[PLUG] truly wierd video screen behavior on new system install of Ubuntu Lucid Lynx install

[John Jason Jordan]

On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:30:32 -0500
website reader <website.reader3 at gmail.com> dijo:

>This is a brain-storming request.
>
>I just purchased an Asus P8H61-M rev B3 motherboard which uses the
>Intel H61 chipset.  I attached an Acer G205HV lcd monitor which says
>that it is capable of running 1600x900 vga dvi-d (I am still trying to
>figure out what vga dvi-d means)  I am SOLELY using the vga cable into
>this monitor.
>
>After installing 64 bit Ubuntu Lucid Lynx edition 10.04.3 LTS linux, I
>have a truly bizarre video screen being presented.  Only 3 resolutions
>are available 1024x768, 800x600 and 640x480, however selecting either
>the 800x600 or 640x480 causes such severe problems that only the reset
>switch or power switch can be used as the next choice.
>
>The last 5th or so of the video screen is snipped and moved to the
>first part of the screen and the next 4/5 shoved to the right.  Even
>the mouse movement is constrained in a similar manner.
>
>While booting up, the Asus BIOS information appears correctly on the
>VGA screen.  The Ubuntu splash screen is also correctly displayed.
>However the Ubuntu logon screen is chopped up and the last 1/5th moved
>over to the left.

The BIOS and Ubuntu splash screen usually use 640x480, although it is
possible to get the splash screen to run at a higher res. The real high
res stuff doesn't happen until just before the login screen.

Lucid (that is X) is not getting or properly interpreting the EDID data
from the monitor. You should find additional clues
in /var/log/Xorg.0.log. That log file can get kind of long, as it
appends with each new boot. I have had better luck reading it in the
past by renaming the existing one just before rebooting so it will
generate a fresh one containing just the details about the current boot.

There are also dmesg and lspci which can give you some details to google
on.

Also see what happens when you boot to live CDs, particularly the
Lucid one. I will bet that the same problem happens with the Lucid live
CD, but if it does not, then you know the problem is in your
installation configs, not in Lucid. And, of course, try other live CDs,
especially cutting edge ones like Mint and Fedora, or even the latest
Ubuntu. I might also remind that the next Ubuntu LTS comes out in a few
months, so installing the latest non-LTS version would be merely a
stopgap if you want to stick with LTS versions.