Ubuntu – Intel GMA 4500M screen resolution problem

11.10intel graphicsresolutionscreen

I was previously running 10.10 on my Acer Aspire laptop. It has Intel GMA 4500M integrated graphics and worked just fine. Great display, sharp, crisp, etc.

I decided to do a fresh install of 11.10 Oneiric and now am having problems. Originally I was getting the dreaded blank screen where the brightness was turned almost completely off. Some searching pulled up several easy fixes (editing GRUB).

Right now I am still having one issue. The screen resolution is stuck at a max of 1024×768 giving me a distorted screen.

Is there any way to fix this issue? I've Googled, searched Ask Ubuntu and also spent time on the forums looking for a solution. Thus far, nothing. Apparently, was and still is a concern in Natty?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best Answer

I have an Intel GMA 4500. I Googled for answers but nothing seemed to solve my problem.

Finally I came across this that says for acpi_osi=Linux, the brightness meter works in reverse, which was why my display started with a blank screen i.e. since it is reverse, max brightness = blank screen.

Following are a few interesting notes from the link:

  1. Without i915.modeset=0 the backlight does appear to start in the off position. Hitting Fn-brighter once turns it back on. On my keyboard, brighter is Fn-left-arrow and dimmer is Fn-right-arrow, which is different than I usually see.

  2. Starting with kernel modesetting gets me a graphical console that works fine until X tries to start.

  3. X won't start with kernel modesetting, either automatically or from runlevel 3. X -configure fails. With nomodeset 1024x768 is the only available resolution once logged in to a session. Of note, kdm comes up at the correct resolution with nomodeset but once the X session starts it falls back to 1024x768.

  4. acpi_osi=Linux is required for the back light keys to function. I see no lasting benefit to having turned it on and off as described in Comment #18 - still doesn't work with it off here.

  5. Same symptoms booting from the F15 DVD. nomodeset option works at reduced resolution, black screen with default graphical installer.

So if your display starts with a blank screen, try decreasing the brightness to check if the screen appears. My display works fine now, but in reverse.

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