LM 20.2: nVidia applet shows "Err" and states Nvidia Prime is not set up correctly

[fulanitodetal]

The nVidia Prime GPU Display applet states "Err". When I hover over it, it states "Nvidia Prime is not set up correctly - are the nvidia drivers and nvidia-prime installed?"

Here's my inxi -G output:

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Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 6GB] driver: nvidia v: 470.63.01 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: modesetting,nvidia 
  resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz, 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2 
  v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.63.01 

As far as I can tell, I have nvidia-prime installed. Here's the dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia output:

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ii  libnvidia-cfg1-470:amd64                   470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX configuration library
ii  libnvidia-common-470                       470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            all          Shared files used by the NVIDIA libraries
rc  libnvidia-compute-390:amd64                390.144-0ubuntu0.20.04.1              amd64        NVIDIA libcompute package
rc  libnvidia-compute-390:i386                 390.144-0ubuntu0.20.04.1              i386         NVIDIA libcompute package
rc  libnvidia-compute-460:amd64                460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        NVIDIA libcompute package
ii  libnvidia-compute-470:amd64                470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA libcompute package
ii  libnvidia-compute-470:i386                 470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            i386         NVIDIA libcompute package
ii  libnvidia-decode-470:amd64                 470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA Video Decoding runtime libraries
ii  libnvidia-decode-470:i386                  470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            i386         NVIDIA Video Decoding runtime libraries
ii  libnvidia-encode-470:amd64                 470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii  libnvidia-encode-470:i386                  470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            i386         NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii  libnvidia-extra-470:amd64                  470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        Extra libraries for the NVIDIA driver
ii  libnvidia-fbc1-470:amd64                   470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL-based Framebuffer Capture runtime library
ii  libnvidia-fbc1-470:i386                    470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            i386         NVIDIA OpenGL-based Framebuffer Capture runtime library
ii  libnvidia-gl-470:amd64                     470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES GLVND libraries and Vulkan ICD
ii  libnvidia-gl-470:i386                      470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            i386         NVIDIA OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES GLVND libraries and Vulkan ICD
ii  libnvidia-ifr1-470:amd64                   470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL-based Inband Frame Readback runtime library
ii  libnvidia-ifr1-470:i386                    470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            i386         NVIDIA OpenGL-based Inband Frame Readback runtime library
rc  nvidia-compute-utils-390                   390.144-0ubuntu0.20.04.1              amd64        NVIDIA compute utilities
rc  nvidia-compute-utils-460                   460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        NVIDIA compute utilities
ii  nvidia-compute-utils-470                   470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA compute utilities
rc  nvidia-dkms-390                            390.144-0ubuntu0.20.04.1              amd64        NVIDIA DKMS package
rc  nvidia-dkms-460                            460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        NVIDIA DKMS package
ii  nvidia-dkms-470                            470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA DKMS package
ii  nvidia-driver-470                          470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA driver metapackage
rc  nvidia-kernel-common-390                   390.144-0ubuntu0.20.04.1              amd64        Shared files used with the kernel module
rc  nvidia-kernel-common-460                   460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        Shared files used with the kernel module
ii  nvidia-kernel-common-470                   470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        Shared files used with the kernel module
ii  nvidia-kernel-source-470                   470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA kernel source package
ii  nvidia-prime                               0.8.16~0.20.04.1                      all          Tools to enable NVIDIA's Prime
ii  nvidia-prime-applet                        1.2.9                                 all          An applet for NVIDIA Prime
ii  nvidia-settings                            470.57.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.1            amd64        Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii  nvidia-utils-470                           470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA driver support binaries
ii  screen-resolution-extra                    0.18build1                            all          Extension for the nvidia-settings control panel
ii  xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-470              470.63.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2            amd64        NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

I initially had lots of trouble getting the nVidia drivers to work. I followed the instructions in the following post, solving graphics issues (I can even play Rocket League online using Proton!): viewtopic.php?t=327160

I finally managed to fix this with help form the link SMG provided. There i found about /var/log/Xorg.0.log which i did not know exists. There i found that my nvidia driver module does not exists on first boot. After some searching i found about this error where linux looks at the wrong place for nvidia driver and thus cant load it. I found some good info on this link.
And then i modified the solution there for my version of Mint. Finlay i fixed the problem by adding following code to my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.
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Section "Files"
    ModulePath      "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg"
    ModulePath      "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
EndSection

Btw, there is already nvidia.conf file in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d with a path to the driver but for some reason it did not work for me, but adding this line to xorg.conf fixes everything.
Thanks for all the help and how do i mark this post as solved

Below is more relevant-output that might be useful in troubleshooting.

screenfetch

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 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmds+.        OS: Linuxmint 20.2 uma
 MMm----::-://////////////oymNMd+`     Kernel: x86_64 Linux 5.4.0-84-generic
 MMd      /++                -sNMd:    Uptime: 12m
 MMNso/`  dMM    `.::-. .-::.` .hMN:   Packages: 2463
 ddddMMh  dMM   :hNMNMNhNMNMNh: `NMm   Shell: bash 5.0.17
     NMm  dMM  .NMN/-+MMM+-/NMN` dMM   Resolution: 5760x1080
     NMm  dMM  -MMm  `MMM   dMM. dMM   DE: Cinnamon 5.0.5
     NMm  dMM  -MMm  `MMM   dMM. dMM   WM: Muffin
     NMm  dMM  .mmd  `mmm   yMM. dMM   WM Theme: Faded-Dream (Sweet-mars)
     NMm  dMM`  ..`   ...   ydm. dMM   GTK Theme: Sweet-mars [GTK2/3]
     hMM- +MMd/-------...-:sdds  dMM   Icon Theme: candy-icons
     -NMm- :hNMNNNmdddddddddy/`  dMM   Font: Ubuntu 10
      -dMNs-``-::::-------.``    dMM   Disk: 332G / 924G (38%)
       `/dMNmy+/:-------------:/yMMM   CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K @ 8x 4.4GHz [44.0°C]
          ./ydNMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM   GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
             \.MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM     RAM: 2231MiB / 15964MiB

nvidia-smi

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Thu Sep 16 16:48:37 2021       
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 470.63.01    Driver Version: 470.63.01    CUDA Version: 11.4     |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name        Persistence-M| Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp  Perf  Pwr:Usage/Cap|         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                               |                      |               MIG M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
|   0  NVIDIA GeForce ...  Off  | 00000000:01:00.0  On |                  N/A |
|  8%   52C    P0    23W / 120W |    330MiB /  6070MiB |      2%      Default |
|                               |                      |                  N/A |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
                                                                               
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                  |
|  GPU   GI   CI        PID   Type   Process name                  GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                   Usage      |
|=============================================================================|
|    0   N/A  N/A       930      G   /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg                211MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A      1455      G   cinnamon                           43MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A      1954      G   ...AAAAAAAAA= --shared-files       72MiB |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

glxinfo | grep NVIDIA

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server glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
client glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.63.01
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.60 NVIDIA
OpenGL version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.63.01
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.60 NVIDIA
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 NVIDIA 470.63.01

PS - I'm not savvy at Linux at all, just good at the googlefu, so pls consider my ignorance when responding

[SMG]

The nVidia Prime GPU Display applet states "Err". When I hover over it, it states "Nvidia Prime is not set up correctly - are the nvidia drivers and nvidia-prime installed?"

Were things working and then something happened that this error message started showing? Or have you always had that error message?

Please give us information about your install by entering this command in a terminal: inxi -Fxxxrz and enclose the results in code tags.

[fulanitodetal]

Were things working and then something happened that this error message started showing? Or have you always had that error message?

It has never worked correctly for me. It has always shown "Err".

here's the inxi -Fxxxrz (btw, that's a neat command. I love learning this stuff!)

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System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-84-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.5 wm: muffin 5.0.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: Z97 Killer serial: <filter> 
  UEFI [Legacy]: American Megatrends v: P2.60 date: 03/06/2018 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-4790K bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Haswell rev: 3 L2 cache: 8192 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 63986 
  Speed: 1100 MHz min/max: 800/4400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1100 2: 1100 
  3: 1100 4: 1100 5: 1101 6: 1100 7: 1100 8: 1100 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 6GB] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nvidia 
  v: 470.63.01 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1c03 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: modesetting,nvidia 
  resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz, 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2 
  v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.63.01 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 9 Series Family HD Audio vendor: ASRock driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:8ca0 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP106 High Definition Audio vendor: eVga.com. 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10de:10f1 
  Device-3: Microdia USB 2.0 Camera type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo 
  bus ID: 3-1:2 chip ID: 0c45:6366 serial: <filter> 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-84-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E220x Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASRock 
  driver: alx v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 05:00.0 chip ID: 1969:e091 
  IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: wl v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 06:00.0 
  chip ID: 14e4:43a0 
  IF: wlp6s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  IF-ID-1: tun0 state: unknown speed: 10 Mbps duplex: full mac: N/A 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 3.64 TiB used: 331.77 GiB (8.9%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 QVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q scheme: MBR 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD1002FAEX-00Y9A0 
  size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 1V01 
  ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 2TB size: 1.82 TiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 3B6Q scheme: MBR 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 915.40 GiB used: 331.77 GiB (36.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 33.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 52 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 7% 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/graphics-drivers-ppa-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/graphics-drivers/ppa/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hardware:razer.list 
  1: deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/hardware:/razer/xUbuntu_21.04/ /
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lutris-team-lutris-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/lutris-team/lutris/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com uma main upstream import backport
  2: deb http://mirror.nodesdirect.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://mirror.nodesdirect.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://mirror.nodesdirect.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openrazer-daily-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openrazer/daily/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openrazer-stable-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openrazer/stable/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/polychromatic-stable-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/polychromatic/stable/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/slgobinath-gcalendar-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/slgobinath/gcalendar/ubuntu focal main
Info:
  Processes: 298 Uptime: 1h 19m Memory: 15.59 GiB used: 2.30 GiB (14.8%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 

[fulanitodetal]

The nVidia Prime GPU Display applet states "Err". When I hover over it, it states "Nvidia Prime is not set up correctly - are the nvidia drivers and nvidia-prime installed?"

Were things working and then something happened that this error message started showing? Or have you always had that error message?

Please give us information about your install by entering this command in a terminal: inxi -Fxxxrz and enclose the results in code tags.

I just realized that you're the author of the post that originally fixed my graphics issues. you're a beast! thanks for the hard work

[SMG]

Were things working and then something happened that this error message started showing? Or have you always had that error message?

It has never worked correctly for me. It has always shown "Err".

The nvidia-prime-applet and nvidia prime are for switching between GPUs on dual-graphics computers. I think I've seen a few desktops with dual-graphics, but the technology is mainly found on laptops.

So the short answer as to why it is not working is because it is not applicable for your system (based on the data you posted--desktop with only Nvidia graphics).

However, your graphics information is showing both the modesetting and nvidia drivers which is not usually what shows for an Nvidia-only system. Usually, only nvidia loads.
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 6GB] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nvidia
v: 470.63.01 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1c03
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: modesetting,nvidia
resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz, 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2
v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.63.01 direct render: Yes

The specs for your Intel Core i7-4790K cpu do indicate it has Intel graphics. Is there a setting in your BIOS/UEFI which lets you switch between onboard (Intel), discrete (Nvidia), or both? Let us know what the settings are and what the current setting is (which resulted in the output you listed).

If your system does have dual-graphics capability, then we will probably want to switch to a different fix than the one you listed in the first post. That fix will not work for a dual-graphics system.

[fulanitodetal]

The specs for your Intel Core i7-4790K cpu do indicate it has Intel graphics. Is there a setting in your BIOS/UEFI which lets you switch between onboard (Intel), discrete (Nvidia), or both? Let us know what the settings are and what the current setting is (which resulted in the output you listed).

Yes, the BIOS has two relevant settings:
1) "Primary Graphics Adapter" which has the following options: Onboard, PCI, & PCI Express. It is currently set to PCI Express.
2) IGPU Multi-Monitor which can be either Enabled or Disabled. It is currently Disabled.

[SMG]

Yes, the BIOS has two relevant settings:
1) "Primary Graphics Adapter" which has the following options: Onboard, PCI, & PCI Express. It is currently set to PCI Express.

To me, this would seem to indicate the computer should only be using Nvidia which means there is no dual graphics in use. No dual graphics means no nvidia-prime functionality installed or available.

There is a way to turn off the nvidia-prime-applet so it does not start with the system (and thus would not be in your panel to show ERR), but let's make sure your system does not have dual-graphics capability before you "remove the ERR".

2) IGPU Multi-Monitor which can be either Enabled or Disabled. It is currently Disabled.

I find it odd that modesetting driver is showing. X Server runs the graphics in Mint. Use this command in a terminal to upload the X Server log file to termbin:
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | nc termbin.com 9999
It will return with a url address that you should post in your next reply.

[fulanitodetal]

here you go! thanks for taking the time to troubleshoot this problem with me despite it not being a critical error.

[SMG]

The Xorg log is only showing one GPU.

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[   155.497] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card0)
[   155.498] (**) OutputClass "nvidia" ModulePath extended to "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[   155.499] (--) PCI:*(1@0:0:0) 10de:1c03:3842:6163 rev 161, Mem @ 0xee000000/16777216, 0xd0000000/268435456, 0xe0000000/33554432, I/O @ 0x0000e000/128, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072

and I do not see mention of the modesetting driver in this file. I'm not sure why it showed in the inxi output.

This means Nvidia-prime does not apply. There might be a bug in the nvidia-prime-applet because I would have expected the applet not to show if it did not apply rather than showing ERR.

If you open the Start-up Applications app, you should see "Support for Nvidia Prime" in the list. Move the slider to the left so it is off. This will prevent the applet from starting in the future so you no longer see the ERR.

[fulanitodetal]

I disabled the Support for NVIDIA Prime option in Startup Applications, then rebooted the computer. The Err message is still there.

[SMG]

I disabled the Support for NVIDIA Prime option in Startup Applications, then rebooted the computer. The Err message is still there.

It appears that is a different applet from what I thought it might be.

Do you recall adding a Cinnamon spice applet? I did a search on the name and found this nVidia Prime GPU Display applet. It indicates, "Displays which Graphics processor is active and nVidia GPU Temperature when active and in a horizontal panel " which seems to fit the two values, ERR (Intel or Nvidia) and temperature, you see. However, this is only for Optimus-style laptops which is not what you have.

Additionally, the specs indicate this only works properly on Cinnamon versions older than 3.8. You are using Cinnamon 5.0.5.

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System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-84-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.5 wm: muffin 5.0.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal  

This seems to confirm (to me) the nvidia-prime-applet is working properly because it was not showing even though you did not have it turned off in the Start-up Applications.

If you no longer want to see the ERR, then uninstall the applet.

[fulanitodetal]

roger. thanks for the help!