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Author Topic:  Solved - Dual Monitor setup  (Read 3535 times)

Offline martinwprior

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Solved - Dual Monitor setup
« on: 2020/03/02, 09:13:50 »
Gentlemen, I am usinf a Shuttle DH170. I have connected a monitor by HDMI and another via the vga cable. When I boot up both monitors display identicaly. However part way through the vga disappears and never returns. Once booted Settings -> Display will only show the HDMI monitor.
I have been playing with this for the whole day and tried many different distros and only one works correctly and that is Fedora 31 with Gnome 3. Except as soon as I update the system the VGA terminal also dissappears., However I discovered that in my .config directory there are two files called monitors.xml and monitors.xml~  .These contain the information about the the two terminals HDM1 and DP1.
I looked in my Siduction system but no such file exists.
The hardware obviously works but something switches the VGA off part way through Booting. Anyone have some guidlines on this.
regards
« Last Edit: 2020/03/07, 08:07:12 by martinwprior »

Offline finotti

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Re: Dual Monitor setup
« Reply #1 on: 2020/03/02, 17:45:37 »
After you boot, what does xrandr say?  Did you try using it to set up the monitors?  Did you try editing/creating /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf?

Offline martinwprior

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Re: Dual Monitor setup
« Reply #2 on: 2020/03/02, 22:50:47 »
Thank you, Yes I did try to setup the monitors but only one monitor appears in the 'display' tool. I will look at 10-monitor.conf. Thats a great help as I had not idea what I was looking for.


A point of interest the Fedora setup is different becasue its using Wayland.


I will be a few days though as it back to the Bakery for the next 3 - 4 days :(


Thanks again.

Offline martinwprior

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Re: Dual Monitor setup
« Reply #3 on: 2020/03/03, 23:27:36 »

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 16384 x 16384
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-2 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 476mm x 268mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+  50.00    59.94 
   1920x1080i    60.00    50.00    59.94 
   1680x1050     59.88 
   1600x900      60.00 
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02 
   1280x800      59.91 
   1152x864      75.00 
   1280x720      60.00    50.00    59.94 
   1024x768      75.03    60.00 
   832x624       74.55 
   800x600       75.00    60.32 
   720x576       50.00 
   720x576i      50.00 
   720x480       60.00    59.94 
   720x480i      60.00    59.94 
   640x480       75.00    60.00    59.94 
   720x400       70.08 
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)




Notice DP-1 disconnected. Actually it is connected and at initial boot it works.


In dmesg I found this line:
2.585977] [drm] Replacing VGA console driver [/size]Could that be where the vga monitor is being turned off?[/size][/size]10-monitor.conf there is not one on the system

Offline martinwprior

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UPDATE: Re: Dual Monitor setup
« Reply #4 on: 2020/03/04, 03:17:39 »
Let me not waste yours and my time. I have tried a lot of different distros including antix, mx-linux, mint and so on. they all will not use the VGA terminal after the initial boot sequence.


I therefore think this must be a problem with the Shuttle hardware. I chose to replace one serial port with a VGA option as suggested by Shuttle dealer. Its an official Shuttle mod.


I have just sent of for some Display Port to HDMI cables as I have two Display Ports and one HDMI on the back of the system. Before I go completely bald I will just try the new cable. I suspect that something is not right with the VGA modification.


Thanks for taking the time

Offline finotti

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Re: Dual Monitor setup
« Reply #5 on: 2020/03/04, 12:52:02 »
Sorry I did not reply earlier, but it does sound like a hardware problem, especially since xrandr does not see the monitor.
I hope it gets sorted out!

Offline martinwprior

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Re: Dual Monitor setup
« Reply #6 on: 2020/03/05, 05:42:12 »
I guess I am showing my age. Ever since my first Cromenco system I ahve been used to serial and parralel ports and then came the PC and the vga port. Thats where you plugged in the monitor.


It was purely an accident that when I bought my Shuttle system I was visiting the UK. Without a Monitor I needed to plug it in to my daughters TV via HDMI (the first I had heard of it :(  ).


When I got home I already had the HDMI cable and noticed the monitor had one and so I used it. It was only last week I decided to attach another monitor and plugged it in to the vga port. Nothing appeared. Old fashioned me just assumed the vga was the default case.


But:


The Skylake line of processors retires the VGA support, while supporting multi-monitor setups of up to three monitors connected via HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2 or Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) 1.3 interfaces.[/size]http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/4


Oh well now I know. Learn something every day. My Display Port cable is on the way.......[/size]