How do I set resolution to 1440x900 with Nvidia?

Question

I have an Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT card and suddenly after some recent updates on 12.04, I am unable to get my resolution higher than 1024x768. It used to be 1440x900. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Nvidia drivers several times and ways, and still have not found any solution. My current driver version is 295.49 and it says my display is a CRT. I don't understand why it thinks I have a CRT. My monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 940BW. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

UPDATE: I have a second computer that has now done this on the same monitor and it has a different graphics card. The second computer was affected immediately after applying the most recent updates for 12.04. Could this just be a bug in one of the updates? Are others experiencing similar problems with different types of graphics cards? Just a thought.

Also, on the first computer (Nvidia) I did a complete reinstall. The best I could get was 1024x768 after installing the Nvidia current drivers. I held off on updating the computer to see if I could get a higher resolution but I couldn't. Then I updated the fresh install with the latest 12.04 updates and now I can only get a resolution of 640x480. Any ideas? Both systems are running 12.04 64 bit.

Also, after the reinstall I'm currently running 295.40 version.

XRandR output:

$ cvt 1440 900 60
# 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


$ xrandr
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 240, current 640 x 480, maximum 640 x 480
default connected 640x480+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   640x480        50.0* 
   320x240        51.0

$ xrandr --newmode "1440x900_60.00"  106.50  1440 1528 1672 1904  900 903 909 934 -hsync +vsync
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default

$ xrandr
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 240, current 640 x 480, maximum 640 x 480
default connected 640x480+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   640x480        50.0* 
   320x240        51.0

  1440x900_60.00 (0x177)  106.5MHz
        h: width  1440 start 1528 end 1672 total 1904 skew    0 clock   55.9KHz
        v: height  900 start  903 end  909 total  934           clock   59.9Hz

$ xrandr --addmode default 1440x900_60.00
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default

$ xrandr --output default --mode 1440x900_60.00
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
xrandr: screen cannot be larger than 640x480 (desired size 1440x900)

xorg.conf:

$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 295.40  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-06.nvidia.com)  Thu Apr  5 22:40:54 PDT 2012


Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier     "Mouse0"
Driver         "mouse"
Option         "Protocol" "auto"
Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"


EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier     "Keyboard0"
Driver         "kbd"


EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Answer 1

If the xorg file exists, remove that and reboot.

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Answer 2

You can try this:

What you can do is install a newer version of the Nvida Drivers. Click the link below to download the latest drivers from Nvidia's Website:

Linux x64 (AMD64/EM64T) Display Driver

Download it and now follow this this tutorial on how to install it. I would suggest you read all this on another computer, as the one that you will perform the install on will not be working for internet viewing.

After you are done, try again to change your resolution.

Good Luck. Hope this works for you! Let me know if it works.

Answer 3

I had the same problem and this is how I fixed it. Go to screen resolution then advanced settings once there click properties, next click on the tab called "driver" then "Roll back driver" 1440x900 should be an option now.