Arch Linux

windsheep

Member

Registered: 2011-06-29

Posts: 17

black screen - Xorg/GDM config - Nvidia Optimus? [solved]

Hi!

I have a Samsung RC539 S09, which has got an Nvidia Optimus graphics card, I want a graphical Xserver on that machine. Therefore I followed the wiki and installed the Nvidia stuff (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA). I did not configure anything jet. I also installed the Xorg stuff and kept the config default (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg). Then I did nvidia-xconfig:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 280.13  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-03.nvid
ia.com)  Wed Jul 27 17:15:58 PDT 2011

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default

I have dbus runnung and do rc.d/gdm start.

[root@myhost ~]# gdm-binary[1147]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 1.143111 seconds
gdm-binary[1147]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.029825 seconds
gdm-binary[1147]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.029360 seconds
gdm-binary[1147]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.029428 seconds
gdm-binary[1147]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.029470 seconds
gdm-binary[1147]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.029108 seconds
gdm-binary[1147]: WARNING: GdmLocalDisplayFactory: maximum number of X display failures reached: check X server log for errors

My logfile says, that after successfully loading the modules, the failure occures at:

[   591.812] (EE) No devices detected.
[   591.812] 
Fatal server error:
[   591.812] no screens found
[   591.812] 
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support 
	 at http://wiki.x.org

What does that mean? - No devices detected - can refer to these Nvidia Optimus stuff, where there's some ondemand switching for graphics acceleration afaik. I'm not sure how to solve my issue. So at this point could need some help

Best,
wishi

edit: got this working with the intel stuff. Did onyone archive GPU support jet?

Last edited by windsheep (2011-08-20 20:34:25)

kulpae

Member

From: Bremen

Registered: 2010-02-06

Posts: 34

Re: black screen - Xorg/GDM config - Nvidia Optimus? [solved]

first at all check

lspci | grep -i vga

I have optimus and I see both cards, Intel and nVidia.
What do you see?

If you install xf86-video-intel instead of nvidia driver, does it work then? (backup & remove /etc/X11/xorg.conf then)

I had to disable optimus and switch to my dedicated nVidia graphics card  in bios in order to make nvidia driver work.
Now I'm using intel with bumblebee (optimus support for linux) & optimus enabled in bios, and bumblebee loads proprietary nvidia drivers when required.
But I also have a thinkpad t510, I don't know if bumblebee works with your device.

cheers, kulpae

Last edited by kulpae (2011-08-20 14:45:41)

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: black screen - Xorg/GDM config - Nvidia Optimus? [solved]

Do not use nvidia-xconfig, it's outdated. You don't need an xorg.conf anyway, not even for the nvidia driver.

But if you have Optimus, you'll need to install the intel driver for X to work. Then for the nvidia card, install bumblebee from AUR.

@kulpae: Lucky you that you can turn off optimus, most laptops don't have that ability. Bumblebee should work with any machine, the only issue that can arise is the inability to turn off the nvidia card even when it's not in use.

Last edited by Gusar (2011-08-20 15:36:37)

windsheep

Member

Registered: 2011-06-29

Posts: 17

Re: black screen - Xorg/GDM config - Nvidia Optimus? [solved]

Thanks for the replies. With the intel drivers this works just fine. I'll check out bumblebee for some vdpau stuff. - Hopefully that works.

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: black screen - Xorg/GDM config - Nvidia Optimus? [solved]

I'll check out bumblebee for some vdpau stuff. - Hopefully that works.

It doesn't. Only opengl works (and cuda, I think), vdpau does not. Bumblebee is a hack or a workaround at best, not a solution.