New Dell laptop 17R - 2GB NVIDIA graphics not being used

[SteveRiley]

Dell laptops do not let us disable optimus or choose our graphics card like you can on Thinkpads.

Yeah, I was just doing some research about that. What a stupid decision -- why in the world do hardware OEMs make these silly decisions? Oh, and another thing I learned: Inspirons equipped with "3D" actually disable the Intel graphics. But according to Dell's tech support site, Steve-01370's computer (I researched his specific service tag) isn't 3D-equipped.

@Steve-01370: If you are still within the return date for that laptop, I'm going to suggest that you take it back to the store. Its lack of configurability is most likely going to be a constant source of problems trying to get Linux to run on the thing. Buy a Lenovo, or -- better -- something from System 76 or ZaReason.

[dmeyer]

Yeah, I was just doing some research about that. What a stupid decision -- why in the world do hardware OEMs make these silly decisions? Oh, and another thing I learned: Inspirons equipped with "3D" actually disable the Intel graphics. But according to Dell's tech support site, Steve-01370's computer (I researched his specific service tag) isn't 3D-equipped.

@Steve-01370: If you are still within the return date for that laptop, I'm going to suggest that you take it back to the store. Its lack of configurability is most likely going to be a constant source of problems trying to get Linux to run on the thing. Buy a Lenovo, or -- better -- something from System 76 or ZaReason.

I bought a Dell XPS17. I must be honest its an absolutely fantastic machine and as much as I wanted to go for System 76 or ZaReason they just didn't provide me with the needed performance on my limited student budget (I got huge discounts for Dell products through my university.) Apart from optimus, I've always been under the impression that Dell products are some of the most linux friendly products on the market.

If I think back, I would definitely have gone with them if I had a slightly bigger budget and had known about the true value of their customer service. I'm definitely using them on my next purchase.

[Steve-01370]

Unfortunately, I sold my other laptop in order to be able to buy this one. I chose the Dell because of its ability to have 2 hard drives and the 2GB video chip. I'm not in a position where being without a computer for any period of time is realistic - and I don't see any computers besides that dell (and a couple HPs) at Best Buy that support dual HDs. I MAY be stuck with keeping that Dell and either running Kubuntu inside of Virtualbox inside of Windoze or trying something like Linuxmint. I don't know. Neither option is really appealing, I'll keep looking. I've got a couple weeks.

I tried all of the drivers under ADDITIONAL DRIVERS and none got "in use" - although supposedly they got "activated". I tried Bumblebee and I tried "optirun nvidia-settings -c :8" both before and after I tried Bumblebee, and NVIDIA drivers are never installed/detected. I don't have any /etc/X11/xorg.conf, either - unless I do a sudo install from the commandline. Then I get an xorg.conf, but I get a crappy 640x480 display and no openGL detected. I don't know what else to try.

[Steve-01370]

This one's a thought, actually:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+...hiba&cp=1&lp=6

Still Optimus, but.... maybe? It DOES have 2 usable drive bays without sacrificing the optical drive.

[GreyGeek]

My Acer Aspire V3-771G also has an Intel HD primary video chip and an NVIDIA GForce 650M secondary chip. My bios does not allow me to turn off the Intel so that I can boot the NVIDIA. And, no additional drivers were found. But, I did not load the nvidia drivers but installed BumbleBee instead.
With
optirun glxspheres
I get 144 fps.

Optirun is supplied by Bumblebee and has several switches for various purposes. See "man optirun".

I edit the menu and put the "optirun" command in front of graphics packages that I want to accelerate. Works great.

[Steve-01370]

So, I just run "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable optirun glxspheres" from a terminal instead of "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable"?

[dmeyer]

My Acer Aspire V3-771G also has an Intel HD primary video chip and an NVIDIA GForce 650M secondary chip. My bios does not allow me to turn off the Intel so that I can boot the NVIDIA. And, no additional drivers were found. But, I did not load the nvidia drivers but installed BumbleBee instead.
With
optirun glxspheres
I get 144 fps.

Optirun is supplied by Bumblebee and has several switches for various purposes. See "man optirun".

I edit the menu and put the "optirun" command in front of graphics packages that I want to accelerate. Works great.

I too use Bumblebee and find it very easy to set-up and work with. I wonder if OP installed and configured it properly.

@OP Have you thought about doing a fresh install then carefully setting up Bumblebee as explained on their wiki? Maybe some of your actions have messed Bumblebee up.

[dmeyer]

So, I just run "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable optirun glxspheres" from a terminal instead of "sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable"?

No. Install Bumblebee, and configure it. Then reboot your computer! Then if you did it properly your system will boot properly. When it comes time to test it, I recommend opening a terminal and running:

glxinfo | grep OpenGL

optirun glxinfo | grep OpenGL

Heck for helping us diagnose your problem try those two commands anyways and post the output.

[Steve-01370]

[glxinfo | grep OpenGL]
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 9.0
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL extensions:

[optirun glxinfo | grep OpenGL]
[ 261.235031] [ERROR]Cannot access secondary GPU - error: Could not load GPU driver

[ 261.235101] [ERROR]Aborting because fallback start is disabled.

This is after installing as per bumblebee instructions to run the code [sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable]

[dmeyer]

[glxinfo | grep OpenGL]
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 9.0
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL extensions:

[optirun glxinfo | grep OpenGL]
[ 261.235031] [ERROR]Cannot access secondary GPU - error: Could not load GPU driver

[ 261.235101] [ERROR]Aborting because fallback start is disabled.

This is after installing as per bumblebee instructions to run the code [sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable]

See that error gives a lot of information. It shows that your driver isn't installed or can't be found. If its not installed there's a quick fix. Install the kernel headers, install the bumblebee-nvidia package again, and check your configuration.

If the package is installed read these: Try these pages: https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project.../Configuration & https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project...roubleshooting Take note of the bit where the specify the ubuntu/mandriva bit on the end of the page where it says you need to use a slightly different name.

Don't forget to add your user to the bumblebee group! All that looks wrong right now is that you cant access the drivers. or they aren't installed This is most likely solved with my first link.

[Steve-01370]

Okay, thanks. So, as I understand it, I just need to do a [sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$ (uname -r)] to install the kernel headers,
do an [sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable], make sure I'm in the bumblebee group, [REBOOT] and then check my configuration with those 2 glxinfo commands?

[dmeyer]

Yeah that's the jist of it. Don't forget to install bumblebee-nvidia (or whatever the package is called) before you reboot. After doing that post the output. If it isn't right then we can look at specific issues.

[Steve-01370]

OKay, I tried, but when I did the do "sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$ (uname -r)" to install the kernel headers, I got "bash: syntax error near unexpected token". `(' I figured that that probably had to do with 12.10 or one of the many things I'd tried (and screwed up before, so I decided a clean install of 12.04-> updates and then installation of bumblebee, I did the clean install -> updates, and then I installed bumblebee with the code fould on their page. After a reboot, I went to make sure I was in the bumblebee group. That group didn't exist, so I created it and put my user into it. Then I ran the two tests: The result of [glxinfo | grep OpenGL]
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 9.0
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL extensions: .

The result of [optirun glxinfo | grep OpenGL] was "command optirun not found.

I reinstalled bumblebee using the proprietary driver (from the code on their site. It took a LOT longer. Then I reran those tests. The result of [glxinfo | grep OpenGL] was the same as before. The result of [optirun glxinfo | grep OpenGL] was

[ 1650.326849] [ERROR]Cannot access secondary GPU - error: [XORG] (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to assign any connected display devices to X screen 0

[ 1650.326922] [ERROR]Aborting because fallback start is disabled.

I did sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$ (uname -r) and got
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('

I'm obviously doing something really wrong, but I've got no clue what it might be.

[SteveRiley]

I did sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$ (uname -r) and got
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('

The formatting is incorrect... there should be no space after the dollar sign. However, an easier method would be

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic

Installing this metapackage will keep your headers updated in conjunction with kernel updates.

[dmeyer]

Just use the GUI! Open Muon Packager Manager add the repository then refresh the software sources. Then search for the kernel headers with the GUI and install them like that. Reboot. Install bumblebee-nvidia from the GUI. Then run

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

. Then reboot again. Now open the console and run

sudo <fav text editor> /etc/bumblebee/bumblebee.conf

.


Here is an example of my bumblebee.conf:

daniel@linux-w365:~> cat /etc/bumblebee/bumblebee.conf
# Configuration file for Bumblebee. Values should **not** be put between quotes

## Server options. Any change made in this section will need a server restart
# to take effect.
[bumblebeed]
# The secondary Xorg server DISPLAY number
[B]VirtualDisplay=:8[/B]
# Should the unused Xorg server be kept running? Set this to true if waiting
# for X to be ready is too long and don't need power management at all.
KeepUnusedXServer=false
# The name of the Bumbleblee server group name (GID name)
[B]ServerGroup=bumblebee[/B]
# Card power state at exit. Set to false if the card shoud be ON when Bumblebee
# server exits.
TurnCardOffAtExit=true
# The default behavior of '-f' option on optirun. If set to "true", '-f' will
# be ignored.
NoEcoModeOverride=false
# The Driver used by Bumblebee server. If this value is not set (or empty),
# auto-detection is performed. The available drivers are nvidia and nouveau
# (See also the driver-specific sections below)
[B]Driver=nvidia[/B]

## Client options. Will take effect on the next optirun executed.
[optirun]
# The method used for VirtualGL to transport frames between X servers.
# Possible values are proxy, jpeg, rgb, xv and yuv.
VGLTransport=proxy
# Should the program run under optirun even if Bumblebee server or nvidia card
# is not available?
AllowFallbackToIGC=false


# Driver-specific settings are grouped under [driver-NAME]. The sections are
# parsed if the Driver setting in [bumblebeed] is set to NAME (or if auto-
# detection resolves to NAME).
# PMMethod: method to use for saving power by disabling the nvidia card, valid
# values are: auto - automatically detect which PM method to use
#         bbswitch - new in BB 3, recommended if available
#       switcheroo - vga_switcheroo method, use at your own risk
#             none - disable PM completely
# https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/Bumblebee/wiki/Comparison-of-PM-methods

## Section with nvidia driver specific options, only parsed if Driver=nvidia
[driver-nvidia]
# Module name to load, defaults to Driver if empty or unset
[B]KernelDriver=nvidia
Module=nvidia
PMMethod=bbswitch[/B]
# colon-separated path to the nvidia libraries
[B]LibraryPath=/usr/lib64/nvidia:/usr/lib/nvidia[/B]
# comma-separated path of the directory containing nvidia_drv.so and the
# default Xorg modules path
[B]XorgModulePath=/usr/lib64/nvidia/xorg/modules/updates,/usr/lib64/xorg/modules/updates,/usr/lib64/xorg/modules
XorgConfFile=/etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.nvidia[/B]

## Section with nouveau driver specific options, only parsed if Driver=nouveau
[driver-nouveau]
KernelDriver=nouveau
PMMethod=auto
XorgConfFile=/etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.nouveau

I'm running this on an openSUSE 12.2 system but there should be no major differences. Lines that should be focused on are in bold. You shouldn't use nvidia, you will most likely use nvidia-current. My library paths may be different to yours but look for the corresponding paths and fill them in don't be afraid to open dolphin and check if my paths are correct for your system. Then reboot your PC. Now test t out again.