Mate confused about desktop resolution

[pengpeng]

Hello,

I'm using Mint 17 and started to have this issue recently: after I login, sometimes Mate thinks my resolution is 1440x480, instead of 1440x900, causing:
- apps go full-screen at that resolution, leaving the bottom half of the screen clear,
- the start menu pops in the middle of the screen instead of the bottom,
- apps that weren't in full screen pop with their title bar outside the top screen border, and need to be moved before being usable.

I'm not sure why it started happening - all was fine before, so could be something I changed without realizing, or maybe a software update?
It happens somewhat randomly, once every few logins, and when it happens logging out and back in solves the issue.

Anyone had a similar issue or know what might be causing this?

[pengpeng]

So... No-one?

[tenfoot]

So... No-one?

O.K. I'll give it a go

I use LM17 MATE and very occasionally have the same problem. In fact, it is so rare that I haven't bothered to place a question on the Forum.

How do I handle the problem? I copied the Monitors app from Menu/All Applications/Preferences/'Monitor to Favorites and now, on the occasions I get the incorrect resolution, I just open the Menu and click on Monitors and the problem sorts itself out without any further intervention on my part. An alternative would be to copy it to the Panel.

I realise this doesn't "solve" the p,roblem but it is a "work around" which satisfies me.

[pengpeng]

Hey,

Thanks for your reply! I'll give this a try next time it happens to me.

[pengpeng]

So the problem occured this morning and following your steps did not change anything.
I'm not very clear if you did anything in the monitor preferences. Did the simple act of opening it up fix the issue for you? I tried detecting monitors again and applying changes but that did not help either. As usual, logging out and back fixed it.

[tenfoot]

I'm sorry that the workaround that is successful for solving my problem didn't work for you. Forgot to mention that my graphics card is a nVidia GeForce GT 430/PCIe/SSE2. Don't know whether that will help . If you have a nVidia card, are you running the appropriate driver?

[pengpeng]

Not to worry, I do appreciate you're trying
Drivers are worth having a look at, I guess. I've got a Geforce 9600GT and currently using Nouveau (1:1.0.10)
The driver manager is actually suggesting I switch to the official driver which it tells me is nvidia-331.38.

Since all other things are (and have been) working fine, in particular the dual screen display and video playback, I did not consider the drivers, but I might just do it and see
Cheers!