Apps spawning on wrong display

Lenovo/ThinkPad R61e
Ubuntu 12.04 64bit
Zorin 6.3 64bit
Processor: Intel® Pentium(R) Dual CPU T2390 @ 1.86GHz × 2
Graphics: Unknown

Apps spawning on external monitor instead of Laptop display. Browser can spawn on Laptop display but immediately moves itself to external monitor upon maximizing the window, can be moved back but unmaximizes in the process, try maximizing again and it jumps back to external monitor. These things have never happened on my Ubuntu Distro, nor usually on Mint. I've had nothing but display issues with Zorin on both of my machines, I run external monitors on both of my laptops, that's the way I compute and it's not up to me to change the way I do things, the OS is supposed to be configureable to my preferences.

Any fixes for this? Maybe an obscure setting I have to select? Help is appreciated, Thanks

Hi,

open System Settings > System > Details > Overview and it should tell you your processor type!!.

If it is Nvidia, look here please but make sure you use the correct PPA!!:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2490

Let us know how you get on.

Have you fully updated?, see also:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247

Regards Wolfman

No Linux Distro tells me the display info, they all say "unknown" in System Details on this laptop. In fact when I had to replace the back-light invertor and led array because the display failed, I had to take it apart first and get the part numbers to even order the parts.

As to "Open Compiz > Effects > Animations > Focus Animation > Highlight where it says "Focus Effect" - "Dodge" > Edit > Focus Effect > Select "None" > Close" I could not locate this particular selection in Compiz, so I disabled all effects, since I don't need effects anyway.

This has not changed the problem with apps spawning in the wrong display.

As to the "x-swat" drivers, my displays work fine otherwise and I can switch each off independently or use both, I don't have the problems I have with the Toshiba you previously helped me with. (Incidentally, it reverted to previous behavior when I came back to the machine after a few hours doing something else) I don't see how these drivers can help with this issue I have on the Lenovo with apps spawning in the wrong display as both displays work perfectly.

This is the second install of Zorin on this machine, I did in fact use the x-swat drivers the first time just in case it would need it, in the spirit that it couldn't hurt and might improve things from the start. But all of my app windows had the top 1/4" cut off of them, the part with the control buttons (minimize, maximize, and close) and had to close apps from the system tray. So I re-installed clean in the same partition.

Hi,

paste this command in a terminal and then look for "VGA compatible controller" in the list:

lspci -v

and that will show you what graphics card you have, you can paste the details here.

When you installed, did you do a complete clean install or did you use your home partition that had already been used by another version of Linux??. If you used a previous home partition from a different OS, this might explain a lot!!.

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman, this is the info checking from my Ubuntu 12.04, which I'm tied up on for the next 4 hours or so and can't get to the Zorin til I'm done with my current endeavor.

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary) (rev 0c) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Lenovo T61
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 45
Memory at f8100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
I/O ports at 1800 [size=8]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: intelfb, i915

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (secondary) (rev 0c)
Subsystem: Lenovo T61
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Memory at f8200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
Capabilities: <access denied>

This machine has always been unclear as to graphics in any Distro of Linux, but it's always worked properly before the current issue with Zorin.
I hope this info helps to determine the cause of this issue and I appreciate your efforts:-)

Incidentally, I did format the partition before I re-installed, there are no remnants of the previous Zorin install on that partition.

Hi,

if you still have the Nvidia drivers installed, I assume that that is what is causing your problem as you have an Intel graphics card and not Nvidia or ATI.

To remove the Nvidia drivers (if you did install them), use this command:

sudo apt-get remove nvidia-current nvidia-settings

and that should stabilse your system.

Once you have removed the drivers, restart in recovery mode and run "DPKG" as per the update guide and restart using Ctrl + Alt + Del.

Let us know what hapened.

Regards Wolfman

Ok Wolfman, this is what I've got.

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package nvidia-settings is not installed, so not removed
Package nvidia-current is not installed, so not removed
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
linux-headers-3.2.0-37 linux-headers-3.2.0-37-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

The problem still persists, and tops of my app windows are chopped off again, missing the Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons.

I've been using Linux for over 4 years without any of these issues, now I've got display issues on 2 machines I've installed Zorin on. If I'm having this much trouble with the OS I don't even want to think of what I'll have to go through making it run correctly on machines owned by others. I've come to the conclusion that it is just not a finished product and not suitable to recommend to my potential converts as an easy entry level Linux distribution, even with it's easy Windows 7 and XP optional desktops. I'm removing it from both my systems and my life.

Nothing personal, I appreciate all your effort towards solving these display issues. Perhaps I might come back to it in a couple of years, perhaps not. For now, I'll just have to take the extra 30 minutes to explain with more depth the workings of Ubuntu to my converts, they'll be better off for it.

If you are running Nvidia on any of your machines and the general procedure didn't work for you !!!!
Then this procedure will probably make you a happy camper.
Your the first I have given these instructions to use.



Firstly you must install these packages to be able to compile the Nvidia kernel module.

: sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic linux-source build-essential


Now you can install the nvidia driver package, I recommend Nvidia 313.00

: sudo apt-get install nvidia-313-updates

After install run nvidia xconfig to make X use the driver (might not be needed).

: sudo nvidia-xconfig


If you still are having problems making X use the nvidia driver, try to update initramfs.

: sudo update-initramfs -u

Hope this helps!

In some cases I've found by reverting back to Grub instead of Grub v2 life was even better.
You can replace one for the other by :

: sudo apt-get install grub

: sudo update-grub

Hi,

have you tried booting into a previous kernel and does that work??. (Select the 2nd option in the boot menu and choose an older kernel!)

You can try changing your software sources location and running DPKG again!!.

Did you try running "FSCK" in recovery mode to check the file system??.

Is the cable connection to your monitor in correctly?.

Here is a thread about solviing the top panel problem:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4154#p19503

Let us know what happens.

Regards Wolfman