How do I add 1280x1024 screen resolution to nVidia X Server Settings?

Question

I'm fairly new to Ubuntu (version 17.04) and Linux in general and I'm having a very frustrating problem regarding my resolution. I want my resolution to be set to 1280x1024 at 60Hz but I don't see that option on nVidia X Server Settings. The best resolution that works on my display 1152x870. Somehow, I've had it set to 1280x1024 at 60Hz before, until something went wrong and I had to reinstall Ubuntu.

I've done everything I could from tweaking the xorg.conf file to using xrander. Tweaking xorg.conf changed nothing, or made things worse. And I keep getting an error message when I use xrandr (See below)

Here's what happens when I try xrandr:

warangel@MyPC:~$ cvt 1280 1024 60

# 1280x1024 59.89 Hz (CVT 1.31M4) hsync: 63.67 kHz; pclk: 109.00 MHz
Modeline "1280x1024_60.00"  109.00  1280 1368 1496 1712  1024 1027 
1034 1063 -hsync +vsync

And then when I use xrandr newmode:

sudo xrandr --newmode "1280x1024_60.00"  109.00  1280 1368 1496 1712  
1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync
[sudo] password for warangel:

When I add my password for root, it's so far so good.

Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1152 x 864, maximum 8192 x 8192
DVI-I-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA-0 connected primary 1152x864+0+0 (normal left inverted right x 
axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
    1024x768      60.00 +
    1360x768      59.96    59.80  
    1152x864      60.00* 
    800x600       72.19    60.32    56.25  
    680x384       59.96    59.80  
    640x480       59.94  
    512x384       60.00  
    400x300       72.19  
    320x240       60.05  
DVI-I-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
    1280x1024_60.00 (0x281) 109.000MHz -HSync +VSync
          h: width  1280 start 1368 end 1496 total 1712 skew 0 clock  
    63.67KHz
          v: height 1024 start 1027 end 1034 total 1063 clock 59.89Hz

But here's where it all goes wrong. When I enter:

sudo xrandr --addmode VGA-0 "1280x1024_60.00"

I get:

X Error of failed request:  BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
Major opcode of failed request:  140 (RANDR)
Minor opcode of failed request:  18 (RRAddOutputMode)
Serial number of failed request:  29
Current serial number in output stream:  30

I'm at my wit's end. I don't know what I'm doing wrong! What does this error message mean? I don't understand!

Can somebody please help me figure this out? I would appreciate it very much.

EDIT: Here's what my xorg.conf file currently looks like, and it's still not giving me the 1280x1024 resolution like it did before I had to reinstall Ubuntu:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 381.09  (buildd@lcy01-36)  Sat Apr  8 
10:34:38 UTC 2017

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    # HorizSync source: builtin, VertRefresh source: builtin
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "CRT-1"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 55.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Modeline       "1280x1024_60.00"  109.00  1280 1368 1496 1712  
                    1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GT 240"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "Stereo" "0"
    Option         "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-1"
    Option         "1280x1024 +0+0"
    Option         "SLI" "Off"
    Option         "MultiGPU" "Off"
    Option         "BaseMosaic" "off"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes          "1280x1024"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Solution

I found a post in: https://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-2290004.html from 2015 where is mentioned:

The problem is that NVIDIA driver has a BUG in EDID, and cannot use this
information rightly. After search a lot how to override this problem
without success, I just send a nice GTFO to NVIDIA driver and installed the
Nouveaul driver.

Does this help you ?

Comments

[Admin]

I have no fitting answer for you yet and your commands look ok, but I think it has to do with the "0mm x 0mm" in: VGA-0 connected primary 1152x864+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm The only time I got a similar error was when I issued "--rmmode" while the mode was still assigned to my VGA-1; first delmode, then rmmode. I continue investigating this issue. Let me know if you are making any progress. Oh... why are you using sudo? No need.

[Klesun]

The GTFO part seems to be the right solution