Dual screen not working with a Nvidia binary driver

Question

I just checked out the new ubuntu 11.10 Beta 2 64bit and I can't get my second screen to work.

It worked with kubuntu 11.04 (with binary drivers and with the drivers from nvidia website though not with the latest kernel, but I never checked why it was acting up before) and works with windows.

I installed the nVidia current driver from the 'Additional driver' tool and rebooted which didn't change anything. I then used the nvidia-settings tool and my second screen is marked as 'disabled'. When I enable it as twin-view, the resolution is set automatically but when I hit 'Apply', the following happens.

• The image is mirrored on both screens
• The image is scrambled
• The image is only shown at the bottom lower half of the screen

After some time (I suspect the confirm settings dialog with a time-out) the screen becomes black and only the mouse pointer is shown. It can be moved, but sluggishly. I then have to kill the session from tty.

I installed the drivers from the nvidia website but they did the same thing. (And after 3 tries the system was so mixed up with nouveau and binary drivers that X wouldn't start and I had to restore my system from command line.)

Answer 1

This seems to be a problem with the nvidia binary driver and ubuntu 11.10.

To solve the problem open the 'terminal' application and run

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.back 
gksudo nvidia-settings

Now enter your password and set your desired settings. Now do NOT press 'Apply' but instead press 'Save to X configuration file' and press 'Save'.

Now logout and log back in. The second monitor should now be working.

If this does not help, press 'CTRL+ALT+F1' log in and enter the following

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf 
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.back /etc/X11/xorg.conf

This will restore your settings.

Source: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=11359478&postcount=17