On Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 6:56 AM Robert Moskowitz <rgm@htt-consult.com> wrote:
I have a Lenovo x140e running F38.

The video driver is normally the Radeon, but some time ago here I was
told to change the amdgpu driver but

lspci -nnk | grep -iE "VGA|DISPLAY" -A3
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
[AMD/ATI] Kabini [Radeon HD 8330] [1002:9832]
     Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2219]
     Kernel driver in use: amdgpu
     Kernel modules: radeon, amdgpu

But sometimes after a few suspend/unsuspend when remote and no external
VGA, this system forgets about the external monitor.

By "remote" do you mean using the laptop away from the VGA monitor or
logging in from another (remote) system?  If you are reconnecting the
VGA after using the laptop in another location, I assume the laptop
is in some "suspend" mode.  When using the VGA monitor do you also
use the laptop display or is the laptop closed?

Is there someway to force the video driver to wake up and see the
attached vga monitor?

First, is your system fully updated including vendor firmware (so others will be using
the same software versions)?

Are you using F38 Workstation and Gnome?   I have a desktop that has a
monitor and a TV that is usually turned off.   When first booted the login
shows on the TV, so I use Settings/Displays to make the monitor the
main display.   The system never suspends, but logging out and back in
some I sometimes have to connect the TV to get the login prompt. 

Have you tried Settings/Displays to detect the VGA monitor?   Is the
system suspended or awake when VGA is connected, and is the monitor
on or off when making the connection?  A workaround may be a simple
change to your usual routine.  Normally udev should handle events like
connecting an external monitor.   If you have a way to ssh into the laptop
you could use "udevadm monitor" to see what happens when connecting the
monitor with the laptop lid closed. 

Example for Xorg:
<https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/675024/udev-rule-for-connecting-external-display-not-working>
 
--
George N. White III