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#1 2013-12-22 05:53:59

soccermiles
Member
Registered: 2013-12-22
Posts: 6

[SOLVED] NVidia, Xorg, Output not reaching monitor?

Hardware...
====================================================
  Computer: ASUS K55VD Laptop (UEFI Motherboard)
  Processor: Intel i5
  Graphics: NVidia GeForce 610M, also the Intel chip that I'm not using (I think)

Relevant System Information (I figure maybe the location of my initramfs is messing with driver installation?)...
====================================================
  Partitioning...
    sda1: /boot (FAT32)
    sda2: / (ext4)
    sda3: /home (ext4)
  Boot: Syslinux EFI setup using efibootmgr (ESP: /boot, Syslinux: /boot/EFI/syslinux)
  Driver package: "nvidia", corresponding libgl and lib32 stuff. NOTE: I know this is the wrong version, but my problem is _exactly_ the same with nvidia-304xx.
  Xorg Configuration (no other conf files influencing outcome, no ~/.xinitrc)...
    /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf
    /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-quirks.conf
    /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-server.conf
    /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf

Other Notes: The laptop originally came with Windows 8. At the time, I didn't want to spend a whole lot of time installing Arch, so I chose Ubuntu for the time being. While Ubuntu was installed, I noticed that the driver being used was called "Mesa", and certain applications didn't like that (NCAR's VAPOR, for example). Perhaps there's a problem with the hardware that's causing Ubuntu to choose an alternate install system, and now I'm running into that?

Problem...
====================================================
I've set everything up properly according to the Beginner's Guide, NVIDIA and Xorg pages.
I run startx.
At "Loading extension GLX", the whole TTY freezes (stops redrawing, can tell because cursor freezes in current state <on/off>).
At this point, I can still switch TTYs with C-M-F<n>, so it's just that one TTY.
I can type "exit", <Enter>, and then the server dies dramatically.
Here's the full output from the server, which had to be unjumbled by redirecting all output to a file
Here's my /var/log/Xorg.0.log, recovered after the test
I was even able to retrieve this glxinfo output by piping to a file!
Again, I was typing blind, so there's no real guarantee that the glxinfo output is, in fact, glxinfo output...

Analysis...
====================================================
I have no idea what the problem is on the server's shutdown, but I've got ideas about the rest of it.

I figure what's happening is that the server is starting just fine, but it isn't putting output on my monitor. It opens the twm environment, which starts with an open terminal. When I type "exit", <Enter>, the server shuts down again, as expected, but something goes wrong.
That's how it occurred to me to grab that glxinfo: 'glxinfo > ~/test'

Does the following mean that it's actually using the Intel graphics? (found this in Xorg log)
[  1571.248] (--) PCI:*(0:0:2:0) :::this refers to the Intel graphics
[  1571.248] (--) PCI: (0:1:0:0) :::this refers to the 610M
What does that asterisk (*) mean?

Does this line mean that my graphics card isn't hooked up to my monitor?
[  1571.383] (--) NVIDIA(0): Valid display device(s) on GeForce 610M at PCI:1:0:0
[  1571.383] (--) NVIDIA(0):     none
Maybe I need to configure my monitor to be detected somehow?

I noticed two errors in the Xorg log that might be related...
[  1571.385] (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initiate mode change.
[  1571.385] (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to complete mode change
Maybe there's a simple package installation that will fix everything?



If there's any more information you need, please ask.
Thanks!

PS: wgetpaste was EXTREMELY helpful!

Last edited by soccermiles (2013-12-22 23:23:40)

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#2 2013-12-22 16:28:01

soccermiles
Member
Registered: 2013-12-22
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] NVidia, Xorg, Output not reaching monitor?

After further research, It looks like the problem is almost certainly that the NVidia card is trying to set the mode "NULL". According to their website, I should be able to fix that by setting the MetaModes option in my x config. I'll see if I can figure out how to do that.

EDIT: Turns out metamodes are only for TwinView and Xinerama multi-monitor setups.

I really have no clue what I should do now. All the information I'm getting can't explain why my card is setting mode "NULL", or even if that's the problem.

Last edited by soccermiles (2013-12-22 16:34:39)

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#3 2013-12-22 17:53:42

soccermiles
Member
Registered: 2013-12-22
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] NVidia, Xorg, Output not reaching monitor?

Ahhah! I haven't fixed it, but I've found something that might be important!
In the kernel mode setting page, it was saying I could check to see what devices were connected/disconnected in /sys/class/drm. I figured I'd use that to find out if my graphics card was misconfigured or something.
Here's the output of tree -L 2 -l in /sys/class/drm
As you can see, while there are plenty of card1-xxxx, there are no card0-xxxx.
card1-LVDS-1 is the only connected display, which I think means that it is my monitor.
card1's vendor is 0x8086 (Intel) and card0's vendor is 0x10de (NVidia).
I saw something on the bumblebee page about video bridge software (for transmitting from one card to another before displaying)
I'll see if I can get that working.

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#4 2013-12-22 19:18:55

soccermiles
Member
Registered: 2013-12-22
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] NVidia, Xorg, Output not reaching monitor?

New Progress!
I've managed to get my screen to go black during the server's run, instead of having my TTY just freeze! big_smile
I followed the instructions here
However, now I have the problem that the X server shuts down about two seconds after startup. I have confirmed that both of the xrandr commands are completed.
Here is my x log
Here is my x output

As you can see, we have "Screen 1 deleted because of no matching config section". I have no idea what that means.
The NVIDIA driver still appears to try setting mode "NULL" (maybe it isn't getting the available modes properly?)
At the end, there's this weird thing...
reporting 3 4 17 122
have a master to look out for
adjust shatters 0 1366
need to create shared pixmap 1(II) NVIDIA(GPU-0): Deleting GPU-0

Uhhh...why is it deleting my GPU? (I have no idea what it means by that)

UPDATE (again!)...
I HAVE LWM WINDOWS APPEARING! (but I had to stop the nvidia to get that)
I changed the ServerLayout to have Screen 0 be the "intel" screen.
Initially, input wasn't being handled at all, resulting in complete inability to do anything once x started
I managed to get input working by adding some xorg configs for my input devices (now I have fully-functional xorg, but without my nvidia card)

I still want to get my nvidia working.

Last edited by soccermiles (2013-12-22 19:31:50)

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#5 2013-12-22 22:10:33

clfarron4
Member
From: London, UK
Registered: 2013-06-28
Posts: 2,163
Website

Re: [SOLVED] NVidia, Xorg, Output not reaching monitor?

OK:

1) are you using the 331 drivers?
2) have you disabled the Intel card via BIOS? If the answer is no, then you'll need BumbleBee to use the nVidia card.


Claire is fine.
Problems? I have dysgraphia, so clear and concise please.
My public GPG key for package signing
My x86_64 package repository

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#6 2013-12-22 23:09:45

soccermiles
Member
Registered: 2013-12-22
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] NVidia, Xorg, Output not reaching monitor?

- [x] 331 Drivers
- [ ] Disabled Intel Card
- [ ] Able to disable Intel Card

Thanks! I'll look into Bumblebee. Just so I know from now on, is there a way to figure out if Optimus is on a given system, aside from going through all the heavy lifting I just did?

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#7 2013-12-22 23:25:45

soccermiles
Member
Registered: 2013-12-22
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] NVidia, Xorg, Output not reaching monitor?

That did it! Completely straightforward with no hitches! Amazing!
Thank you for saving me from my own obsession with "learning it the hard way"!
(For anyone reading this, just follow the instructions at the Bumblebee page on the Arch Wiki. If you really catch every last word of it, you might even have fun!)

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#8 2013-12-23 22:21:06

clfarron4
Member
From: London, UK
Registered: 2013-06-28
Posts: 2,163
Website

Re: [SOLVED] NVidia, Xorg, Output not reaching monitor?

That's good to hear you got it sorted with BumbleBee.


Claire is fine.
Problems? I have dysgraphia, so clear and concise please.
My public GPG key for package signing
My x86_64 package repository

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