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    X stuck at 640x480

    Now I know this sounds like a mundane resolution problem, but hear me out.

    I had kubuntu up and running just fine on my Athlon X2/Geforce 7800GT system yesterday. I had done a few routine package updates using the Adept Updater earlier in the day, then I restarted the machine and it came up at 640x480 when it had previously been set at 1280x1024. I did NOTHING to the video driver or to xconf.

    I was only able to change the res at all and get KDE back to 1280 by manually specifying the make and model of my monitor (Viewsonic P95f+) in the "Display" dialog under "System Settings" rather than the "Plug and Play" default monitor driver, which had been working fine up until then. However, the login screen is still stuck at 640x480 when I either end the session or reboot, though I can pan around the screen with the mouse cursor so I know the X desktop is actually set to a larger size than that.

    Windows boots to 1280x1024 on the same machine just fine, not that this means much.

    Now here's the weird part: I completely wiped the partitions and reinstalled Kubuntu from scratch, did a full package update, and everything was fine while using the vesa driver until I installed the nvidia driver using automatix (which is what I had done before) and POOF, back to 640x480 again.

    Now, nothing in my install procedure, hardware, or software had changed between the time it worked fine and the time it didn't, so I have to assume that either some critical package or the nvidia driver itself had changed in the repositories and been applied in an update without me knowing.

    If this is the case, I can't be the only one who's all of a sudden experiencing a problem. Is there anyone else out there?

    Or could this somehow be a malfunction/breakage of the monitor or video card itself manifesting as a problem with how the monitor talks to the OS (I don't know: DDC or other "plug and play" components) even though it displays fine otherwise?

    How can I fix this?

    Please, please, PLEASE. Any suggestion at all would be appreciated, 'cause I'm running out of things to try.

    #2
    Re: X stuck at 640x480

    Have you tried

    sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

    This will probably fix the problem, as to what caused it, I have no idea.

    Josh

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      #3
      Re: X stuck at 640x480

      Well, I went ahead and tried that, but X just hung while initializing.

      What I did was shut down and unplug both the machine and the monitor, unplug the monitor from the VGA port, then plug everything back in and install Kubuntu from scratch before installing the nvidia driver.

      And it worked this time! It must have had something to do with either the monitor or the video card that was causing either to be detected improperly, and pulling the power or connection must have reset them.

      I've been repairing computers professionally for almost 15 years now, and I've NEVER seen anything like this. Heh, I guess there's a first time for everything.

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