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Werzi2001

Member

Registered: 2012-07-07

Posts: 41

(Solved) [NVIDIA Optimus] Black screen on Dell L502X

Hi,

i am trying to get the native support for Optimus on my Dell L502X (GeForce GT 540M) working. I think i got the configs
right but after a reboot i only get a black screen. Here is what i've done so far:

1.
Removed bumblebee (had it installed before)

2.
Installed current "nvidia" package from repository (currently version 319.32-2) including "nvidia-libgl" and "nvidia-utils".

3.
Setup xorg.conf with the following content:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "layout"
    Screen 0 "nvidia"
    Inactive "intel"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "nvidia"
    Driver "nvidia"
    BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "nvidia"
    Device "nvidia"
    Option "UseDisplayDevice" "none"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "intel"
    Driver "intel"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "intel"
    Device "intel"
EndSection

4.
Setup ~/.xinitrc with the following content:

xrandr --setprovideroutputsource Intel NVIDIA-0
xrandr --auto

5.
Reboot. After the reboot i only get a black screen but i think kdm is running as if i enter the password and press
ENTER the login sound is played (but i don't see anything but black).

Could anybody give me a hint why it doesn't work. Is the .xinitrc file in the home directory the correct one?

Thanks for your help.

Yours
Werzi2001

Last edited by Werzi2001 (2013-07-06 17:00:51)

themax

Member

Registered: 2013-05-14

Posts: 32

Re: (Solved) [NVIDIA Optimus] Black screen on Dell L502X

I had that blank screen problem as well a few times. At other times it ran as it should.

Do you have xf86-video-intel installed? I think you need that package if you want to use the xorg.conf file you posted. However, this will result in broken dependencies if you have nvidia-libgl installed. Nevertheless it should work. (n.b. if you don't have nvidia-libgl installed you will only get opengl 2.1 via llvmpipe)

You can also try using the modesetting driver (this will not break dependencies), but that driver is less stable (I think it crashes when you switch to a vt).

Also I recommend using the startx command and disabling kdm. I think display managers don't execute .xinitrc and you would have to set the dm to autologin.
On reddit someone who uses Ubuntu said that he used lightdm (autologin) and a .xsessionrc file. gdm doesn't execute .xsessionrc and I think neither does kdm.

Last edited by themax (2013-07-06 14:38:07)

Werzi2001

Member

Registered: 2012-07-07

Posts: 41

Re: (Solved) [NVIDIA Optimus] Black screen on Dell L502X

Thanks a lot.
Disabling kdm and using startx worked.

vostok4

Member

Registered: 2010-12-16

Posts: 70

Re: (Solved) [NVIDIA Optimus] Black screen on Dell L502X

Just wanted to say this helped me as well:

Set driver to intel (not modesetting) fix xrandr line (add "Intel").

Also the advice about getting it running without a DM is very key, turns out my blank screen was SLiM waiting for input. Logging in with the black screen and getting xinit to run: boom, my display is here, I'm on optimus and ready to roll. Now if they could get GPU switching as well as synchronized output (the tearing...) working, we'd be in a happy spot.