Re: [gentoo-user] New machine: Contents of display are offset around 2 inches from the left hand side.

[Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>]

Hello, everybody.

On Mon, Aug 26, 2024 at 14:49:14 +0000, Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 26, 2024 at 12:54:20 +0100, Michael wrote:
> > On Monday, 26 August 2024 11:40:43 BST Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> > > On Sun, Aug 25, 2024 at 22:04:05 +0100, Michael wrote:

> I'm beginning to think getting an MSI board was a mistake.

I'm still thinking that.

> > > Or, I could go back to the shop that built the machine.  Maybe I
> > > should try it connected directly to an HDMI monitor.

OK, I'm just back from the shop.  The technician there plugged the
machine into an HDMI monitor, and it just worked.  Before leaving, I
assured him that I _would_ get the machine working, even if that might
involve buying a new monitor.  ;-(

When I got back home again and plugged in the new machine, it was
slightly different.  It was still pumping out 2112x1116, but the 2" gap
has become a 1" gap on both the left hand and the right hand sides.
There's still a (smaller) gap at the top.  I haven't yet tried booting
into Linux.

At least we now have an indication of something "analog" perhaps not
being in order.  I'm thinking that perhaps my HDMI->DVI adapter is
broken.  I should have bought a new one while I was at the shop, just to
test.  I did have trouble with Windows laptops when I plugged them in
via this adapter a couple of years ago.  Maybe I'll go back to the shop
to get that new HDMI->DVI adapter tomorrow.

There might still be errors in the MSI's BIOS firmware's handling of the
EDID, I still think that.

[ .... ]

>> Another thing to try to confirm is if the EDID of the monitor is
>> correct:

>> Emerge sys-apps/edid-decode, then capture the EDID of the monitor
>> with get- edid in a file and feed it to 'edid-decode -p'.  It will
>> parse the file and output a human readable output.  Then you can see
>> what the preferred resolution is as far as the monitor EDID content
>> is concerned, or if it is indeed missing as you reported previously.

After reading the fine manual page, I tried edid-decode -pc, the -c
meaninguto check the correctness of the EDID.  It output a warning and
(attleastdone)efault - something about some indicated resolutions'
verticallsyncptimetlying(outside the given bounds.

The diagnostics look like this:

Warnings:

Block 1, CTA-861 Extension Block:
  Display Product Serial Number is set, so the Serial Number in the Base EDID should be 0.
  Add a Colorimetry Data Block with the sRGB colorimetry bit set to avoid interop issues.

Failures:

Block 1, CTA-861 Extension Block:
  Missing VCDB, needed for Set Selectable RGB Quantization to avoid interop issues.
EDID:
  Base EDID: Some timings are out of range of the Monitor Ranges:
    Vertical Freq: 50.000 - 75.062 Hz (Monitor: 56.000 - 75.000 Hz)

EDID conformity: FAIL

[ .... ]

> > The recurring flickering of the display after you've loaded your desktop shows 
> > the linux OS is trying to re-adjust the display.  Usually this happens when 
> > the connection/power to the monitor is disrupted, which again points to a 
> > connector issue, or it can also happen if you specified in your GUI the wrong 
> > resolution/frequency.

> Yes.  I think the connectors are OK, but maybe we'll see how the machine
> performs differently at the shop tomorrow.

I've decided I'm definitely going to get a new HDMI->DVI adapter.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).