Hi all, I am new to Kubuntu and everything has been a breeze except for setting up my graphics drivers. I am using Kubuntu 14.04 (64-bit) with KDE development platform version 4.14.2. I have three monitors (1 on a Nvidia GeForce 8400 card and 2 on a Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT card). When I first installed Kubuntu, only one monitor was working. I was using the nouveau drivers. I tried to setup the additional monitors with the instructions on http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/...onitorDesktop/, but was then unable to login to the desktop and had to revert the configuration from the console. I tried using the "recommended" drivers, as well as the other option, but still only one monitor was working. I tried installing the latest Nvidia drivers for the cards from Nvidia's website and ended up having to revert to Nouveau. Yesterday, I thought I'd try the Nvidia binary driver version 331.113 for GeForce 8400 GS one more time and when I rebooted, all three monitors were working. Aha! Finally, it works ... but not without issues. I noticed that some graphics items looked hideous (e.g., the KDE app launcher is a scrambled mess). I could live with ugly graphics, but some text items are unreadable. I checked my desktop effects and it shows the following message:
Desktop effects are not available on this system due to the following technical issues:
Required X extensions (XComposite and XDamage) are not available.
Also, I now receive the following message when I open nvidia-settings from the terminal:
Xlib: extension "RANDR" missing on display ":0".
** Message: PRIME: No offloading required. Abort
** Message: PRIME: is it supported? no
I opened up Additional Drivers and saw that the 8600 GT is still using Nouveau. My first thought is that Nouveau is conflicting with the Nvidia driver for the other card. I tried switching the driver to the only other option (nvidia-173), but it won't apply my changes. I also tried disabling Xinerama because of a solution on another site indicated some conflict given the RANDR message. However, the configuration just reverts to using Xinerama if I try to apply and/or save. Please note, I can save other configuration changes just fine like the layout/order of the displays.
In conclusion, everything worked fine when I was using only the Nouveau drivers except that I could only get one monitor to work. When I tried using the nvidia-331 driver for the 8400 GS, it resolved the multiple monitor issue, but introduced several new issues (Desktop effects not available, RANDR missing, and messed up graphics). Can anyone help me with this issue?
Thanks in advance!
UPDATE:
I managed to solve the weird graphics issues and desktop effects issue by editing xorg.conf. I replaced the following:
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Disabled"
EndSection
with:
Section "Extensions"
Option "Damage" "true"
Option "Composite" "true"
EndSection
After restarting lightdm, desktop effects returned. Everything seems to be working properly now. I still receive the warning about RANDR missing when I open nvidia-settings, but I am not too concerned about it.
Desktop effects are not available on this system due to the following technical issues:
Required X extensions (XComposite and XDamage) are not available.
Also, I now receive the following message when I open nvidia-settings from the terminal:
Xlib: extension "RANDR" missing on display ":0".
** Message: PRIME: No offloading required. Abort
** Message: PRIME: is it supported? no
I opened up Additional Drivers and saw that the 8600 GT is still using Nouveau. My first thought is that Nouveau is conflicting with the Nvidia driver for the other card. I tried switching the driver to the only other option (nvidia-173), but it won't apply my changes. I also tried disabling Xinerama because of a solution on another site indicated some conflict given the RANDR message. However, the configuration just reverts to using Xinerama if I try to apply and/or save. Please note, I can save other configuration changes just fine like the layout/order of the displays.
In conclusion, everything worked fine when I was using only the Nouveau drivers except that I could only get one monitor to work. When I tried using the nvidia-331 driver for the 8400 GS, it resolved the multiple monitor issue, but introduced several new issues (Desktop effects not available, RANDR missing, and messed up graphics). Can anyone help me with this issue?
Thanks in advance!
UPDATE:
I managed to solve the weird graphics issues and desktop effects issue by editing xorg.conf. I replaced the following:
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Disabled"
EndSection
with:
Section "Extensions"
Option "Damage" "true"
Option "Composite" "true"
EndSection
After restarting lightdm, desktop effects returned. Everything seems to be working properly now. I still receive the warning about RANDR missing when I open nvidia-settings, but I am not too concerned about it.