Arch Linux

robertcm

Member

Registered: 2014-07-08

Posts: 9

[somewhat SOLVED]Linux not recognizing nvidia 540m graphics chip

I've tried to enable the 540m@1Gb nvidia chip on my Asus N53SV laptop(i3-2310, 2x4Gb RAM@1333, 500Gb Seagate HDD(LVM split into an 60Gb, Ext4 / and the rest also an Ext4 for storage)). I've updated the bios to the latest I could get from the Asus page for my machine(215) in hopes that I would get the integrated/dedicated selector, which I didn't.

A lspci check only shows my HD3000 chip from my cpu(i3-2310) and yes, I've tried lspci grepping VGA and

lspci -nn | grep '\[03'

, just doesn't show. Same goes for

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 stuff_to_search_for

. Tried with VGA, nv and '\[03', simply no trace of it.

I should mention that I've tried a quick Ubuntu and Mint installation to see if the chip shows, which, again, didn't. I've tried bumblebee, prime, 275.19/331/346(both from the nvidia page and ppas), none worked. And to no surprise, in Ubuntu, Additional Drivers in Software & Updates shows nothing. I'm confident it works as I remember having Windows7x64 on this machine and it worked. And yes, I've tried all of the above mentioned in all three distros.

From what I've read during my search for a solution to this problem, the only thing left to do would be to try some 3rd party BIOS but I'd like to avoid doing that unless I'm 100% certain it'll work.

Hoping I'm just missing something.

Thanks

Last edited by robertcm (2015-04-11 13:04:20)

dice

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2014-02-10

Posts: 413

Re: [somewhat SOLVED]Linux not recognizing nvidia 540m graphics chip

Did you look at the lspci output without filtering by grep? If unsure post the output of lspci here so we can have a look

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I put at button on it. Yes. I wish to press it, but I'm not sure what will happen if I do.  (Gune | Titan A.E.)

robertcm

Member

Registered: 2014-07-08

Posts: 9

Re: [somewhat SOLVED]Linux not recognizing nvidia 540m graphics chip

Yes, I've tried without grepping anything. Here's the output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b5)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
03:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
04:00.0 USB controller: Fresco Logic FL1000G USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 04)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06)

robertcm

Member

Registered: 2014-07-08

Posts: 9

Re: [somewhat SOLVED]Linux not recognizing nvidia 540m graphics chip

Posting separately instead of editing as I'm closing the topic.

Here's what I've found out; I've installed Win7 Pro x64 as I purchased it a while back and the machine didn't detect the nvidia chip, at all. Opened up the laptop, gave it a thorough cleaning and reassembled it, still nothing. Can only believe that the chip died.

I remember at some point I was toying with a microcontroller in a circuit board of my design, didn't set it right and I ended up plugging ~8V(reversed) in a USB port, pretty much short circuiting it. Had to open the HDD up and set the needle right as it jumped over and got stuck on the platter. Did some thorough checking to see if the machine was alright(to which I thought it was) but it seems I wasn't thorough enough.

So I guess the chip died at some point, not sure if before the short-circuit thing or after.

Thanks for the help everyone, I'll just replace Win7 with my trusty Arch build and use it as is.

Good day