Hello folks,
I have a laptop with intel and Nvidia cards, running Manjaro with KDE and Windows in a dual boot setup. My aim is to connect my laptop with my external monitor using HDMI and extend displays, i.e use both monitor and laptop screen together. I’m able to do this in Windows, but in Manjaro, I can only see my external monitor or my laptop screen (See below for configurations I tried). What should I do to ensure both external monitor and laptop screen is active?
Below is information about my system when external monitor is active but laptop screen is switched off.
$ inxi -Gazy
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel CoffeeLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics 630]
vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5
process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20 ports: active: none off: eDP-1
empty: none bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3e9b class-ID: 0300
Device-2: NVIDIA TU116M [GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile]
vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: nvidia v: 550.107.02
alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 550.xx+ status: current (as of
2024-09; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Turing code: TUxxx process: TSMC 12nm FF
built: 2018-2022 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 3
speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2191 class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.13 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.2
compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting failed: nvidia dri: iris
gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3440x1440 s-dpi: 94 s-size: 930x389mm (36.61x15.31")
s-diag: 1008mm (39.69")
Monitor-1: eDP-1 mapped: HDMI-0 note: disabled model: AU Optronics 0x82ed
built: 2018 res: 3440x1440 dpi: 110 gamma: 1.2 size: 794x340mm (31.26x13.39")
diag: 394mm (15.5") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0
drv: nvidia device: 1 drv: iris device: 2 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris
surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 24.1.6-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 18.1.8 256 bits)
device-ID: ffffffff:ffffffff memory: 15.12 GiB unified: yes
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 1 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: NVIDIA
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti driver: nvidia v: 550.107.02 device-ID: 10de:2191
surfaces: xcb,xlib
$ mhwd -li
Installed PCI configs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAME VERSION FREEDRIVER TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime 2023.03.23 false PCI
video-modesetting 2020.01.13 true PCI
$ mhwd-kernel -li
Currently running: 5.10.224-1-MANJARO (linux510)
The following kernels are installed in your system:
* linux510
$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 3440 x 1440, maximum 32767 x 32767
DP-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-0 connected primary 3440x1440+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 794mm x 340mm
3440x1440 59.97 + 99.98* 74.98
3840x2160 59.94 50.00 29.97 25.00 23.98
1920x1080 119.88 100.00 60.00 59.94 50.00 29.97 25.00 23.98
1680x1050 59.95
1440x900 59.89
1280x1024 75.02 60.02
1280x960 60.00
1280x800 59.81
1280x720 60.00 59.94 50.00
1024x768 75.03 70.07 60.00
800x600 75.00 72.19 60.32 56.25
720x576 50.00
720x480 59.94
640x480 75.00 72.81 59.94 59.93
$ xrandr --listproviders
Providers: number : 2
Provider 0: id: 0x1b7 cap: 0x0 crtcs: 4 outputs: 3 associated providers: 0 name:NVIDIA-0
Provider 1: id: 0x207 cap: 0xf, Source Output, Sink Output, Source Offload, Sink Offload crtcs: 3 outputs: 1 associated providers: 0 name:modesetting
$ xrandr --listmonitors
Monitors: 1
0: +*HDMI-0 3440/794x1440/340+0+0 HDMI-0
$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# Automatically generated by EnvyControl
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout"
Screen 0 "nvidia"
Inactive "intel"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia"
Driver "nvidia"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "nvidia"
Device "nvidia"
Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "intel"
Driver "modesetting"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "intel"
Device "intel"
EndSection
$ envycontrol --query
nvidia
Things I tried:
Initially, I could not connect to the external monitor but my laptop screen was active, however I was using video-linux drivers installed through mhwd and driver was N/A in inxi output.
After looking through solutions, I ended up installing the closed source drivers and running nvidia-xconfig to generate the xorg.conf. After this I could connect to the external monitor but my laptop screen is now turned off. I also tried deleting the config, installing envycontrol and switching from hybrid to nvidia and generating the config again. However, the effect is same.
In this scenario, during boot and when HDMI is not connected, I have to use the tty to use my system. xrandr shows display not found in tty when HDMI is disconnected.
Once, I deleted the /etc/X11/xorg.conf and rebooted the system, this time, I could not connect to external monitor but my laptop screen was working fine. I then ran nvidia-xconfig again to generate the xorg.conf again and now monitor works but laptop screen is turned off.