Can't log in after selecting Intel graphics card from Prime options

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polaris6933

Can't log in after selecting Intel graphics card from Prime options

Post by polaris6933 »

A little introduction: recently I decided to install a Linux distro on my Asus N752VX laptop (GPU is Nvidia GTX950M and CPU is Intel Core i7-6700). Mint (18.2 with KDE) is the third one I tried and with all of them (Elementary and Ubuntu 17.10 before it) I had this similar issue: I couldn't boot into the OS or if I did the system would freeze whenever I tried to shut it down. The solution was to use the

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nomodeset
option on the

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 GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
line in

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/etc/default/grub
This, however made the system not recognize my display and I couldn't get a resolution higher than 800x600 and the solutions to that was just to use the proprietary Nvidia driver. I'm writing all of this for some background and to be clear why I'm using exactly this driver.

Now my system runs almost okay but there are some graphics-related issues like screen tear, the computer not suspending properly from time to time* and the fact that it's always using the Nvidia GPU (because of the Optimus technology) and that's taxing on the battery. Considering I don't use my laptop from graphics intensive work I decided I would be perfectly fine using the Intel card exclusively so I changed it form the NVIDIA X Server Settings. And here lies my issue. After doing that I couldn't log into my account - the screen would just freeze after I had entered my credentials and hit enter. Also, after some time (1-2 minutes) one of my laptop fans suddenly starts spinning quite fast in a way that normally doesn't happen (it was also quite loud). I managed to bring back everything into a stable state by logging into TTY1 and switching the selected graphics card from there.

Do you know of a way I can disable the Nvidia card? My BIOS doesn't support that option and I read about Bumblebee but I'm somewhat scared of using it since I wouldn't be sure what to do if I'm once again locked out of my system and my fan goes crazy.

* Here are some images of the screens I sometimes get after attempting to suspend (please excuse the poor quality, my phone's camera is not good and neither are my photography skills):
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Image
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
ClixTrix

Re: Can't log in after selecting Intel graphics card from Prime options

Post by ClixTrix »

Some laptops have a BIOS option to select use of either the Intel or nVidia GPU. Scratch that ... see you checked.

Mint 18.2 comes with Kernel 4.8. You might want to try either Kernel 4.4 or 4.10 to see if that helps stability. You can install (and uninstall) Kernels from Update Manager. Look for them under "View". Once installed, the latest will always boot. You can select an older Kernel from Grub boot menu under the "Advanced options ... ", i.e. if there is a problem, you can always switch to known working Kernel.

Edit: I looked at the screenshots. Here's is some advise on that problem. It's related to your Skylake processor, but not sure about your NIC.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/771899/ ... -corrected
polaris6933

Re: Can't log in after selecting Intel graphics card from Prime options

Post by polaris6933 »

I tried 4.4, 4.11, 4.13 (those were available in Update Manager). .11 and .13 did not even get to the login screen (either getting a black screen or the Mint logo and the fan, again, started spinning like crazy) with the Prime profile set to Intel and .4 was the same as .8 (which I was using before). I currently don't have time to look at the thread you linked but will try to asap.
ClixTrix

Re: Can't log in after selecting Intel graphics card from Prime options

Post by ClixTrix »

Please run the following command from Terminal and post back the results:

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inxi -Fxz
polaris6933

Re: Can't log in after selecting Intel graphics card from Prime options

Post by polaris6933 »

I tried adding pci=nomsi and pci=noaer as boot parameters but with them I wasn't able to boot the OS. Simply getting a black screen after selecting Mint in GRUB. Here's the output of the command:

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System:    Host: zdravko-mint-lt Kernel: 4.10.0-38-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.8.8 (Qt 5.6.1) Distro: Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya
Machine:   System: ASUSTeK (portable) product: N752VX v: 1.0
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: N752VX v: 1.0
           Bios: American Megatrends v: N752VX.301 date: 08/18/2016
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-6700HQ (-HT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 20736
           clock speeds: max: 3500 MHz 1: 899 MHz 2: 865 MHz 3: 862 MHz
           4: 875 MHz 5: 899 MHz 6: 899 MHz 7: 872 MHz 8: 846 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel Skylake Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GM107M [GeForce GTX 950M] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 driver: nvidia
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.02hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 950M/PCIe/SSE2
           GLX Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 384.90 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Sunrise Point-H HD Audio
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-38-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.1
           IF: enp3s0f1 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1128.2GB (1.8% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: TS128GMTS800 size: 128.0GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: HGST_HTS721010A9 size: 1000.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 24G used: 7.4G (33%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
           ID-2: /home size: 137G used: 4.8G (4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb5
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 8.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb6
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 46.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:40C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 1600
Info:      Processes: 259 Uptime: 7 min Memory: 1725.4/7874.2MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35
ClixTrix

Re: Can't log in after selecting Intel graphics card from Prime options

Post by ClixTrix »

You may be stuck having to try Bumblebee to save battery and get better stability. I don't find a way to force the nVidia to disable or switch to Intel at boot. Even if there were a soft disable, not sure it would switch. I'm thinking that Bumblebee is that option.

I don't know how much flexibility (space and partitioning) you have to configure a second install of Mint in your system and dual-booting for test. That would at least give you some options to work the problem without risk to the semi-working install. Just a thought....
polaris6933

Re: Can't log in after selecting Intel graphics card from Prime options

Post by polaris6933 »

I also thought about Bumblebee. Shouldn't I be able to uninstall it through TTY1 if anything goes wrong?
ClixTrix

Re: Can't log in after selecting Intel graphics card from Prime options

Post by ClixTrix »

Yes, I assume that would work. However, I'm just thinking about least risk to working system and any extended testing need and trials. I'm not suggesting there won't be problems with trying this. Could be a whole new set of problems.

Your call on this one. Back up you data....just in case.
polaris6933

Re: Can't log in after selecting Intel graphics card from Prime options

Post by polaris6933 »

With Bumblebee installed I couldn't get to the login screen before the computer stalled and the fan started spinning. I uninstalled it from Recovery Mode and selected the Nvidia Optimus profile but after that the computer just acted the same way it did with the Intel profile selected (halting on boot and fan spinning). So I guess it did brake my system :D Fortunately I didn't have anything important on it and I will just try a different distro.

EDIT: tried again today and the system actually booted normally. Back at square 1, I guess.
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