. – Eliah Kagan Sep 4 '12 at 1:43

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