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Talk:Problem with video output switching

2008-02-25T20:00:36Z

Gumbyx84: /* Problems with T60P */

__TOC__

==Radeon driver working great in my X31 ==

The radeon driver video output switching is working in my X31 as intended. Perhaps I should update a bit this page, because the problems listed for radeon are very old, but I don't want to do this without the experience of people with other Radeon video cards.

For me Fn-F7 is working in console and X (Debian Etch). It stops to work when I run X with mergedFB settings to be able to have 2 displays (which is the way it works in windows by the way). But is working perfectly for the intended use (to have one screen and be able to plug an external cloned screen or projector with the same resolution).

--[[User:Ungoliant|Ungoliant]] 18:23, 25 February 2007 (CET)

==X40 solution ==
I have found a solution for switching back to LCD with the Intel Cards on my X40. But it semms a bit strange to me so maybe someone can confirm that it also works on other Thinkpads (mine is a X41) and setups before I edit that wiki entry.

If i do echo lcd_enable,crt_disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/video after enabling crt i get to see the screen on both lcd and crt although scrambled on crt. After executing it the second time i get lcd only. So for now i always execute that command twice.

==Describe the problem (cloning) ==
Hello

I suggest to describe the problem a little more in detail. Moreover, cloning, that is to have the display on both screens the external and the LCD, is possible.
[[User:Oub|Oub]] 13:57, 11 July 2006 (CEST):

Thats interresting. The person that wrote that "lcd_enable" should write which model he has, because I have no problems with my T43.
I mainly use "video_switch".

[[User:Defint|Defiant]] 17:06, 11 July 2006 (CEST)

== X60(s)? ==
Does the problem of switching video output also exist for the X60(s) series?<br>
Yes it does. Getting i810switch + patch fixes the problem. Details in the main page.

== Problems with T60P ==

Even with more recent drivers (Ubuntu currently has 8.37.6 in its repositories), video switching is not possible with the ''fglrx'' drivers, at least on the T60p. I do not know if this is a problem with ''fglrx'' or the acpi events (if you view ''/etc/acpi/events/ibm-videobtn'', you will see that it is just a placeholder that does nothing). Has anyone successfully gotten video switching to work with ''fglrx'' under Ubuntu or any other distribution using this version of ''fglrx''?

Also, I have edited the alternative solution for ''fglrx'' to indicate a potential problem users might run into. When I tired it, most of my function key combos and the volume control buttons stopped working. Has anyone experienced this with another other Thinkpad model?

-Gumbyx84

Talk:Problem with video output switching

2008-02-25T19:57:21Z

Gumbyx84: New section: Problems with T60P

Problem with video output switching

2008-02-25T19:28:24Z

Gumbyx84: /* With the fglrx driver */

==Affected Models==
*ThinkPad {{T40}}, {{T40p}}, {{T41}}, {{T41p}}, {{T42}}, {{T42p}}, {{T43}}, {{T43p}}, {{T60}}, {{T61}}
*ThinkPad {{R61}}
*ThinkPad {{X22}}, {{X23}}, {{X31}}, {{X41}}, {{X60}}, {{X60s}}

==Problem Description==
External video output is not working, or it is not possible, using the FN-F7 key, to switch between the LCD and the external monitor in the following way:
LCD --> external Monitor--> both -->LCD
However ''cloning'' is possible for the Intel chipsets, see below.

=== At least as of Fedora 8 with intel chipset the following works: [[Sample Fn-F7 script]] ===

===Problems with Intel chipsets===
Disabling the internal LCD (e.g. when using an external Monitor) doesn't seem to work reliably.

* For Xorg 7.022 one can clone the LCD display to an external monitor, adding the following lines to the Device section in the xorg.conf file:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
Driver "i810"
Option "Clone" "true"
Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT,LFP"
however you can not switch between these screens as described above, once you use FN-F7 the cloned display is lost.

* i810switch doesn't have any effect. After disabling the LCD it is still on (but the status display of i810switch claims that is is switched off).

* The following works with Fedora Core 6 on an {{X60s}} and CentOS 5 on {{X60}}: i810switch 0.6.5 with the patch found on http://thpinfo.com/2006/patches/i810switch_macbook_support.patch can switch between LCD and CRT (and initially CRT is off) (NOTE: The first hunk of this patch does not apply to the source, just remove it, it is unnecessary). This patch makes i810switch recognize the i915 chipset. It should thus be doable to use this with an ACPI event/action to do {{key|Fn}}{{key|F7}} switching. After installing i810switch and its i810rotate script and the missing [[ibm-acpi]] kernel module I did the following to achieve just that:

In /etc/rc.local:
modprobe ibm_acpi
echo enable,0x084c > /proc/acpi/ibm/hotkey

in /etc/acpi/events/videoswitch.conf:
event=ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001007
action=/etc/acpi/actions/video-rotate.sh

Make sure the event code is correct. If acpid doesn't seem to recognise the event, try to recopy it from acpi log.

in /etc/acpi/actions/video-rotate.sh
#!/bin/bash
exec /usr/sbin/i810rotate

* i855crt works see: http://stefan.desire.ch/howto/x41debian/#graphics for details.

* With [[ibm-acpi]], {{cmdroot|echo lcd_disable >/proc/acpi/ibm/video}} works, but {{cmdroot|echo lcd_enable >/proc/acpi/ibm/video}} doesn't work - so one can't enable it anymore after disabling it. (the strange thing is that when switching to a console with {{key|ctrl}}{{key|alt}}{{key|F1}} the LCD display is used for it, so there must be some way to enable it but I can't find out how to control this in X). I've tried this with version 0.8 and version 0.11 of [[ibm-acpi]].
** {{key|Fn}}{{key|F7}} lets me enable the internal LCD after I disabled it with {{cmdroot|echo lcd_disable >/proc/acpi/ibm/video}} on my X41 but it corrupts the crt out

===Problems with ATI chipsets===
*It is a [http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2000 known issue] of xorgs radeon driver that {{key|Fn}}{{key|F7}} doesn't work.

The {{cmdroot|radeontool light off}} and {{cmdroot|radeontool dac off}} commands will disable the LCD and CRT if they're been enabled before in the X server, but the corresponding {{cmdroot|radeontool light on}} and {{cmdroot|radeontool dac on}} will not work if the displays have were not enabled when the X server started. Also note that turing off the CRT using this command will not reduce power consumption, nor allow [[fglrx]] to enable power saving modes.

You might try the following: Hit Ctrl+Alt+F1 to switch to a console, hit Fn+F7 to switch video, hit Alt+F7 to switch back to X.

* Similar problems exist with XFree86 4.3 and its radeon driver

You '''can''' switch the display off after switching to tty1 (STRG+ALT+F1) by
* pressing FN+F7 or
* executing ''echo crt_disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/video'' as root

You '''cannot''' do this under X11. The display is always on under X11. I tried
* ''echo auto_disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/video''
* ''echo crt_disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/video''
* ''echo lcd_disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/video''
* pressing FN+F7

but none of the above had any effect. If you switch the display off, then start X or switch to it, the display
will be activated automatically.

====With the radeon driver====
You can force the <tt>radeon</tt> driver to enable both CRT and LCD using <tt>Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS,CRT"</tt> in the <tt>"Device"</tt> section of {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf}}.

With new versions of the [[radeon]] drivers that include [[Xorg RandR 1.2]] support, you can fully control all outputs using the <tt>xrandr</tt> utility.

====With the fglrx driver====
Output switching with the Closed-Source ati-driver works: Just use {{cmdroot|aticonfig --query-monitor}} and e.g. {{cmdroot |aticonfig --enable-monitor..."}}. You can use those two commands in a script, and bind them to {{key|Fn}}{{key|F7}}. Or use <tt>Option "ForceMonitors" "lvds,crt1"</tt> in {{path|/etc/X11/xorg.conf}}.

----

Alternative solution: {{path|fglrx}} 8.28.8 will recognize {{key|Fn}}{{key|F7}} directly, if the key is enabled. This obviates the need for scripts which call aticonfig. To enable the hotkey, issue the command {{cmdroot|echo enable,0xffff >/proc/acpi/ibm/hotkey}}. You'll want to have this run both at boot time, and after resume (on my T43, the hotkey mask is reset on resume). For Ubuntu, I've put a script with the command in both the {{path|/etc/acpi/resume.d}}, and {{path|/etc/acpi/start.d}} directories.

'''NOTE:''' This command will not enable video output swtiching on a T60p running Ubuntu 7.10. Executing this command will cause problem with the volume control keys and a few of the function keys (Ex. FN-F5 will no longer toggle Bluetooth).
----

Using kubuntu 7.04 with xorg-driver-fglrx 7.1.0-8.34.8+2.6.20.5-16.29, fglrx failed to recognise {{key|Fn}}{{key|F7}}. However the following scripts can be used with acpi. Tested on a T42p.

* /etc/acpi/events/ibmvideobtn
# /etc/acpi/events/ibmvideobtn
# This is called when the user presses the video button.
event=ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001007
action=/etc/acpi/ibm-video.sh

* /etc/acpi/ibm-video.sh
#!/bin/sh

# ACPI Scripts run as root, but the display will not allow access
# from other users.
# Lookup the X process for :0, find the -auth command line option,
# extract the name of the authority file and use this file
# to gain access to the DISPLAY
export XAUTHORITY=`ps -ef | grep /usr/bin/X | grep :0 | grep -v grep | \
awk -F' -' '{for (i=1; i<=NF; i++) if (substr($i, 0, 4)=="auth") print $i}' \
| awk '{print $2}'`

export DISPLAY=:0

# Query current monitor setup
# Expect output from aticonfig such as:
# Connected monitors: crt1, lvds
# Enabled monitors: crt1
#
current=`aticonfig --query-monitor | tail -1 | awk -F: '{print $2}' | cut -c2-`

# Cycle round to next monitor setup.
# We loop through these settings
# 1. CRT
# 2. LCD
# 3. CRT and LCD
echo Current video: $current

case $current in
crt1)
echo Switching to LCD
aticonfig --enable-monitor=lvds
;;
lvds)
echo Switching to both LCD and CRT
aticonfig --enable-monitor=crt1,lvds
;;
"crt1, lvds")
echo Switching to CRT
aticonfig --enable-monitor=crt1
;;
*)
# Unexpected current monitor, change to internal LCD
echo Unknown current mode, switching to LCD
aticonfig --enable-monitor=lvds
esac

====With the VESA driver====

I have fixed the problem on my T42 by switching to the generic VESA driver in xorg.conf, and rebooting, as mentioned on the xorg bug page above. None of the other solutions worked.

==Related Links==
*https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2000

==Solutions==

====BIOSHotKeys====

Try adding
Option "BiosHotKeys" "on"
to "Device" selection in /etc/xorg.conf. For some reason, this is not the default, and will cause xorg to ignore the BIOS's request to switch modes!
This fixes the problem for an X22, with xorg 6.9.0.

It fixed this problem for a X31 with xorg 7.1.1 too, but as the CRT is the primary display in some Thinkpads (like in the X31), you can not switch back to the LCD (or both) if xorg has started with the CRT only or both mode, because it sets the resolution and or refresrate to high for the LCD.