Struggling with nVidia "Twinview"

[bitzbox]

Here's my setup:

- Desktop PC
- nVidia 8500GT graphics card
- Latest nVidia drivers from PCLOS repo (260.19.29)
- Monitor 0 = Acer P193W (Primary display)
- Monitor 1 = Hannspree M19W2 (Secondary display)
- Monitor 0 is connected to the DVI socket on the graphics card by means of a DVI to D-Sub adapter
- Monitor 1 is connected to the D-Sub socket on the graphics card

I boot PCLOS and I get video on Monitor 0 but nothing on Monitor 1
I go into PCC -> Hardware -> Configure Video Card
The monitor is listed as M19W2 (Huh!!)
I change it to Acer P193W
I click on Options and check the Enable duplicate display on the second display box
I click through all the OK's
I log out and back in again and I have video on both monitors (Cloned)
Whoopee 

Now for the rub:
More often than not, I lose my setup after a reboot.
In other words, my settings don't always "stick" and I have to go through the procedure all over again to get it working again.

Ideas anyone?

Regards .....

[beta1]

I have a similar set up using a NVidia EN9400Gt SILENT, same plug arrangement, driving two HP 22" screens.

I used to fiddle with xorg.conf to get things right then I discovered the "NVIDIA Display Settings" utility under More Applications/ Configuration, it detects everything and is a set up once thing. If you use it as root you can save to xorg.conf

[Dragynn]

Many thanks for replying but it doesn't make any difference whether I use my own PCC method of setting up Twinview or the nVidia settings utility, PCLOS always writes a fresh /etc/X11/xorg.conf every time I boot into PCLOS. The problem is that PCLOS sometimes gets it right but sometimes it gets it wrong. When it gets it right, Twinview is working but when it gets it wrong, Twinview is not working. I would have thought that PCLOS was intelligent enough to see that nothing has changed with my hardware setup and leave /etc/X11/xorg.conf alone.

Regards .....

Fly in the ointment somewhere, and it has nothing to do with PCLOS being "intelligent" enough, as I have that exact same video card running dual monitors in the same fashion and everything works perfectly and never changes unless I decide to change it.

I'm using the previous version of Nvidia drivers (256.53) with the "dkms-nvidia-current" Nvidia GUI.  After applying the drivers and checking the boxes you mentioned, I have found it necessary to do as Beta1 mentioned, open the Nvidia settings GUI from the menu as root, set-up your configuration the way you would like paying close attention to configuration (twinview), and making sure you check the box to make the appropriate display the primary display for the X screen, apply, then click "Save to X configuration file", and then close out.

Forgive me if you have already followed these steps and are still having trouble.

[Texstar]

Many thanks for replying but it doesn't make any difference whether I use my own PCC method of setting up Twinview or the nVidia settings utility, PCLOS always writes a fresh /etc/X11/xorg.conf every time I boot into PCLOS. The problem is that PCLOS sometimes gets it right but sometimes it gets it wrong. When it gets it right, Twinview is working but when it gets it wrong, Twinview is not working. I would have thought that PCLOS was intelligent enough to see that nothing has changed with my hardware setup and leave /etc/X11/xorg.conf alone.

Regards .....

Fly in the ointment somewhere, and it has nothing to do with PCLOS being "intelligent" enough, as I have that exact same video card running dual monitors in the same fashion and everything works perfectly and never changes unless I decide to change it.

I'm using the previous version of Nvidia drivers (256.53) with the "dkms-nvidia-current" Nvidia GUI.  After applying the drivers and checking the boxes you mentioned, I have found it necessary to do as Beta1 mentioned, open the Nvidia settings GUI from the menu as root, set-up your configuration the way you would like paying close attention to configuration (twinview), and making sure you check the box to make the appropriate display the primary display for the X screen, apply, then click "Save to X configuration file", and then close out.

Forgive me if you have already followed these steps and are still having trouble.

I've never had pclinuxos change my xorg settings without me changing them. 

[Dragynn]

Many thanks for replying but it doesn't make any difference whether I use my own PCC method of setting up Twinview or the nVidia settings utility, PCLOS always writes a fresh /etc/X11/xorg.conf every time I boot into PCLOS. The problem is that PCLOS sometimes gets it right but sometimes it gets it wrong. When it gets it right, Twinview is working but when it gets it wrong, Twinview is not working. I would have thought that PCLOS was intelligent enough to see that nothing has changed with my hardware setup and leave /etc/X11/xorg.conf alone.

Regards .....

Fly in the ointment somewhere, and it has nothing to do with PCLOS being "intelligent" enough, as I have that exact same video card running dual monitors in the same fashion and everything works perfectly and never changes unless I decide to change it.

I'm using the previous version of Nvidia drivers (256.53) with the "dkms-nvidia-current" Nvidia GUI.  After applying the drivers and checking the boxes you mentioned, I have found it necessary to do as Beta1 mentioned, open the Nvidia settings GUI from the menu as root, set-up your configuration the way you would like paying close attention to configuration (twinview), and making sure you check the box to make the appropriate display the primary display for the X screen, apply, then click "Save to X configuration file", and then close out.

Forgive me if you have already followed these steps and are still having trouble.

I've never had pclinuxos change my xorg settings without me changing them.

Yeah, I just looked at mine and it's dated Oct. 29th, the day I did this install, set it one time and done. Mama's computer the same thing, and she's using the same 8500gt that Bitzbox is using....

interesting problem...mebbe hardware issue? If the cmos battery was dead, would it cause the OS to re-do hardware detection and re-write the conf file at boot-up? That would explain why the settings persist with log-out/log-in but not re-boot.

[Dragynn]

Perhaps it may have something to with this:

When I did my current PCLOS install, I was using a single monitor (Acer P193W) with the onboard graphics (nVidia nForce 6100-430), which uses the same drivers as the 8500GT. Recently, I installed my 8500GT card, disabled the onboard graphics and hooked up the second monitor (HSP M19W2). Perhaps there's some remnants of the old config kicking about and causing some sort of conflict? I feel yet another re-install coming on 

Regards .....

That sounds like a clue scooby-doo! Wondering if you might could re-produce the issue, and post both a copy of the generated xorg.conf file, and also the one generated after you have applied your settings in Nvidia? Might help one of the ninja's de-cipher.

Recently, I installed my 8500GT card, disabled the onboard graphics and hooked up the second monitor (HSP M19W2).

Stupid question here, sorry, but you disabled the onboard graphics in BIOS yes?

Might check in  /etc/nvidia-current/nvidia-settings.xinit , here's what my machine says :

# to be sourced
#
# Do not modify this file; the changes will be overwritten.
# If you want to disable automatic configuration loading, create
# /etc/sysconfig/nvidia-settings with this line: LOAD_NVIDIA_SETTINGS="no"
#
LOAD_NVIDIA_SETTINGS="yes"
[ -f /etc/sysconfig/nvidia-settings ] && . /etc/sysconfig/nvidia-settings
[ "$LOAD_NVIDIA_SETTINGS" = "yes" ] && /usr/bin/nvidia-settings --load-config-only

 And for reference, here's my xorg.conf, this is on my machine with a 6200tc, same drivers just different card, so should be similar:

Code:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 256.53  (root@localhost.localdomain)  Fri Oct 29 16:32:37 CDT 2010

# File generated by XFdrake (rev )
# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the xorg.conf man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "layout1"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
    Load           "v4l" # Video for Linux
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "glx" # 3D layer
    Disable        "dri"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
 # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
    #DontZoom # disable <Ctrl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
    Option         "DontZap" "False" # disable <Ctrl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
    Option         "allowmouseopenfail"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from data in "/etc/sysconfig/keyboard"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
    Option         "XkbLayout" "us"
    Option         "XkbModel" "pc105"
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 "Monitor"

    # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
    # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
    Identifier     "monitor1"
    VendorName     "Plug'n Play"
    ModelName      "DELL 2001FP"
    HorizSync       31.0 - 80.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 76.0
    ModeLine       "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630
    ModeLine       "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "ViewSonic A110"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 97.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 180.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "nVidia Corporation"
    BoardName      "NVIDIA GeForce 6100 and later"
    Option         "DPMS"
    Option         "TwinViewOrientation" "Clone"
    Option         "TwinView"
    Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM)"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "screen1"
    Device         "device1"
    Monitor        "monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       8
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       15
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       16
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes      "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "1"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT: 1280x1024 +1280+0, DFP: 1280x1024 +0+0; CRT: 1280x960 +1280+0, DFP: 1280x960 +0+0; CRT: 1152x864 +1152+0, DFP: 1152x864 +0+0; CRT: 1024x768 +1024+0, DFP: 1024x768 +0+0; CRT: 832x624 +832+0, DFP: 832x624 +0+0; CRT: 800x600 +800+0, DFP: 800x600 +0+0; CRT: 640x480 +640+0, DFP: 640x480 +0+0; CRT: 320x240 +320+0, DFP: 320x240 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection