Arch Linux

LnX_Archer

Member

Registered: 2017-09-06

Posts: 33

[SOLVED]Installing and testing bumblebee

Hi!

I recently decide to jump in the deep end and make my first Arch install. I followed the installation guide and got it running. I then went into general recommendations and I am now at the display drivers section.
I am making this install on my laptop, a Lenovo E540, with an Nvidia Optimus setup. This lead me to go into, NVIDIA>NVIDIA Optimus>Bumblebee. So here I am, I followed the Installing Bumblebee with Intel/NVIDIA section, enabled the bumblebeed.service, rebooted and now I am trying to do the Test section. This was what I got at first:

(!!DISCLAIMER!! Any "copy/paste" I provide is written by hand from looking at my laptop screen, since I just installed arch and have no browsing utilities yet. I apologize for any mistakes/mistypes.)

# optirun glxgears -info
[ERROR]Cannot access secondary GPU - error: [XORG] (EE) No device detected.

[ERROR]Aborting because fallback start is disabled.
# optirun glxspheres64
[ERROR]Cannot access secondary GPU - error: [XORG] (EE) No device detected.

[ERROR]Aborting because fallback start is disabled.

The troubleshooting section had the solution to this, I just manually defined the the device in xorg.conf.nvidia as BusID "PCI:01:00:0".
Which gave me this instead, when testing:

# optirun glxgears -info
Error: couldn't open display (null)
# optirun glxspheres64
Polygons in scene: 62464 (61 spheres * 1024 polys/spheres)
ERROR in line 614:
Could not open display

The troubleshooting solution is mostly not applicable to test and my xorg.conf.nvidia does not have an Option "ConnectedMonitor". I tried putting Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT-0" in the device section of my xorg.conf.nvidia, but it made no difference.

I am guessing that this comes from the Option "UseDisplayDevice" "none" in my xorg.conf.nvidia. I have searched the web and the man pages for an example of a working xorg.conf.nvidia file, but have not found any info on it.
I have not provided my full xorg.conf.nvidia, since I can't actually copy/paste and it is a bit tedious to write. I will of course provide it if you need it, but I am hoping the provided info will suffice.

Any help is appriciated!

Last edited by LnX_Archer (2017-09-08 10:56:46)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,668

Re: [SOLVED]Installing and testing bumblebee

You do not need to adjust any nvidia.xorg.conf yourself, this is provided by the package in a correct configuration. Revert all manual changes, reinstall bumblebee if necessary, especially any custom Xorg conf files. The fact that you are typing by hand suggests to me that you currently do not have any graphical xorg session, is this correct? Bumblebee/optirun will only really start working if you already have a graphical setup running (which will be using the intel card by default and you can add more power by selectively putting applications on the nvidia card with optirun). Should this assessment be correct, do not be deterred and continue on with the proper setup for your system. Once you have a running xorg session, the bumblebee commands should start working.

Last edited by V1del (2017-09-07 08:31:15)

LnX_Archer

Member

Registered: 2017-09-06

Posts: 33

Re: [SOLVED]Installing and testing bumblebee

You do not need to adjust any nvidia.xorg.conf yourself, this is provided by the package in a correct configuration. Revert all manual changes, reinstall bumblebee if necessary, especially any custom Xorg conf files. The fact that you are typing by hand suggests to me that you currently do not have any graphical xorg session, is this correct? Bumblebee/optirun will only really start working if you already have a graphical setup running (which will be using the intel card by default and you can add more power by selectively putting applications on the nvidia card with optirun). Should this assessment be correct, do not be deterred and continue on with the proper setup for your system. Once you have a running xorg session, the bumblebee commands should start working.

Man, I thought I had learned my lesson about not following the guide to the letter (re-did the installation a couple of time because I skipped steps that I interpreted as not mandatory). I got to the graphical user interface section and saw display server and display driver and instinctively went for the driver first, even though display server is clearly meant to come before it (since it is listed first). I'll uninstall bumbelbee just to be on the safe side and do the display server first.

My bad. Thanks for the help!

LnX_Archer

Member

Registered: 2017-09-06

Posts: 33

Re: [SOLVED]Installing and testing bumblebee

Cleaned up my mess, installed xorg-server, bumblebee and drivers and then installed deepin desktop environment. Everything runs smoothly so far, haven't tried the optirun tests yet but am expecting them to work.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,668

Re: [SOLVED]Installing and testing bumblebee

Good to hear, please mark as [SOLVED] by editing the title of your initial post (and in general try to avoid double posting and edit your post if there hasn't been an answer in between).