Adding or Changing GPU Configuration Prevents X from Starting [Solved]

betstick · 2019-02-09 00:06:38

I have a working install that I put together a few days ago with one Nvidia GPU in it. Everything works just fine unless I add in a second Nvidia card. Both cards are reference GTX 980s (though it happens with ANY Nvidia card). My motherboard absolutely supports any GPU configuration. I don't even want to plug any monitors into the second card for now. It is just for rendering and later will be for KVM. After the second card is added and I boot, running startx causes the screen to freeze and become unresponsive. I can shift to another TTY but even there I cannot start the X server. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling xorg, xorg-xinnit, all the Nvidia software, and i3. I have also tried resetting all of my config files such as my .xinitrc, Nvidia configuration file, and my .Xauthority file. The only thing that fixes the issue is removing the second card. I know the card works because swapping them also works. This problem has followed me throughout all of my Arch installations and I am hoping that somebody here can point me in the right direction to getting this issue resolved. I need to be able to shut down my desktop, change or add multiple graphics cards without reinstalling the operating system or losing Xorg. This issue is not present in Ubuntu and also does not seem to occur with AMD cards.

My .xinitrc file only contains the following: exec i3

The error logs for Xorg are here: https://pastebin.com/wsJPYg5X

I appreciate your time and help.

Last edited by betstick (2019-02-09 16:06:37)

seth · 2019-02-09 09:39:09

My .xinitrc file only contains the following: exec i3

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xinit#xinitrc - pay attention to the second notice and fix that.

[   155.962] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.1.log", Time: Thu Feb  7 20:35:05 2019

Why is it the .1.log?

[   155.962] (==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[   155.963] (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[   155.963] (==) ServerLayout "Layout0"
[   155.963] (**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0)
[   155.963] (**) |   |-->Monitor "Monitor0"
[   155.963] (**) |   |-->Device "Device0"
[   155.963] (**) |-->Input Device "Keyboard0"
[   155.963] (**) |-->Input Device "Mouse0"
[   155.963] (**) Option "Xinerama" "0"

Some snippet in one of those paths has a static layout, probably generated by nvidia-xconfig. Post it and in doubt: get rid of it.

[   155.974] (--) PCI: (5@0:0:0) 10de:13c0:3842:2980 rev 161, Mem @ 0xfa000000/16777216, 0xc0000000/268435456, 0xd0000000/33554432, I/O @ 0x0000d000/128, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072
[   155.974] (--) PCI:*(9@0:0:0) 10de:13c0:10de:1116 rev 161, Mem @ 0xf8000000/16777216, 0x383fe0000000/268435456, 0x383ff0000000/33554432, I/O @ 0x0000c000/128, BIOS @ 0x????????/524288

=> The card at 09:00.1 is considered th primary one, ensure you've an output attached to that, because the rest of the log says your only output ("Acer CB271HU") is on the other one.

Edit: if you want to keep the output on that GPU you'll have to add a meaningfull xorg configlet that tags the GPU on that PCI slot as PrimaryGPU, eg.

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-nvidia.conf

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BusID          "PCI:5:0:0"
    Option "PrimaryGPU" "True"
EndSection

but get rid of the nonsense config, resp. strip it down to the relevant bits.

Last edited by seth (2019-02-09 09:42:39)

betstick · 2019-02-09 15:57:17

It is .1 because I started it on the second TTY I think. All the different log files appeared to be the same.

The new xorg.conf is here: https://pastebin.com/KNEv9MKu
The Nvidia conf file is here: https://pastebin.com/gA7Bu3c9
And my new .xinitrc: https://pastebin.com/dAttext7 (ignore the two lines before exec i3, they don't break anything)
I've commented out the last 5 lines since they refer to software that I do not have installed. I don't want them adding more errors.

I've also added the 10-nvidia.conf you suggested.

I never even realized that there was supposed to be anything more than a single line in my .xinitrc file. I've updated my file to contain the code from the default xinitrc.

Since I cannot post without this machine, I am going to be right back while I test. Thank you for the information.

betstick · 2019-02-09 16:06:11

It works perfectly. Everything finally works! Thank you so much for you help.

This reboot also seems to have coincided with PulseAudio working. So double thank you!

seth · 2019-02-09 16:15:31

I'd recommend to remove xorg.conf and 20-nvidia.conf - most of their content is just ancient cruft and static configs tend to break stuff down the road.
If you long for the metamodes line, you can probably just move it into the device section of the 10-nvidia.conf or in very doubt add a screen section where you refernce the relevant device and add this line.

fyi, nothing after the first "exec" call in a script is executed, you can perfectly fine delete, comment or leave the lines afterwards - all the same.

Arch Linux

#1 2019-02-09 00:06:38

Adding or Changing GPU Configuration Prevents X from Starting [Solved]

#2 2019-02-09 09:39:09

Re: Adding or Changing GPU Configuration Prevents X from Starting [Solved]

#3 2019-02-09 15:57:17

Re: Adding or Changing GPU Configuration Prevents X from Starting [Solved]

#4 2019-02-09 16:06:11

Re: Adding or Changing GPU Configuration Prevents X from Starting [Solved]

#5 2019-02-09 16:15:31

Re: Adding or Changing GPU Configuration Prevents X from Starting [Solved]

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