Dell Ultrabook XPS 14 configuration

ksemeks · 2013-04-10 12:22:38

Hello,

so, i recently bought a dell xps 14 ultrabook. Thing is, it overheates easily.
I configured it a little like it says in the wiki, so it doesnt overheat so easily, but that's not the main problem.

First thing: graphics card. On the laptop spec it says there's a nvidia graphic card somewhere in there. But when i try to install the nvidia driver, there's an error, display not found or something. I tried with nvidia, nv, nouveau, downloading the binary package from the nvidia website, blacklisting drivers and mixing all the possibilities. The only thing that works is xf86-video-intel.
I am using gnome-shell, and when i go to System Settings->Details->Graphics, it says Driver: Unknown

lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)

lshw
....
*-pci:0
             description: PCI bridge
             product: Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor PCI Express Root Port
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
             version: 09
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pm msi pciexpress normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:42 ioport:3000(size=4096) memory:d0000000-d0ffffff ioport:a0000000(size=536870912)
           *-display UNCLAIMED
                description: 3D controller
                product: NVIDIA Corporation
                vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
                version: a1
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
                configuration: latency=0
                resources: memory:d0000000-d0ffffff memory:a0000000-afffffff memory:b0000000-b1ffffff ioport:3000(size=128) memory:b2000000-b207ffff
        *-display
             description: VGA compatible controller
             product: 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
             version: 09
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
             configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
             resources: irq:43 memory:d1000000-d13fffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff ioport:4000(size=64)
....

But from lshw i see that the NVIDIA is somewhere in there, or am I mistaken?

Second thing: lm_sensors finds out just the cpu temperatures, nothing else.

sensors
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0:  +65.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 0:         +65.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 1:         +62.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)

Can i gather some more informations about my system somehow? I already ran sensors-detect several times, with different options.(saying yes/no)

That would be it. I want to know if there's really an nvidia card which i can use on this lap, or should i just return it and request one that has the nvidia inside.
Here's the laptop specs:

Processore Intel® Core™ i7-3687U (w Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3,30 GHz)
SDRAM DDR3  8 GB 1600 MHz
Graphics card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M da 1GB

Last edited by ksemeks (2013-04-10 12:34:41)

Cthulhu82 · 2013-04-10 13:34:40

You have two graphic cards in your laptop : the intel one which is integrated in your processor, and a discrete, Nvidia one, which is supposed to run only for high graphic needs.
Linux don't natively support the swich between the two cards, and it often creates problems.

You need to install bumblebee to make it work correctly.
See here for details : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bumblebee

Last edited by Cthulhu82 (2013-04-10 13:35:08)

ksemeks · 2013-04-10 13:59:13

Thank you for your quick response.
Does that mean that I can just pick the graphic card for running applications? It won't switch automatically for now?

Cthulhu82 · 2013-04-10 14:07:39

No, the automatic swich doesn't exist (for now). By default the intel card will be used, and if you need the Nvidia, you have to run it with the optirun command.
But at least, the two cards are correctly handled, and the nvidia one is switch off, so doesn't use your battery .

Tadly · 2013-06-30 13:09:52

Hi there,

I have a XPS14 as well and I'm using bumblebee as well.
My actuall problem is the overheating thing +ksemeks already solved.

I digged around in the wiki as well and checked the fancontroll and lm_sensors area but could not get it working for me.

Could you maybe provide how you actually fixed the overheating issue? Would be really really nice

ksemeks · 2013-09-02 14:47:25

Hi,

I haven't solved the overheating problem. Its probably beacause of the graphic card/s.
I have managed to lower the temperature by using cpufreq and scaling the CPU when i need to.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-04-10 12:22:38

Dell Ultrabook XPS 14 configuration

#2 2013-04-10 13:34:40

Re: Dell Ultrabook XPS 14 configuration

#3 2013-04-10 13:59:13

Re: Dell Ultrabook XPS 14 configuration

#4 2013-04-10 14:07:39

Re: Dell Ultrabook XPS 14 configuration

#5 2013-06-30 13:09:52

Re: Dell Ultrabook XPS 14 configuration

#6 2013-09-02 14:47:25

Re: Dell Ultrabook XPS 14 configuration

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