[Dapper] New nVidia 1.0.8756 graphics driver produces wrong refresh rate

This is the output of running "lspci -v" in my system.

As I can see in the nVidia official Linux forums, it seems that it's a general issue with the new graphics driver. Can anyone (users or Ubuntu developers) confirm that?

Rather simple...

I've found a workaround to get 85 Hz at 1024x768 (as I had got with the older drivers). According to

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=861453&postcount=18

I put the following lines in my /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Option "UseEdidFreqs" "FALSE"
Option "UseEDID" "FALSE"
Option "ModeValidation" "NoEdidModes"

And now I have 85 Hz. It isn't perfect, because with the older drivers I can select 1024x768 at 60 Hz, 70 Hz and 85 Hz, although it isn't a big problem (I always use the higher rate I can, 85 Hz).

By the way, my monitor is a 17" Samtron 75E.

I've posted the bug in nVidia Forums:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=862370&postcount=31

I confirm this bug. My refresh rate was stuck at 76 hrz which isn't supported by my tft-monitor. This was repaired by by adding the following lines to my xorg.cong: 1280x1024_60 and so on.

> This was repaired by by adding the following lines to my xorg.cong: 1280x1024_60 and so on.

That's right. According to the reply you can see in:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=862496&postcount=33

"Ricpelo,
Simply requesting "1024x768_85" as the mode in your xorg.conf will provide 1024X768@85Hz. The new driver requires that all modes have a unique name, so 1024x768 defaults to 70.1Hz on your system."

But I think this is a regression problem, as I say in the reply's response at:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=863316&postcount=50

"It seems like a regression problem. xorg.conf files which works with the old drivers doesn't works with the new one. I wonder if the distributions' autoconfiguration tools will need to be rewrited in order to take care of the new situation. I'm an Ubuntu user, and I believe this kind of regressions could produces delays in the release process."

According to a nVidia developer from nVidia Linux forum:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=863597&postcount=57

"I've now reproduced a problem where requesting a generic mode name (1280x1024 or 1600x1200) in the Screen section of the X configuration can, for some display devices, result in a non-ideal refresh rate based mode being used. I've opened bug 222555 for that problem."

I suggest leaving the default refresh rates at 70 so ALL monitors work. At 1280x1024 it is defaulting to 85Hz. This may work fine on a CRT, but you just killed all LCDs. Neither of the new 19" LCDs I have will display without warning at this frequency and I doubt most others will. While you are at it, set ALL sizes to 70Hz instead of this crap where every size has different frequency settings.

What is better, satisfying a few who people who THINK they need 85Hz, but screwing all the people with LCDs or having a setting that lets the entire world work? I think the answer is obvious.

There's a more obvious question: Is it a regression problem? Yes, because a user upgrading from Breezy to Dapper will have a display problem she haven't before the upgrade.

So I think this is simply a matter of common sense: if the hardware worked before, then it could work after as good as before.

SONY VAIO VGN-FS115MR
Nvidia GeForce Go 6200.
I have refresh rate 60 in Dapper,
but my laptop screen must be 85Hz.

Technically, this is an nVidia bug. Not an Ubuntu one. I'm using the stock nVidia drivers (got rid of restricted-modules) downloaded from nvidia.com and I have the same problems as you guys.

Any resolution I pick causes the nvidia drivers to overdrive my panel. Even explicitly setting the VertRefresh option to 60 does no good at all.

Now I use nVidia 1.0.8762 graphics driver. The latest driver from Nvidia.
But result is the same. It produces wrong refresh rate too.

Nvidia has modified their driver so that it uses safe settings for the chips. This is nothing new, I have a GF5200FX which used to do 1920x1200 on a DFP without setting any special options (note, it doesn't work on Windows at all, 1600x1200 being the maximum there).

that said, I'm not sure how far Ubuntu should go to support binary-only drivers..

Closing the bug since there is nothing we can do. Workaround mentioned in comment #4 should do.