Linux Mint Forums

Hi,

I have a Thinkpad W520 and am running Linux Mint 12 64-bit. This laptop allows the graphics to be switched between, discrete (nVidia Quadro 2000M), integrated (Intel), and Optimus. Currently, integrated works fine, but discrete just hangs at a blank screen. I also recently added the Ubuntu x-swat repository and installed the latest version of nvidia-current:
But that didn't solve the problem. I see this working for others running Fedora or Ubuntu, so I'm pretty sure there's a solution. Could someone help?

Thanks,
Ben

You need to turn off Intel graphics in the BIOS, or use Bumblebee, if you want to use the nvidia card. You can also uninstall the driver and use Intel only, then bumblebee can turn off the nvidia card to avoid it consuming power.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bumblebee

AlbertP wrote:You need to turn off Intel graphics in the BIOS, or use Bumblebee, if you want to use the nvidia card.

Right. By discrete graphics, I mean I turn off the integrated Intel graphics in the BIOS. I haven't tried Bumblebee, but, considering the newness of the project, I'd rather just getting the discrete card working solidly. Could someone help?

Bumblebee is not really a new project. It exists since 2009 and the 3.0 version was released this year. I don't think there is another easy way to switch to the Quadro card apart from disabling Intel or using Bumblebee.

By the way I think the Intel graphics is often fast enough and you don't always need the NVidia one. With bumblebee you can normally use Intel and turn on the dedicated GPU for games that don't run good enough.

Can't connect to the external monitor with the internal Intel driver.

Please post the output of: