NVidia Geforce2Go and external LCD monitor

[ben_gazzara]

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Hello everyone,
I have Linux Mandrake 10 (kernel 2.6.3-9mdk) installed on my laptop (Acer Travelmate 630) with a NVIDIA Graphics card (GeForce 2Go). I have the latest NVIDIA driver installed and it has worked great for a while (laptop LCD resolution 1400x1050).
A couple of days ago I bought an external LCD monitor (Acer AL1711 - 17inches) to connect it to my laptop. Supported resolution on this LCD is 1280x1024.
I have tried to make this LCD work with my laptop for 2 days but without any luck.
I have changed my XF86Config-4 file looooads of times, adding new ad-hoc modelines, changing all the relvant sections but nada (blank screen- crashes).
I also tried uninstalling the NVidia driver and use some of the distribution default drivers instead. I managed to get some 800x600 using the generic NVidia driver ("nv") - but it gets totally messy for higher resolutions - and using the generic "vesa" driver I get a good 1280x1024 but it's a total waste of the graphics card (and playback of movies is crap).
Any suggestion greatly appreciated.
I attach my XF86Config-4 file. (You may notice that I have two sections for "Monitor", "Screen", etc. which get selected in the "ServerLayout" accordingly.)
Thanks,
albe
p.s. my hotkey (Fn+F5) switches perfectly between monitors.

# File generated by XFdrake.

Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
# FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
FontPath "unix/:-1"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse doesn't work
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
# Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "record"
Load "xtrap"
Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx" # 3D layer
Load "type1"
# Load "GLcore"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "Keyboard"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
Option "XkbOptions" ""
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"
EndSection

# Here the sections relative to my laptop display (id 0) - they work fine

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor0"
    VendorName "Generic"
    ModelName "Flat Panel 1400x1050"
    HorizSync 31.5-90
    VertRefresh 59-75
    
    # Sony Vaio C1(X,XS,VE,VN)?
    # 1024x480 @ 85.6 Hz, 48 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "1024x480"    65.00 1024 1032 1176 1344   480  488  494  563 -hsync -vsync
    
    # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
    # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     50.00  768  832  846 1000   576  590  595  630
    
    # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     63.07  768  800  960 1024   576  578  590  616
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia0"
Driver "nvidia"
    Option "NoLogo"
    Option "IgnoreEDID" "on"
    Option "NoDDC" "on"
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "nvidia0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultColorDepth 24

    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Virtual 1400 1050
    EndSubsection
EndSection


# Here the sections relative to my external LCD - doesnt work

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "Generic"
ModelName "Flat Panel 1280x1024" 
HorizSync 30-83
VertRefresh 55-75
Option "MonitorLayout" "TDMS"
Option "DDCMode" "on"
Option "dpms"
# HorizSync 31.5-48.5
# VertRefresh 50-120
# ModeLine "1024x480"    65.00 1024 1032 1176 1344   480  488  494  563 -hsync -vsync
# 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 "Device"
Identifier "nvidia1"
# Driver "nv"
Driver "nvidia"
# Driver "vesa"
    Option "NoLogo"
    Option "IgnoreEDID" "on"
    Option "NoDDC" "on"
    Option "DPMS"
    Option "SWCursor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "nvidia1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultColorDepth 16
 
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 8
        Virtual 1280 1024
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 15
        Virtual 1280 1024
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 16
        Virtual 1280 1024
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Virtual 1280 1024
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout1"
Screen "Screen1"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

[sdousley]

have you tried lowering the resolution? U say you have your laptop running at 1400x1050 but the external monitor only supports upto 1280x1024. if u lower the res to 1280x1024 or even lower, this hopefully will work.