XFree86/Matrox G400: I lost my dual-head functionality.

[Kyler Laird]

[I originally posted this to comp.os.linux.misc but then realized
that it would be more appropriate here.]

I've been running XFree86 4.3 on my boss' machine for quite awhile.
I recall that it was a real struggle to configure it so that the G400
would display the same image on both monitors (one DVI, the other
analog) and I had to work around the internal i810 adapter that I was
never able to initialize when the G400 was operational.

The result, just being able to see the same thing on two monitors,
has been sufficient. Then I destroyed everything.

My boss has been having problems due to font changes in KDE. I found
that some operations (opening a folder, for example) would cause the
X server to eat all of the CPU time indefinitely. I thought that a
newer or older X server might help so I tried a couple. That was not
it. I eventually solved it by wiping out his KDE configuration and
starting fresh. I haven't been able to restore the use of two
monitors though.

I've tried reinstalling the proprietary Matrox driver, mga_hal. I'm
able to see console displays on both monitors, but when X starts, it
goes to only one of them. I have the configuration file from before.

What am I missing? What's required to make the G400 display the same
thing on both displays? I was *not* using Xinerama. It must be
something simple.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

--kyler

[Kyler Laird]

Problem solved!

The problem was mga_hal. Apparently that's what caused X to appear only
on one display. I removed mga_hal, reinstalled the X server, and now X
appears on both displays.

Thanks for the help offered with this. It was a real thorn in my side
and I'm thrilled to have it working again.

--kyler