Problem with dual screen setup

[Teunis]

I have a relatively recent install of 14.04.3. on my Thinkpad W520 with Optimus (Intel & nVidia)
It replaced 14.10 that itself was an update from 14.04, neither of the two had the problem I'm presently experiencing.

The main problem is when I have an external 2nd monitor via HDMI connected the taskbar/panel will always be on the wrong (the external) monitor.
And it's usual impossible to drag the panel to the correct screen.

Anyone with suggestions?

[Snowhog]

To my way of thinking about this, it would indicate that the external HDMI monitor is being selected as the 'primary' display. That 'should' be changeable in the Display & Monitor (?) settings in System Settings.

[Teunis]

Yes it's a star symbol to select the 'Primary monitor', it turns to yellow (golden) when selected but has no effect on either background or panel.

Btw, it's the same using VGA.

I might try by making a new user account.

[Teunis]

Tonight I've done a very fresh install (14.04.4) and get the same problem, can't really get a nice dual screen setup. Weird enough it was OK at the initial boot but after doing the available updates it broke again.

[SecretCode]

You said Intel and Nvidia ... is this two separate graphics cards? Or just Nvidia graphics? Are you using nvidia-settings? The checkbox "Make this the primary display for the X screen" is the key to where the default panel goes.

[Teunis]

This is an Optimus setup.
Meaning an Intel card for the internal screen and the nVidia for the external.
The Intel card will never access the external monitor, if I set the BIOS accordingly I can run nVidia exclusively which gives a much better experience, but at the cost of battery life.

I've been running this without big problems for nearly 4 years but recently it is failing.
The problems was similar in Kubuntu 15.10 (Plasma5) but since a few weeks that works better, not great but I can live with it.

An other problem is that a cold boot will now result in a black screen, I can switch to a terminal. log in and reboot from the CLI which will result in the usual start up screen.

This morning I found out in the black screen I can blindly type in my password and get a normal running system.

[Snowhog]

This morning I found out in the black screen I can blindly type in my password and get a normal running system.

Which means that you are on the Login Greeter screen; it just isn't displaying the visual content. This could indicate a Theme problem.

[Teunis]

Yes I agree with the theme angle, yet it's set to the standard one, I've never installed an alternative.

In the mean time things got a little better after I deleted the xorg.conf file (using 15.10) and I can now again set the primary screen on the laptop panel.
There are other problems shared with 15.10 like conky is lost after about half the reboots.