video equipment still forcing my laptop to a lower res, argh

[Robert P. J. Day]

Quoting Ed Greshko <Ed.Greshko at greshko.com>:

> Ed Greshko wrote:
>> Robert P. J. Day wrote:
>>
>>>   ok, i've fought with this for a bit but still have no solution.  to
>>> recap, dell inspiron 9200, WUXGA (1920x1200) display, now running F9,
>>> runs in full WUXGA mode out of the box perfectly.
>>>
>>>   the instant i connect via VGA to a video processing unit (sorry, i
>>> can't be more specific, i'm not allowed), when i restart the X server,
>>> it comes up in 1152x864.  why is this?  what is it about X that
>>> connecting to an external VGA destination will drive the resolution on
>>> the laptop lower?  i'm baffled.
>>>
>>>
>> The first place I would look is in /var/log/Xorg.0.log and determine if
>> there is a difference between when X starts with the unit connected and
>> when not connected.  The log file is generated upon X starting.
>>
> I should have added that this is probably hardware related.  Chances are
> the video chipset detects that it is attached to an external device and
> the external hardware is limited to the lower resolution and thus
> reports this at X startup.

   i'd thought of that, but i was *assured* by people who should know that
the external hardware is not reporting anything back to the laptop.  and
forgive my video-related ignorance, but what is *normally* reported back?
in what format?  and is there a way to tap that info in real time (a la
tcpdump)?  or is just checking the X log file the way to go?  thanks.

rday