[SOLVED] Mint 20.2: prime-select nvidia doesn't allow using NVidia graphics

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just-max
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[SOLVED] Mint 20.2: prime-select nvidia doesn't allow using NVidia graphics

Post by just-max »

In Linux Mint 20.2, I am not able to use the NVidia graphics chip in my system. Despite:
prime-select query

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nvidia
and restarting the system multiple times, only the integrated graphics remain available.

By this I mean, for example:
glxgears -info | grep -i renderer

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GL_RENDERER   = Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 (WHL GT2)
, games use the integrated graphics, the prime-select context menu has as its top entry "Mesa Intel UHD Graphics..." despite the selected profile showing as "NVIDIA (Performance Mode)", nividia-smi fails with

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NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.
The system was updated from Mint 19.X, then to 20 in the past, but I'm not sure what the X was (I believe it was 19.3).

I actually initially delayed sending this post, because at some point it did start working for a single session, but I cannot reproduce that.

Steps I have tried:
  • `update-initramfs -u -k all`
  • selecting and installing different drivers in the "Driver Manager"
  • ubuntu-drivers install nvidia:460
At each point, the result of prime-select query was nvidia, but things are more-or-less the same for on-demand.

This same system had no trouble using the NVidia card in the past. In fact, booting a Mint 19.Y (I think Y is 2 here) install on the same machine has no trouble using the NVidia card.

Below I've included some information that is hopefully helpful. Thanks so much in advance!

inxi -Fxz

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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 Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma 
           base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: ZenBook UX433FN_UX433FN v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: UX433FN v: 1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: UX433FN.308 date: 07/15/2019 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 35.6 Wh condition: 35.6/50.1 Wh (71%) model: ASUSTeK ASUS Battery status: Not charging 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-8265U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Kaby Lake rev: C L2 cache: 6144 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 28800 
           Speed: 700 MHz min/max: 400/3900 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 700 2: 700 3: 700 4: 700 5: 700 6: 700 7: 700 8: 700 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GP108M [GeForce MX150] driver: N/A bus ID: 02:00.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 2560x1440~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (WHL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.0.3 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:1f.3 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-91-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 5000 bus ID: 00:14.3 
           IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: docker0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-2: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-3: virbr0-nic state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 965.99 GiB used: 988.84 GiB (102.4%) 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Kingston model: RBUSNS8154P3512GJ2 size: 476.94 GiB 
           ID-2: /dev/sda type: USB vendor: Crucial model: CT525MX300SSD1 size: 489.05 GiB 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 467.96 GiB used: 324.87 GiB (69.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 34.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Info:      Processes: 309 Uptime: 10m Memory: 15.46 GiB used: 1.90 GiB (12.3%) Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 
           Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 inxi: 3.0.38 
ls -1 /lib/modprobe.d/

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aliases.conf
blacklist_linux_4.15.0-54-generic.conf
blacklist_linux_5.4.0-88-generic.conf
blacklist_linux_5.4.0-91-generic.conf
blacklist_linux-hwe_5.0.0-32-generic.conf
fbdev-blacklist.conf
nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf
nvidia-kms.conf
systemd.conf
dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia

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ii  bbswitch-dkms                                 0.8-8ubuntu0.20.04.1                            amd64        Interface for toggling the power on NVIDIA Optimus video cards
ii  bumblebee                                     3.2.1-22                                        amd64        NVIDIA Optimus support for Linux
ii  libnvidia-cfg1-460:amd64                      460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX configuration library
ii  libnvidia-common-460                          460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      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
ii  libnvidia-compute-460:amd64                   460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVIDIA libcompute package
ii  libnvidia-compute-460:i386                    460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      i386         NVIDIA libcompute package
rc  libnvidia-compute-470:amd64                   470.86-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                         amd64        NVIDIA libcompute package
ii  libnvidia-decode-460:amd64                    460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVIDIA Video Decoding runtime libraries
ii  libnvidia-decode-460:i386                     460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      i386         NVIDIA Video Decoding runtime libraries
ii  libnvidia-encode-460:amd64                    460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii  libnvidia-encode-460:i386                     460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      i386         NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii  libnvidia-extra-460:amd64                     460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        Extra libraries for the NVIDIA driver
ii  libnvidia-fbc1-460:amd64                      460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL-based Framebuffer Capture runtime library
ii  libnvidia-fbc1-460:i386                       460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      i386         NVIDIA OpenGL-based Framebuffer Capture runtime library
ii  libnvidia-gl-460:amd64                        460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES GLVND libraries and Vulkan ICD
ii  libnvidia-gl-460:i386                         460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      i386         NVIDIA OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES GLVND libraries and Vulkan ICD
ii  libnvidia-ifr1-460:amd64                      460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL-based Inband Frame Readback runtime library
ii  libnvidia-ifr1-460:i386                       460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      i386         NVIDIA OpenGL-based Inband Frame Readback runtime library
rc  linux-modules-nvidia-470-5.4.0-91-generic     5.4.0-91.102+2                                  amd64        Linux kernel nvidia modules for version 5.4.0-91
ii  linux-objects-nvidia-470-5.4.0-91-generic     5.4.0-91.102+2                                  amd64        Linux kernel nvidia modules for version 5.4.0-91 (objects)
ii  linux-signatures-nvidia-5.4.0-91-generic      5.4.0-91.102+2                                  amd64        Linux kernel signatures for nvidia modules for version 5.4.0-91-generic
rc  nvidia-compute-utils-390                      390.144-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                        amd64        NVIDIA compute utilities
ii  nvidia-compute-utils-460                      460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVIDIA compute utilities
rc  nvidia-compute-utils-470                      470.86-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                         amd64        NVIDIA compute utilities
rc  nvidia-dkms-390                               390.144-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                        amd64        NVIDIA DKMS package
ii  nvidia-dkms-460                               460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVIDIA DKMS package
rc  nvidia-dkms-470                               470.86-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                         amd64        NVIDIA DKMS package
ii  nvidia-driver-460                             460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVIDIA driver metapackage
rc  nvidia-kernel-common-390                      390.144-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                        amd64        Shared files used with the kernel module
ii  nvidia-kernel-common-460                      460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        Shared files used with the kernel module
rc  nvidia-kernel-common-470                      470.86-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                         amd64        Shared files used with the kernel module
ii  nvidia-kernel-source-460                      460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      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                               470.57.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2                      amd64        Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii  nvidia-utils-460                              460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVIDIA driver support binaries
ii  primus                                        0~20150328-10                                   amd64        client-side GPU offloading for NVIDIA Optimus
ii  screen-resolution-extra                       0.18build1                                      all          Extension for the nvidia-settings control panel
ii  xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-460                 460.91.03-0ubuntu0.20.04.1                      amd64        NVIDIA binary Xorg driver
mokutil --sb-state

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SecureBoot disabled
Platform is in Setup Mode
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log at https://termbin.com/025w

nvidia-bug-report.sh && zcat nvidia-bug-report.log.gz at https://termbin.com/yce2t
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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SMG
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Re: Mint 20.2: prime-select nvidia doesn't allow using NVidia graphics

Post by SMG »

just-max wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:37 am In Linux Mint 20.2, I am not able to use the NVidia graphics chip in my system. Despite:
prime-select query

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nvidia
and restarting the system multiple times, only the integrated graphics remain available.
Welcome to the forum, just-max.

Do you recall when you installed Bumblebee? It is not supported on Linux Mint and has not been for quite a while. My guess is Bumblebee may have removed power from the Nvidia GPU.

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ii  bbswitch-dkms                                 0.8-8ubuntu0.20.04.1                            amd64        Interface for toggling the power on NVIDIA Optimus video cards
ii  bumblebee                                     3.2.1-22                                        amd64        NVIDIA Optimus support for Linux
ii  primus                                        0~20150328-10                                   amd64        client-side GPU offloading for NVIDIA Optimus
Use this command to make sure all of Bumblebee is removed: sudo apt-get purge bumblebee* primus* and reboot and see if the Nvidia GPU works. Linux Mint 19 and 20 use the nvidia-prime-applet for ease of switching and I see it is installed.
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just-max
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Re: [SOLVED] Mint 20.2: prime-select nvidia doesn't allow using NVidia graphics

Post by just-max »

Hey SMG,
thank you for the reply!
I actually don't remember installing bumblebee, and neither does my bash history within the last ~6 months :| Maybe it was installed as a dependency of something else, but I can't imagine what.
In any case it really does seem to have been that easy of a fix! After a reboot everything is working as expected.
Once again thank you for spotting the problem so directly :D
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Re: [SOLVED] Mint 20.2: prime-select nvidia doesn't allow using NVidia graphics

Post by SMG »

just-max wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 7:41 amOnce again thank you for spotting the problem so directly :D
You're welcome. Glad it was an easy fix. :)
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