Arch Linux

amscisr

Member

Registered: 2017-04-12

Posts: 14

[SOLVED] Bumblebee error with GeForce 960M and Intel HD Graphics 530

Hi,

I've successfully installed the Arch Linux base and am now attempting to set up my X server, but am experiencing issues when attempting to set up Bumblebee to enable switchable graphics on my Inspiron 7559 setup which includes a discrete GPU (GeForce 960M) and integrated (Intel HD Graphics 530).

Here is what I have done since installing the base packages (pacstrap) and creating a new user (in additional group wheel):

• Installed xorg-server package. Three libgl providers were available so I chose libglvnd (the other two seemed to be NVIDIA legacy providers, as they included the nvidia-340xx and nvidia-304xx strings).

• To confirm NVIDIA Optimus setup, ran

  $ lspci | grep -e VGA -e 3D

  The output of this was

  00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 530 (rev 06)
  02:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM107M [GeForce GTX 960M] (rev a2)

• Following the Arch Wiki (Bumblebee), installed packages bumblebee, mesa, nvidia, and xf86-video-intel. Added my user to group bumblebee.

• Enabled the bumblebeed daemon:

  $ sudo systemctl enable bumblebeed.service

• Rebooted system.

• Installed package mesa-demos.

• To test:

  $ optirun glxgears -info

  and also tried

  $ optirun glxspheres64

However, both attempts to test the bumblebee implementation on my system resulted in the following error:

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

Now, this should be an easy fix, since in the very same Bumblebee page on the Arch Wiki there is a troubleshooting section that describes this exact error message. However, the troubleshooting steps that they recommend are seemingly impossible on my system. Specifically, I am instructed to move and edit files in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d (such as /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel-conf, which I am told to move). However,

$ ls /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d

shows an empty directory (which does exist, though). The other troubleshooting option recommended is to define the NVIDIA card somewhere (e.g. file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d). However, as shown above, /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d is a directory, so I am unsure of where exactly this definition (including the BusID from lspci output) should be implemented.

I would appreciate if anyone has input on the lack of files in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d, or where to attempt the NVIDIA card definition, or any other potential solution, your help is very valued!

Please note that I am attempting this Bumblebee setup in preparation to install a KDE Plasma 5 configuration using the SDDM display manager.

Thanks very much!
- amscisr

Last edited by amscisr (2017-04-22 02:24:41)

md1flynn

Member

Registered: 2016-12-05

Posts: 15

Re: [SOLVED] Bumblebee error with GeForce 960M and Intel HD Graphics 530

What is the contents of your:

/etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.nvidia

and

/etc/bumblebee/bumblebee.conf

?

Specifically the first file should include

 BusID "PCI:02:00:0" 

Note that the number in the above must match the number at the start of the lspci output

amscisr

Member

Registered: 2017-04-12

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Bumblebee error with GeForce 960M and Intel HD Graphics 530

Hi md1flynn,

Thanks for your advice! I uncommented the BusID line in

/etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.nvidia

and added the correct output from the NVIDIA output from lspci and then the error changed to "Could not open display (null)" -- then realized that optirun had to be run from X, so installed xorg-xinit and everything needed to run twm, launched optirun from there, and it worked.

Now working on getting SDDM and KDE up and running.

Marking as solved.

Thanks again!
-amscisr