[SOLVED] Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

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Sol1dus
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[SOLVED] Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

Post by Sol1dus »

Hello everyone.

I have installed Linux Mint (Cinnamon) on a Dell G3 and I'm having an issue with the NVIDIA driver. Basically with prime-select set to both NVIDIA and on-demand the laptop display will be black with basically a frozen cursor on the top left of the screen, only an external monitor will be detected and display an image. If I set prime-select to Intel then the display on the laptop turns on but the external display does not work. I've tested all versions of the NVIDIA driver available on the driver manager (470, 390, 460 and 495) and they all exhibit the same behavior. Only when I install the Nouveau display drivers both screens are detected at the same time.

Here's the output of

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxxxrz

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System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-91-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.7 wm: muffin 5.0.2 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: G3 3579 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: 05K0D2 v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI: Dell v: 1.17.0 
  date: 09/03/2021 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 1.7 Wh condition: 1.7/56.0 Wh (3%) volts: 16.7/15.2 
  model: BYD DELL 7FHHV88 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Full 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-8300H bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: A L2 cache: 8192 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 36799 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/4000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 
  3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 630 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:3e9b 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] vendor: Dell 
  driver: nvidia v: 470.86 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1c8d 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: nvidia 
  resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.86 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:a348 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP107GL High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10de:0fb9 
  Device-3: Microdia Camera type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo 
  bus ID: 1-2.3:8 chip ID: 0c45:6340 
  Device-4: JMTek LLC. type: USB driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid 
  bus ID: 1-2.4:10 chip ID: 0c76:161e 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.13.0-22-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 9560 [Jefferson Peak] driver: iwlwifi 
  v: kernel port: 5000 bus ID: 00:14.3 chip ID: 8086:a370 
  IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Dell driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.03 TiB used: 53.95 GiB (5.1%) 
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 model: PC SN520 NVMe WDC 128GB size: 119.24 GiB 
  speed: 15.8 Gb/s lanes: 2 serial: <filter> rev: 20240012 scheme: GPT 
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD10SPZX-75Z10T2 
  size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> 
  rev: 1A03 scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 116.38 GiB used: 53.94 GiB (46.4%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 42.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 40 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/focal-dell.list 
  1: deb http://dell.archive.canonical.com/updates/ focal-dell public
  2: deb http://dell.archive.canonical.com/updates/ focal-oem public
  3: deb http://dell.archive.canonical.com/updates/ focal-somerville public
  4: deb http://dell.archive.canonical.com/updates/ focal-somerville-melisa public
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb https://mirror.koddos.net/linuxmint/packages uma main upstream import backport
  2: deb http://nl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://nl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://nl.archive.ubuntu.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
Info:
  Processes: 279 Uptime: 12m Memory: 7.63 GiB used: 1.41 GiB (18.5%) 
  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
Thanks in advance for the help! :)
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.
Sol1dus
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Re: Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

Post by Sol1dus »

Quick update. Seems that when remove the xorg.conf file:

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sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
both screens work again. As soon as I do any changes that add the file, it breaks once again.
Meanwhile I have seem to created a new issue, some apps like cheese and zoom just don't start (no error messages, they just never start) and telegram gave me an error saying openGL was not activated, if I disable openGL in telegram it works, otherwise it crashes.

All the mentioned apps work fine with the open source drivers.
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Re: Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

Post by ThaCrip »

Well I know in a very basic sense it's recommended to use a newer kernel on 8th generation and newer Intel CPU's, which you have.

so the easiest thing for me to tell you to try is... Update Manager > View > Linux Kernels. then install 5.11 or 5.13, I would probably go straight to 5.13 since 5.11 is only supported until Feb 2022.
MainPC: i5-3550 (undervolted by -0.120v (CPU runs 12c cooler) /w stock i3-2120 hs/fan) | 1050 Ti 4GB | 16GB (2x 8GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RAM | Backups: AMD E-300 CPU (8GB RAM) / Athlon X2 3600+ CPU (@2.3GHz@1.35v) (4GB RAM) | All /w Mint 21.x-Xfce
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SMG
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Re: Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

Post by SMG »

Sol1dus wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 10:10 am Quick update. Seems that when remove the xorg.conf file:

Code: Select all

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
both screens work again. As soon as I do any changes that add the file, it breaks once again.
Adding that file tells the system you only want to use the Nvidia driver. That is not what you want to do with your dual-graphics system. What changes are you wanting to make that you are saving a custom xorg.conf?
Sol1dus wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 10:10 amMeanwhile I have seem to created a new issue, some apps like cheese and zoom just don't start (no error messages, they just never start) and telegram gave me an error saying openGL was not activated, if I disable openGL in telegram it works, otherwise it crashes.
How did you add openGL?
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Sol1dus
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Re: Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

Post by Sol1dus »

@SMG
Adding that file tells the system you only want to use the Nvidia driver. That is not what you want to do with your dual-graphics system.
Oh, TIL. I was not aware of that. I was told to run `nvidia-xconfig` after installing drivers to configure the card so I assumed I always wanted that file. The only setting I was changing was force composition pipeline to eliminate some tearing I was seeing on the second monitor when dragging windows.
How did you add openGL?
I didn't (manually at least). I just installed the drivers via the manager. In the X server settings it seems to show openGL there, but telegram did give me that notice and a lot of apps no longer open with the NVIDIA drivers installed. This problem is new though, all apps were working fine before, even with the NVIDIA drivers. I've switched between drivers many times trying to troubleshoot why my laptop monitor would not turn on so I wonder if something got messed up along the way. Though right now I have the open source drivers and everything seems to work fine.

@ThaCrip I did at some point try the 5.13 kernel but it didn't fix the issues. I reverted back mainly cause I assumed 5.4 would be more stable because it was the one installed by default but that's just a random assumption on my part, due to having little knowledge regarding kernels. If 5.13 is better for this CPU then I think I'll install the latest but it didn't solve this particular problem.
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Re: Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

Post by SMG »

Sol1dus wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 5:56 pmI was told to run `nvidia-xconfig` after installing drivers to configure the card so I assumed I always wanted that file. The only setting I was changing was force composition pipeline to eliminate some tearing I was seeing on the second monitor when dragging windows.
The command for an Optimus based system (Intel/Nvidia) is sudo nvidia-xconfig --prime.

Check this post and the subsequent ones because there is a correction and alternate way to fix the screen tearing.
Sol1dus wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 5:56 pm This problem is new though, all apps were working fine before, even with the NVIDIA drivers. I've switched between drivers many times trying to troubleshoot why my laptop monitor would not turn on so I wonder if something got messed up along the way.
That is possible. It is also possible you upgraded to a newer Nvidia driver during that time period.
Sol1dus wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 5:56 pm. I reverted back mainly cause I assumed 5.4 would be more stable because it was the one installed by default
It's installed by default because it is the long-term support kernel and not because it is more stable. They are all stable when they are a good match for the hardware. We've had enough people run into freeze issues with 8th-gen Intel or newer that have cleared when using a newer kernel that we usually recommend them.
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Sol1dus
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Re: Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

Post by Sol1dus »

The command for an Optimus based system (Intel/Nvidia) is sudo nvidia-xconfig --prime.

Check this post and the subsequent ones because there is a correction and alternate way to fix the screen tearing.
Awesome. Thanks.
That is possible. It is also possible you upgraded to a newer Nvidia driver during that time period.
Funny enough I just installed an NVIDIA update (470) on a different laptop and now I'm having the same openGL issue with telegram. :lol:
Moving back to 460 did not fix it though.
It's installed by default because it is the long-term support kernel and not because it is more stable. They are all stable when they are a good match for the hardware. We've had enough people run into freeze issues with 8th-gen Intel or newer that have cleared when using a newer kernel that we usually recommend them.
Got it. So is the recommendation usually stick to LTS unless you have issues and if so try a different version?
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Re: Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

Post by SMG »

Sol1dus wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 6:44 pmFunny enough I just installed an NVIDIA update (470) on a different laptop and now I'm having the same openGL issue with telegram. :lol:
Moving back to 460 did not fix it though.
I've seen others recently posting on this forum with issues related to Telegram. I do not use it so I have no guesses what the issue might be.
Sol1dus wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 6:44 pm Got it. So is the recommendation usually stick to LTS unless you have issues and if so try a different version?
Correct.
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Re: Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

Post by Sol1dus »

Well it looks like re-installing the problematic apps (on both laptops) seems to have fixed the openGL issues :D

I guess all issues are solved. Thanks a lot for the help SMG
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Re: Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

Post by SMG »

Sol1dus wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 7:06 pmI guess all issues are solved. Thanks a lot for the help SMG
You're welcome. Please go to your first post in this topic, click the pencil icon, and add [SOLVED] to the title so others know you are no longer seeking help on this issue.
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Re: [SOLVED] Laptop display is always off with NVIDIA driver

Post by Sol1dus »

Done :) Thanks again
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