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I've been cracking my head with this one all day, read all there is to be read around the issue (not much to be found on it to be honest: some questions, some blog posts and some unresolved tickets) but I can't seem to find a solution.

I`ve installed ubuntu 14.04 today, upgrading from 12.10 and right out of the box I noticed in the Display settings that it detect a 3rd display that I do not have hooked up to my laptop (that was not there in 12.10). I have a Samsung SyncMaster and the laptop display, but Ubuntu decided to place another Unknown Display next to them (or sometimes over and under them so you can't move them around).

Long story short is that I`m trying to configure nvidia and that unknown display is quite the issue.

I need a way to make ubuntu not detect that and not place it there. I`ve tried finding the name ubuntu detects it as using xrandr and then removing it from the grub as mentioned here, but that didn't work for me.

Some input on tackling this issue will be rewarded in beer.

Cheers!

EDIT: Ok so it seems they are working on it, there is an active ticket about this issue here. They released a fix in the proposed updates ubuntu-drivers-common package.

I've installed it and the phantom display is gone.

EDIT2: I've uninstalled the nvidia driver and went back to nouveau. The Unknown Display is back. Running xrandr -q told me that the ghost display renamed itself from VGA-0 to VGA-1-2. Removing it from grub now and will report if it`s gone.

EDIT3: Its still there.. In the changelog for the ubuntu-drivers-common it says "Ignore CRT displays when using PRIME. This works around systems whose BIOS provides a ghost output (LP: #1296020).", so Im gonna go ahead and reinstall the nvidia driver.

EDIT4: Right, so after installing the nvidia drivers the phantom display is gone. I've reached my goal to be able to comfigure nvidia.

Hope this post helps.

Cheers.

Community
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iffy
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  • I have the same problem with a new custom, embedded, machine using 14.04 server. There's no problem with the booting to console, it only crops up when staring Gnome but it caused lots of confusion when attempting to install gnome (again and again) until I discovered that Display listed the ghost monitor. I just moved the ghost to the right of my Display Port monitor and then deactivated it. – Nate Lockwood Aug 14 '14 at 17:44
  • This would be a more useful post were the final answer posted as an... answer. :P – Ernir Sep 14 '14 at 23:40

2 Answers2

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after installing the nvidia drivers the phantom display is gone. I've reached my goal to be able to comfigure nvidia

The details are in the original post. Hope this saves someone the time i spent investigating the matter.

Cheers.

iffy
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As I'm not the only one thinking that a question containing an answer should be marked as "answered", to everyone coming across this:

The last edit of the question contains the answer!

EDIT4: Right, so after installing the nvidia drivers the phantom display is gone. I've reached my goal to be able to comfigure nvidia.

A.B.
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Fabby
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  • i`ll be honest, I do not know how to mark the question as answered if I am the one that has to do that. – iffy Nov 19 '14 at 12:30
  • ;) No worries... AFAIK you cannot answer your own question. Just upvote my answer (click on the little arrow-up above the 0) and then we have a question with a valid answer, approved by the person who asked the question. Too bad I get 10+ on my reputation instead of you, but I've upvoted your question, so you should get some reputation out of this as well... ;) – Fabby Nov 19 '14 at 13:20
  • I just asked my first question and there is a big red button on the bottom called "Answer your question". You might want to try that instead of giving the credit to me! ;) – Fabby Nov 19 '14 at 13:50