I have an Xubuntu system:

$ uname -a

Linux tnick-desktop 3.5.0-21-generic #32-Ubuntu SMP Tue Dec 11 18:51:59 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ lsb_release -a

Distributor ID:  Ubuntu

Description:     Ubuntu 12.10

Release:         12.10

Codename:        quantal

with an Nvidia video card:

$ lspci | grep VGA

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G96 [GeForce 9500 GT] (rev a1)

When I first installed Xubuntu and Nvidia's current driver all went fine. I was able to use nvidia-settings to configure the monitors to show a side-by-side view, saved the xorg.conf file and everything worked fine.

Some days ago I was curious about Settings Manager > Display section. I went looking, did not change anything and that was that. However, ever since, when I restart the system the layout that is saved in xorg.comf is not applied, so each and every time I have to use nvidia-settings, lay them out side by side and apply this. I tried using

sudo nvidia-settings

but that made no difference (not that I was expecting it to, but it was suggested in a question here).

I also tried

un-install - restart - install - restart - nvidia-settings, lay them out - restart

but that gave me black screens after Xubuntu logo, then, on third attempt, went back to same view on both displays.

The content of the xorg.conf file does not change between sessions:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings

# nvidia-settings:  version 304.51  (buildd@batsu)  Fri Oct 12 12:53:54 UTC 2012



Section "ServerLayout"

    Identifier     "Layout0"

    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0

    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

    Option         "Xinerama" "0"

EndSection



Section "Files"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default

    Identifier     "Mouse0"

    Driver         "mouse"

    Option         "Protocol" "auto"

    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"

    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"

    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default

    Identifier     "Keyboard0"

    Driver         "kbd"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid

    Identifier     "Monitor0"

    VendorName     "Unknown"

    ModelName      "LG Electronics L1942"

    HorizSync       30.0 - 83.0

    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0

    Option         "DPMS"

EndSection



Section "Device"

    Identifier     "Device0"

    Driver         "nvidia"

    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"

    BoardName      "GeForce 9500 GT"

EndSection



Section "Screen"

    Identifier     "Screen0"

    Device         "Device0"

    Monitor        "Monitor0"

    DefaultDepth    24

    Option         "Stereo" "0"

    Option         "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-1"

    Option         "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0, DFP: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"

    SubSection     "Display"

        Depth       24

    EndSubSection

EndSection

I tried to install Nvidia binary X.Org driver (version 173) but ended up in an error pretty soon:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:



nvidia-173: Depends: x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0) but 1:7.7+1ubuntu4 is to

be installed

            Depends: xorg-video-abi-12 but it is not going to be installed

            Depends: xserver-xorg-core (>= 2:1.10.99.901) but 2:1.13.0-0ubuntu6.1 is to be installed

with an Crash report detected message.

Apart from reinstalling the system, what else should I try?