Tandalayo_Scheisskopf, any advice?

[JeffreyWilliamson]

I was advised in this thread to get your advice regarding an issue I'm having with Mandriva 2009. If you are available and have any recommendations, I would very much appreciate it. Here's the problem:

I'm running Mandriva 2009 on one of my computers. So far I've only had one major hang-up with it, and that's when I turn it on without the monitor powered up, the desktop automatically resizes itself from 1280 x 1024 to 800 x 600. When I re-adjust the screen back to 1280 x 1024 the KDE panel shrinks, and for some reason Mandriva's ability to increase the width of the panel is broken. Strangely, when I log in as root the ability to change the width of the panel is there. When it happens I have to remove the original panel and open a new one, which involves replacing everything on it.

It was suggested by RoyGBiv that I ask you if you have any idea on what a fix might be. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. It sounds to me...

Like you might have misconfigured something at installation. Now, before I give you any more advice, tell me a bit about the computer. Especially the hard drive(s) and are you dual-booting this thing? This will tell me more.

Also, what video display adapter are you using? PCIx or AGP?

[JeffreyWilliamson]

2. Sure, and please allow me a moment to clarify what I'm seeing...

I have the panel set to occupy the entire width of the screen at the bottom. When I boot up without the monitor on, and the screen resizes to 800 x 600, the panel resizes itself so that it still occupy the width of the screen. But when I change the display size back to 1280 x 1024 the panel stays the same width that it was in 800 x 600 mode, meaning it only takes up about 70% of the bottom width of the screen. When I go into the panel settings, I have no ability to change the width of the panel. I have discovered that this is not the case when logging in as root. If I attempt to adjust the panel's width as root I am given the option of changing the width of the panel.

Moving forward, here are the specs:

HP Pavilion a305w

2.7 GHz Intel Celeron Processor
40 GB Hard Disk
512 MB RAM, (which I intend to upgrade when I work out the bugs)
Chipset is Intel 845GL
No dual-boot, Mandriva 2009 is the only OS
For clarification, the specific Mandriva version is 2009 FREE

I pulled those specs off the internet, and booted the computer up to confirm in Mandriva Control Center and it confirms everything onboard. Funny thing is, when I booted the computer up just now with the monitor on, the desktop reverted itself to my earlier configuration, but the panel still shortened itself, and the problem remains, only this time I didn't have to manually adjust from 800 x 600 to 1280 x 1024.

When I installed the system initially, I had one problem--KDE stalled out when loading up the desktop. After a search on Google using my Vista PC, I discovered that this Pavilion model has trouble with ACPI. I re-installed using the command "Linux ACPI=off", and sure enough when I was finished that problem was resolved. For good measure I went into the Control Center to make sure ACPI was disabled, which it was. Everything worked fine from that point forward, it was only later that I started to have the resizing desktop problem.

This is bugging the crap out of me. I'm no Linux expert, but I've been installing various distros on computers for several years, and for the life of me I can't find a fix for this. I know it's probably something simple, like a permission setting, (as RoyGBiv suggested in my initial thread), but I can't figure it out and it's driving me nuts.

One last point that may be important--I am using a monitor flipper. I have two computers plugged into the same monitor, mouse, and keyboard. One computer is running Windows Vista and the other is the computer in question. The flipper has two channels--channel one is Vista, channel two is Mandriva. This problem does not occur when I boot the Mandriva box on channel two. It only occurs when I press the power button on the Mandriva box while the monitor, keyboard, and mouse are on channel one.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. This is a strange one.

I doubt it is the KVM(the monitor flipper, as you put it). I have run one with Mandriva on one box and windows on the other with no problem. Now, have you installed any updates of late?

Also, could the monitor you are using be so old as to be going bad and it is sending bad EDID info back to X.org?

[JeffreyWilliamson]

4. I have updated the system so that it is current.

It has all the latest fixes. I always try and update both computers at least once a week.

The monitor is an HP L1910 flat-panel LCD monitor. It's not brand spanking new, but it's a recent monitor. Mandriva Control Center recognizes it.

This whole situation is really strange. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if the KVM, (what I call the flip unit because a friend has one that's brand name is Flip--mine is really a Radio Shack KVM model TK-205), is causing this when I'm on the "Windows channel". Like somehow Mandriva is scanning for new hardware and adjusts the monitor to some kind of default setting when it can't detect the monitor due to the KVM being on the other channel.

But then again, that doesn't explain why I can't adjust the width of the panel as a user, but can when logging in as root, as if I am blocked because for some reason I don't have permission.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. There is a userland system tray tool...

That will let you change resolutions. Let me take a look and get back to you on what it is called.

Now, have you setup all Mandriva file repositories in the software manager? If not, it is easy. A Site called "Easy Urpmi" can help.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. You need to install...

Krandr for KDE or Grandr for Gnome.

And I think that the monitor's EDID info is not making it through the KVM. Odd. I have never seen that. Might be the KVM is bad.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

7. Will install Krandr...

One of the first things I did after I had Mandriva installed was head over to Easy URPMI and set up the repositories.

Will let you know when I have Krandr installed.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. And down the road, if you have a spare bit of money...

And I know, is there even such a thing, get a Powerpack subscription and install with individual package selection. Money very well spent. The extras really make it worth it.

And if the KVM is bad, replace it with the Trend Micro 2-port KVM. Small, blue and really nice. Cheap, too. I got one for Christmas, to replace a Belkin that was getting weird, and this thing is a joy to use. Has buttons on the top of it for display switching, as well as the keystrokes.

Fuck the keystrokes. The buttons are fast and a lot more accurate.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

14. Okay, I ran a new search regarding this issue via Google...

No hits. I decided to try and pull a fresh Live CD/Install DVD of Unbuntu, Kubuntu, and openSuSE. I tried to install all, but after the installation, when I rebooted, each distro froze when loading the desktop.

Since I had wiped my hard disk to do this, I popped in my Mandriva 2009.0 DVD and re-installed. This time, I declined the updates during install, (I had previously done this to avoid later work), and when I booted into the desktop for the first time the option to change the width of the panel was available.

I rebooted several times with the KVM switched to the channel with my Vista PC and everything worked fine, so I decided to update...

After the update, I rebooted and all was fine, as it had been on this install. Just to test everything, I switched the channel back to the Vista PC and booted the Mandriva PC. When I switched over after applying the updates--the same problem happened. The desktop resized to a smaller resolution, and when adjusting back the panels stays the adjusted length. When I right-click on the panel and try to configure, there is no longer an option to adjust the width.

This is apparently not a problem upon initial installation, but rather after an update...

This time I thought that this may be an error between the KDE control panel and the Mandriva control panel, but after experimenting between the two, nothing helps. I'm starting to believe, as I have read online a few times before, that this HP PC itself is the problem, as others have had display issues in the past.

The thing I'm not getting is that this time upon the initial install, the option to adjust the width of the panel was there, but it's not after the updates are applied. I've performed a console login, and the root still has the ability to adjust the panel's width.

I keep coming back to some kind of permission error after the updates are applied...

On a side note, I commented above that I have a KVM from Radio Shack--model TK-205. You mentioned earlier that you have a TrendNet KVM with buttons on the box itself. Silly me, while I purchased my KVM at Radio Shack, after reading your post and checking my KVM, I realize that I have the same one. Sure enough, even though I bought it at Radio Shack, the little blue box itself has TrendNet on the top, along with buttons for each channel.

I suspect that if you use the key combination of Scroll Lock + Scroll Lock + 1 or 2 you can switch channels on yours. If so, we have the same KVM. That may indicate that the KVM itself is not the problem, since you don't have any problems.

All of this is leading me to believe that something is changed during the updates and that the graphics card or monitor is compromised after the update is applied.

Tomorrow I will install this same version of Mandriva on a laptop, and if the end results after the update do not create the problem, or if they do, I will post the results here. Perhaps this will lend insight into what is happening by process of elimination.

Thanks for all your help.

[RoyGBiv]

15. What updated?

When you applied the updates, did you take note of what was being updated?

Could be a malformed RPM for some KDE update. Or a kernel problem. Lordy I hate it when it's a kernel problem.

[RoyGBiv]

9. KDE4 ...

This is KDE 4.x you're talking about, right?

I'm asking because I have, just now, run into a similar issue. It's not specific to the panel, rather the whole screen.

I finally got my LCD monitor and got it all set up and running. On a lark, I decided to see how KDE 4's eye candy looked in it, so I logged in with a KDE4 session. (I have stuck to KDE 3 for now day-to-day.) When I resized the screen to 1900x1200, the display goes there, but the screen itself is sequestered in a portion of the overall display. The rest is consumed by a checkerboard pattern.

Additionally, the panel along the bottom was stuck at one size, which is what made me think of your situation.

In my case, I logged in as a newly created user, and that issue was not present. I logged back in as myself ... same problem.

Initial hypothesis here (at least for me) is that this is a KDE 4 issue involving configuration files, of which there are dozens. The config files of the newly created user had not been corrupted by "old" settings.

That *could* be a factor in why logging in as root works in your situation, since, I assume, you don't actually log in to a display manager as root very often.

Just throwing out ideas ... I'm off to hunt for a config file that could be the culprit.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. What is the display card you are using?

I have a reason to ask. And are you using the X.org driver or the manufacturer's driver?

[RoyGBiv]

11. Nvidia 8600GT

Using the Nvidia driver.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

12. I do believe...

There is a bug in the logout widget that causes that. Play with the session manager setting in KDE Control Panel.

But I could be wrong.

[RoyGBiv]

13. Well, you're right ... sorta

There *is* a bug in the logout wiget, and it may in fact be a cause of that, but after playing with various settings I only succeeded in making the problem worse.

I ended up being unable to change the resolution above 1600x1200.

Now, what's interesting, is that I "fixed" this by reverting to an xorg.conf file I'd saved just before plugging in the new monitor.

I think a number of things are at work here actually, and it's partly my fault. I upgraded to the latest kernel and nvidia driver at the same time I plugged in the new monitor. All this re-wrote xorg.conf. It all still worked until I tried the session manager option of starting with a fresh session upon log-in. I don't know how or if that re-wrote xorg.conf (it shouldn't) but when I looked at it, the thing had a current time stamp indicating changes had been made, and the modeline for 1900x1200 was gone. It still had a sub-section under Screens that reads:

Option "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0; 1920x1200 +0+0"

However, I couldn't choose that either with the nvidia-settings app or the KDE display configuration app.

All reverting back to the old xorg.conf did was add the 1900x1200 modeline back. It actually removed the option above, but I could still choose that resolution with the driver configuration app.

So, I dunno.

I've gone through every KDE config file in user space that seems logical as the culprit, but I've found nothing that would even hint at the problem. I can create user after user, and the displays in those all work fine ... start up at the native resolution for the monitor in fact, but not my normal user.

This is also taking place in a different form in KDE 3.9.x, btw, as I have since discovered. It reverts back to 1280x1024, which was the resolution I had it at while using my stand-by monitor.

I'm genuinely confused.