Max resolution available is 1024x768, while I should expect 1280x1024

Question

The max resolution what I can choose is 1024x768. What shall I do to have 1280x1024 (max resolution of my monitor) option too?

My configuration:

• a Siemens brand PC
• Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot
• Samsung SyncMater 913n TFT monitor via analog (D-Sub) connection

• Graphics card is reported to be (lspci):

  00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated 
          Graphics Controller [8086:2572] (rev 02)
  

  and lshw:

  *-display
      description: VGA compatible controller
      product: 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller vendor: Intel Corporation
      physical id: 2
      bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
      version: 02
      width: 32 bits
      clock: 33MHz
      capabilities: pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
      configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
      resources: irq:16 memory:f0000000-f7ffffff memory:e0000000-e007ffff ioport:1000(size=8)
  

Solution

You appear to be running into a specific combination of hardware bug. It is already reported as LP Bug #783165 and I think it's caused by something odd in the EDID of your display that confuses the i915 driver. Make sure you mark yourself as affected in that bug report, subscribe to updates if you like and feel free to post a working workaround in the bug report. This could be useful for anyone else running into the same and hitting to the bug report rather than the Q&A here.

Workaround

There's this workaround I spotted on chrisnewland.com:

Use the xrandr command to get the detected modes

chriswhocodes@debian:~$ xrandr  Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current
1024 x 768, maximum 4096 x 4096  VGA-0 connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal
left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm    1360x768       59.8   
1024x768       60.0*    800x600        60.3     56.2      848x480     
60.0      640x480        59.9     59.9   

Note the name of the screen, here it is VGA-0 but yours may differ

Use the cvt command to get a Modeline string for the resolution you want (1280x1024)

chriswhocodes@debian:~$ cvt 1280 1024 
# 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 

Now copy everything after the word Modeline into the xrandr --newmode command

chriswhocodes@debian:~$ xrandr --newmode "1280x1024_60.00"  109.00 
1280 1368 1496 1712  1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync 

Now add the mode to your screen

chriswhocodes@debian:~$ xrandr --addmode VGA-0 1280x1024_60.00 

Now change to the new resolution

chriswhocodes@debian:~$ xrandr --output VGA-0 --mode 1280x1024_60.00 

You should now be running at 1280x1024 but you need the next step to make it permanent

From here the posted workaround seems to be out of date. See this answer on how to make it permanent.

Comments

[gertvdijk]

Any reason for using Ubuntu 11.10 still? Two new stable releases have followed this already. Also, provide more information: (lspci -nn | grep -iE "(vga|graphics)", sudo lshw -C display, monitor brand/model, connection type (D-Sub/DVI/...), what application are you using to adjust the resolution?

[Rinzwind]

You can add resolutions with xrandr. There are several topics on AU about xrandr. Example: askubuntu.com/questions/138408/… but you need a bit of information about your card. @gertvdijk 's comment probably will get you those ;)

[Zoltán O.]

@gertvdijk: The outputs are bellow. I use Samsung SyncMater 913n TFT monitor via analog (D-Sub) connection. user1@user1-SCENIC-E:~$ lspci -nn | grep -iE "(vga|graphics)" 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2572] (rev 02)

[Zoltán O.]

@gertvdijk the second results: user1@user1-SCENIC-E:~$ sudo lshw -C display *-display description: VGA compatible controller product: 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 2 bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0 version: 02 width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom configuration: driver=i915 latency=0 resources: irq:16 memory:f0000000-f7ffffff memory:e0000000-e007ffff ioport:1000(size=8)

[gertvdijk]

@ZoltánO. Thanks, but edit your question next time, rather than posting output in an unformatted way in comments. I've done this for you this time. Have you tried to boot from a live CD with Ubuntu 12.04.1/12.10 and see if your problem is solved in a more recent version?

[Zoltán O.]

@gertvdijk Thanks for your help. I tried Ubuntu 12.04.1 not only with live CD but I installed it too. There I have the same problem and there was no sound either.

[Zoltán O.]

Now its fine up to have resolution. But I can not save it. There is no gdm directory under my /etc. I made a grep with MC and it did not find anywhere files "Default" and after that did not find file which contains OLD_IFS=$IFS strings.

[gertvdijk]

Yes, I guess you're right about GDM not available. This seems changed in recent Ubuntu releases and using LightDM. Could anyone elaborate on changing this for Ubuntu 11.10+? I'm running KDM/Kubuntu here and totally not an expert on this particular piece of configuration.

[Zoltán O.]

I can find the missing last part on this page. After creating my “/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf” file I've got 1280*1024 resolution. Many thanks for the help.

[gertvdijk]

@ZoltánO. Great to hear it helped you work around this bug. I've incorporated the last piece from the link you posted in my answer. Consider accepting and/or upvoting my answer if you think it was helpful.