my screen resolution dropped down and I can't get it back to normal

[Xelaric]

I'm running Ubuntu 8.04 on one of my computers with a widescreen monitor at 1600 X 900 resolution, and have never had any issues with the display before. For some reason, the resolution dropped down to 800 X 600 without me doing anything. When I try to change the resolution, it gives me options to set it lower than 800 X 600, but it won't let me set it to anything higher than that. Any ideas on how to get it back to normal, even 1024 X 768 would be better?

[PairOfBlanks2]

Apparently, something was done. My best guess is a software update. Perhaps your system is setup to update automatically, and this update was unnoticed. In your next post, tell us what display driver that you're using. In the meantime, examine the most-recent packages installed, and try uninstalling some to see if that fixes your problem. I'm thinking that it was probably a display driver package or a kernel package.

[webwalker]

PairOfBlanks2 probably has the right answer. I would guess a kernel update happened and changed your display driver. I'll watch this thread to see what you find out. If you don't get a fix I'll try to point you to a different forum that explains how to install a new driver. Are you using an nvidia video card? You might try using a different kernel at startup on the grub screen. Try going down two on the grub screen and see what happens.

[Xelaric]

The video card is a Nvidia GeForce 6600, I'm not sure what driver it's using (or how to find that out). I don't think I ever installed the drivers for it, it just worked on its own
*EDIT*
I forgot to mention, it's the 64 bit version of Ubuntu 8.04. I found downloads of display drivers for the card, but they all seem to be for the 32 bit OS

[devils casper]

Lets check which driver is being used by X Server. Execute these commands in Terminal and post output here :

lspci | grep -i vga
grep -i driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf

[Xelaric]

lspci | grep -i vga

gave the following output:

02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV43 [GeForce 6600] (rev a2)

and the 2nd command didn't give any output, just another prompt.

I think I was downloading a torrent when this all happened, so it's possible this is something virus related

[webwalker]

No, no virus for sure. devils casper will be able to help you. He's good at resolving problems. Do you have ANY idea if you did a recent kernel update? That's usually what knocks out your display drivers. I've had this issue several times till I started locking my kernel version. If everything works on your computer there should NEVER be a reason to upgrade a kernel, that I know of. Maybe someone else can tell you different though. It appears you have the right drivers for your card installed though, but it may not be using it. Did you try the trick I said in my recent post? When your computer is booting, and you get your grub screen, try moving down to a different kernel and use it and see if your video works right.

[Xelaric]

Did you try the trick I said in my recent post?

I'm still learning my way around Linux; I didn't know there was more than one kernel you can use. After I did that it booted in 800 X 600 but I was able to set it to something higher. I think my color settings might've been dropped too, but I'm not sure how to change those.

So what does this mean now? do I always have to pick that other kernel, or will it work from now on?

[devils casper]

It looks like Auto-updater has installed latest kernel version and one have to re-install Graphics driver after every kernel update. Does Hardware Drivers option in Administrative Menu list Graphics Card driver? It will download/install driver itself. Otherwise, you have to install driver manually.

[webwalker]

I'm still learning my way around Linux; I didn't know there was more than one kernel you can use. After I did that it booted in 800 X 600 but I was able to set it to something higher. I think my color settings might've been dropped too, but I'm not sure how to change those.

So what does this mean now? do I always have to pick that other kernel, or will it work from now on?

It will always work with that particular kernel, (you have to choose it at boot up though) but not the first one (newest) until you install new video drivers for that particular kernel. Or, you could uninstall the new kernel so it no longer is available and you will be back to using the older one you chose to get your video back. It will automatically use that kernel at startup then.

Option 1

You can uninstall the newest kernel version through synaptic. (do this ONLY should you decide to do it this way) Search for (linux-image) in synaptic and look for the newest kernel version indicated by the highest numbers of course. click on it to choose it, right click and choose remove and click apply. Then find the next newest, click to highlight it. Go to "package" at the top left (in synaptic) and lock version should be available. click lock then apply. That should lock that kernel so no other kernel updates will happen. That should allow that version to be used at startup automatically.

Option 2

You can go through the process of installing the newest video drivers from nVidia. If you feel comfortable enough to use the console I can direct you to another website that gives an explanation on how to do it. Just let me know what you would like to do. Option 1 is the easiest. Option 2 is a little more involved.

Xelaric, Check your messages!

Any one have better ideas please feel free to jump in!