Ubuntu GeForce GT240 dual monitors?

[rans6andrew]

those helpful chaps at Scan advised that the GeForce GT240 graphics card would support 2 monitors, I just needed to have a HDMI adaptor to 15 pin D type and then plug in a second screen ............

So, this afternoon I did just that. I plugged in the HDMI - D type adaptor and plugged in 2 monitors, both 15 D type connected, and all that has happened is that the picture now appears on the monitor connected through the HDMI adaptor, the original screen is completely blank.

I suspect that the graphics driver is one of the many things that got screwed up in the latest Ubuntu release (11.10!) as the "Displays" utility does not even recognise the display already connected and just goes with a default driver.

Has anyone succeded in getting this up and running?

Ta,

Rans6......

[boguing]

I've almost lost the will to live over this. But - in Win7.

Even bought a second graphics card.

I will return to it and conquer it one day soon, but for now I offer two thoughts.

Anything in the bios you could play with?

Set the bios to reveal all on boot, step through it looking to see how many monitors it sees.

[rans6andrew]

ta boguing, I have had a search through the bios but didn't find anything "display" related to mess with except for selection of display type during boot up.

I have not tried "full info", I have seen the standard info report a single display adapter, ie one graphics card.

ongoing,

Rans6...

[boguing]

You are not alone.

These new bioses resemble video games. Very clever to allow mouse use, but as far as I can seen, not much improved.

I think that my problem is power related, but this is an incredibly low powered machine. About 60 Watts peak.

Won't post again until mine works. A few days.

[Keef]

I just took a GT240 out of my PC because it kept crashing the machine, so I can't look at the settings now. (It seemed it occasionally tried to pull more power from the PCI-E slot than the slot can deliver).

I replaced it with a GTS450, which has a separate power lead to it and has been fine (so far).

The Windows setup panel for the 450 seems to imply that it will handle two monitors. I don't have two here at the minute so I can't try it to see.

I had a "test" machine with Ubuntu, and had terrible problems with the graphics setup. When the old card died, and I fitted a different brand, Ubuntu wouldn't play at all. The video driver process seems to be very tortuous.

[shortdrygrass]

Are you using the open source or the proprietary Nvidia driver?

I've no experience with that particular card but I've always found the proprietary drivers from Nvidia to be superior to the open source drivers in every regard .

Here's the link for the 64-bit driver:
NVIDIA DRIVERS 290.10 Certified

and the 32-bit driver:
NVIDIA DRIVERS 290.10 Certified

If you haven't used these before follow the links under "Additional Information" for the "howtos". You'll need the GNU compiler installed to run the installation script.

Hope this helps. If not you've lost nothing by trying.

Good luck and Happy New Year,

sdg

[rans6andrew]

ta Shortdrygrass, that looks promising.

I currently have whatever driver the Ubuntu 11.10 loaded when it upgraded from 10.something.

I'm not up to speed on GNU and installation scripts, is it self explanatory? or is there a guide to this stuff somewhere?

I did note that in yesterday's update there was an upgrade to the GNU compiler, I think it was, which I accepted.

I was threatening to get into C programming on the system over the Xmas break but ran out of days.........

Rans6....

[POWDERFINGER]

When you have some time, have a look at the smxi and sgfxi scripts. These are quite useful when you get into the more sophisticated graphics setups on a Linux machine. Ubuntu and Debian are fully supported, and sgfxi automates much of the work in updating the newest drivers.