I'm using a dual monitor setup on a Samsung QX412 laptop. My external monitor is connected via HDMI. I am NOT using the additional Nvidia drivers.Ubuntu uses Gnome 2 when I install them, so they don't seem to work for my configuration.
Dual monitors work fine, but trouble arises when I unplug the HDMI cable:
On first unplug nothing happens - the external montor goes black of course, but I still can go through the edge of the screen. When I reconnect and disconnect a second time, things work as expected most of the time - windows being resized and transferred to my laptops display.
On something like every third disconnect of the external monitor, the laptop screen will just go black, or display orange stripes. In very few cases the display can be restored by switching between Ctrl+Alt+F1 and Ctrl+Alt+F7. Having the "Monitor Preferences" dialog open will sometimes help to restore a broken display. Reconnecting the external monitor is the same pain.
Does anyone have any idea how I could get this to work? I'd even be okay with a shortcut that tells my display manager, "Hey, you're broken - restart yourself". But the old Ctrl+Alt+Backspace shortcut doesn't work any more.