Two video cards, Arch only sees one

pingpong · 2011-07-25 16:07:51

I have just installed Arch on a machine which has two nvidia video cards. However, looks like Arch only see one of them (GeForce 9600M GT) according to lspci. I don't remember the model of another card but it's also an nvidia (an older card). I installed the nvidia driver using "pacman -S nvidia nvidia-utils".

1) How can I find out what the other card is?
2) Could it be the case that the two cards need different sets of drivers?

karol · 2011-07-25 16:23:33

Yes, older cards may need the legacy nvidia drivers.

pingpong · 2011-07-25 17:15:53

karol, thanks for the reply. I have just found out that the other card is GeForce 9400M. So according to the archwiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA
they use the same driver, don't they? Also I figure out what the other card is by booting the system in another OS not from Arch, any idea on how to do that if the card is not showing up on lspci?

karol · 2011-07-25 17:20:42

pingpong wrote:

karol, thanks for the reply. I have just found out that the other card is GeForce 9400M. So according to the archwiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA
they use the same driver, don't they? Also I figure out what the other card is by booting the system in another OS not from Arch, any idea on how to do that if the card is not showing up on lspci?

Yes, both cards use the same driver.
Sorry, I have no idea why the second card isn't showing with lspci. How did you check it with the other OS? Did lspci work there?

pingpong · 2011-07-25 17:34:29

Well it's a MacBook Pro, so you just click "about this Mac"...
But there should be a linux command line which gives what hardware it probes. Something like dmesg? Any help?

gregor · 2011-07-25 20:21:20

did you use the "SLi" bridge http://www.google.be/search?q=nvidia+sl … 86&bih=766 then become two GPU 's as ONE ,i think.

Last edited by gregor (2011-07-25 20:23:03)

pingpong · 2011-07-25 21:38:41

Hum... I don't think so although I have no way to certify that (never open the laptop case). However, if there is a SLi bridge, shouldn't the Mac OS sees only one GPU as well?
I just expect Arch says the same thing as Snow Leopard.

I haven't installed anything on top of the base system (so I can't copy and paste). But dmesg | grep -i nvidia yields a couple interesting lines:

nvidia 0000:00.03.5: PCI INT B -> Link[LPMU] -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20
nvidia: probe of 0000:00:03.5 failed with error -1
...
nvidia 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[Z003] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23
nvidia 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64

Are they tell us anything? Can someone "decipher" them?

litemotiv · 2011-07-25 22:19:49

As far as i know, you can only use one of the Mac's videocards on linux.

gregor · 2011-07-25 22:42:20

pingpong wrote:

Hum... I don't think so although I have no way to certify that (never open the laptop case). However, if there is a SLi bridge....

eehH an "laptop" with two GPU's are you sure /?! ...post the name and type of you machine ,plse

karol · 2011-07-25 22:48:34

gregor wrote:

pingpong wrote:
Hum... I don't think so although I have no way to certify that (never open the laptop case). However, if there is a SLi bridge....
eehH an "laptop" with two GPU's are you sure /?! ...post the name and type of you machine ,plse

Maybe http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2332512,00.asp

pingpong · 2011-07-25 22:54:33

Yes, they are GeForce 9600M GT and GeForce 9400 M. It's a "customized" MacBook Pro 5,1. I will have it at my disposal for a week or two :-)

It would be sad if Arch can't utilize the two cards. Afterall, isn't Mac OSX a eye-candy wrapped FreeBSD?

gregor · 2011-07-25 22:55:52

Yah i found it to ,but don't quite understand see specs:

Specifications
Type
Gaming, General Purpose, Media, Business, Small Business
Operating System
Mac OS X 10.5
Processor Speed
2.53 GHz
RAM
4 GB
Weight
5.5 lb
Screen Size
15.4 inches
Screen Size Type
widescreen
Graphics Card
nVidia GeForce 9600M GT, nVidia GeForce 9400M <<================
Storage Capacity (as Tested)
320 GB
Networking Options
802.11n
Primary Optical Drive
Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW

two different types of GPU ,nVidia GeForce 9600M GT, nVidia GeForce 9400M ,they sure as hell don't work with "SLi"

beats me....

karol · 2011-07-25 23:02:36

I think it's a case of graphics switcheroo which doesn't work too well (yet) on any computer, mac or not.
I'm not sure if this works only with Intel IGP + dedicated nvidia, but you can have a look anyway https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bumblebee

gregor · 2011-07-25 23:02:36

pingpong wrote:

, isn't Mac OSX a eye-candy wrapped FreeBSD?

nooooo to my knowledge OSX comes from "darwin" ,and freeBSD is for web-servers mainly
you can run KDE ,GNOME ,or what ever on freeBSD but that's not the intention.

Last edited by gregor (2011-07-25 23:03:18)

pingpong · 2011-07-25 23:52:56

Thanks for all the replies. And I apologize for my ignorance about Mac OSX

In fact, this particular Mac has a boosted-up CPU. It's running Core 2 Duo T9800 @ 2.93 GHz. I believe it's top of the line 2 years ago.

Well, anyway that's not the point. My point is if Mac OSX can recognize the two cards, I think/hope in principle Arch should be able to do that as well.

Hum... I actually installed Arch using Archboot 2011.05 and Hardware detection only returns 9600M GT. I wonder if that's a BIOs or should I say EFI issue... By the way, I can't install Arch using the GPT partition table and Grub-EFI. It's installed with Grub2 on MBR. I wonder if that shed some light on the issue.

jameh0 · 2013-05-20 05:32:51

@pingpong, I have the same computer (Macbook Pro early 2009 with 9400M and 9600M).
Have you had any success running any Linux distro in EFI mode with any drivers where you have ttys?
(mine are blacked out when booted in EFI with the nvidia driver, and nouveau driver KMS does not work.)

jasonwryan · 2013-05-20 08:57:18

Please don't necrobump: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … Bumping.22

Closing

Arch Linux

#1 2011-07-25 16:07:51

Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#2 2011-07-25 16:23:33

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#3 2011-07-25 17:15:53

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#4 2011-07-25 17:20:42

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#5 2011-07-25 17:34:29

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#6 2011-07-25 20:21:20

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#7 2011-07-25 21:38:41

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#8 2011-07-25 22:19:49

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#9 2011-07-25 22:42:20

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#10 2011-07-25 22:48:34

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#11 2011-07-25 22:54:33

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#12 2011-07-25 22:55:52

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#13 2011-07-25 23:02:36

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#14 2011-07-25 23:02:36

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#15 2011-07-25 23:52:56

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#16 2013-05-20 05:32:51

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

#17 2013-05-20 08:57:18

Re: Two video cards, Arch only sees one

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