Linux – Change screen resolution on Linux Mint

linux-mintnvidiaresolution

I have just installed Linux Mint 14 and I cannot change the screen resolution. The appropriate resolution 1920 x 1200, just isn't among the options.

I have tried this solution but it reports:

xrandr: cannot find output "VGA1"

I have also tried this, but it reports:

Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
    If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
    and start again.
(EE) 
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support 
     at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.

Edit1

My graphics card information:

Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GF108 [GeForce GT 440] bus-ID: 01:00.0 X.Org: 1.13.0 driver: nvidia Resolution: 640x480@59.9hz 
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GT 440/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 4.3.0 NVIDIA 313.26 Direct Rendering: Yes

Running sudo lshw -class outputs:

*-display               
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: GF108 [GeForce GT 440]
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: a1
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
       resources: irq:16 memory:fa000000-faffffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:d0000000-d1ffffff ioport:e000(size=128) memory:fb000000-fb07ffff
  *-display
       description: Display controller
       product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 09
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:57 memory:fb400000-fb7fffff memory:b0000000-bfffffff ioport:f000(size=64)

Edit2

Running xrandr command in terminal outputs:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
DVI-I-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA-2 connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768       60.0* 
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   848x480        60.0  
   640x480        59.9

This is without nvidia driver installed.

Edit3

After executing command xrandr --newmode "1920x1200_60.00" 193.25 1920 2056 2256 2592 1200 1203 1209 1245 -hsync +vsync it reports:

X Error of failed request:  BadName (named color or font does not exist)
  Major opcode of failed request:  140 (RANDR)
  Minor opcode of failed request:  16 (RRCreateMode)
  Serial number of failed request:  29
  Current serial number in output stream:  29

Edit4

When I try solution from here running sudo Xorg -configure, I get:

Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
    If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
    and start again.

(EE) 
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support 
     at http://wiki.x.org
 for help. 
(EE)

Best Answer

Based on your xrandr output above there are two problems; firstly the output name is VGA-2 (not VGA0) and secondly it seems that you don't have a mode available for 1920x1200.

First just try setting the resolution:

xrandr --output VGA-2 --size 1920x1200

If that doesn't work (which I think it won't as 1920x1200 isn't a mode) then do the following:

cvt 1920 1200

Copy and paste the full modeline information e.g. for me I get:

Modeline "1920x1200_60.00"  193.25  1920 2056 2256 2592  1200 1203 1209 1245 -hsync +vsync

What we want to copy is what is after Modeline e.g. "1920x1200_60.00" 193.25 1920 2056 2256 2592 1200 1203 1209 1245 -hsync +vsync

Now do the following:

xrandr --newmode <WHAT_WE_COPIED_FROM_MODELINE>
xrandr --addmode VGA-2 1920x1200_60.00

e.g. in the second command after the VGA-2 we put the bit in quotes from modeline

Finally:

xrandr --output VGA-2 --mode 1920x1200_60.00

The same descriptor for the mode.

This should create a new mode of 1920x1200, assign that mode for VGA-2 and then set VGA-2 to use that mode.

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