nVidia (177) drivers not leting me use dual screens

Okay, I'm very new, and working on learning this. I went through my install okay, and seem to be all up to date, and current, at least that is what it tells me. I installed a new video card, EVGA (nvidia) GTX 260 and am having trouble telling the nvidia x server setting window that I have 2 screens. I go to save here "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" and it says "Unable to create new X config backup file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'" I've tried to rename it and that doesn't seem to work. Not sure what I need to do or where to even look to see if the drivers I have are good, which are version 177, that are recommended. Please help. Bryan

Xyloid said: Okay, I'm very new, and working on learning this. I went through my install okay, and seem to be all up to date, and current, at least that is what it tells me. I installed a new video card, EVGA (nvidia) GTX 260 and am having trouble telling the nvidia x server setting window that I have 2 screens.

I go to save here "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" and it says "Unable to create new X config backup file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'" I've tried to rename it and that doesn't seem to work. Not sure what I need to do or where to even look to see if the drivers I have are good, which are version 177, that are recommended. Please help. Bryan

According to Ubuntu the 177 drivers support the GTX 260.

http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/nvidia-glx-177

Install nvidia-settings

sudo apt-get install nvidia-settings

There is a menu that lets you configure multiple displays if your card is capable.

You will need to use sudo for the settings to change.

okay, so is Sudo something I need to install from the applications menu or do I type that line in to that file that I referenced above in my original post?

Xyloid said: okay, so is Sudo something I need to install from the applications menu or do I type that line in to that file that I referenced above in my original post?

sudo is something you run from the command line. you need to bring up a terimal and run the previously specified command as noted.

okay, I typed that and this is what I got Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done nvidia-settings is already the newest version. nvidia-settings set to manually installed. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

should I reboot my machine for the changes to take effect or not? also the nVidia screen where I tell it to set up the second screen still gives me an error when trying to save configuration. it is working in windows but can't get it to work here, not sure what else I need to do.

Xyloid said: okay, I typed that and this is what I got

Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done nvidia-settings is already the newest version. nvidia-settings set to manually installed. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

should I reboot my machine for the changes to take effect or not? also the nVidia screen where I tell it to set up the second screen still gives me an error when trying to save configuration. it is working in windows but can't get it to work here, not sure what else I need to do.

When using the nvidia-settings try the command ``` gksu nvidia-settings

Okay, I've been using those screens that you have shown, as well as the command to open that window, and it says that it requires an x restart. Now when I hit apply it acts like it worked. Then when I hit the save to X configuration file, it gives me "Unable to create new X config backup file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'." error. How do I get nVidia to save this setting so that I can use the two monitor?

can I run a restart in a command window (terminal) while the nVidia window is open to do the restart?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NvidiaMultiMonitors or https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Video

You need to

Open a terminal and enter:

gksu nvidia-settings

If you do not run as root (with gksu) you will not be able to save the settings.

Set you video options -> save your settings. When you save your settings, DO NOT merge with the existing settings (un check the merge option when asked).

The restart X (log out and back in) this is a one time configuration, so you should not need to run nvidia-settings every time you log in.

Thanks, that is what I needed. That makes more sense to me too.

I'm having this problem as well, again, after upgrading to Intrepid.

Hardware drivers says that NVIDIA driver 1.77 is activated and currently in use.

When I try to start NVIDIA X server settings it says "You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X driver. Please edit your X configuration file (just run nvidia-xconfig as root), and restart the X server. "

sudo nvidia-xconfig gives me : Using X configuration file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf". Backed up file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' as '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup' New X configuration file written to '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'

However, when i restart the x server, or when i restart the system, it still won't let me access the NVIDIA X-server settings, and I start the loop above again.