Main laptop screen black when external monitor used

My laptop starts normally, with the display working. When I run the following command, my external monitor works, but my laptop display goes black. I can still see and move around the mouse cursor on the laptop display. If I lock my screen with i3lock, the laptop screen shows its regular contents again. When I unlock, it flashes the contents for a second, then returns to black.

xrandr --output DP-1-0 --scale 1x1 --mode 3840x1600 --above eDP-1 --output eDP-1 --mode 2560x1600

inxi --admin --verbosity=7 --filter --width:

System:
  Kernel: 5.15.60-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.1.1
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.15-x86_64
    root=UUID=2ea59b10-ae23-4e87-a32b-cf15ef914681 rw quiet apparmor=1
    security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 snd-intel-dspcfg.dsp_driver=1
  Desktop: i3 v: 4.20.1 info: i3bar vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0
    Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Precision 5770 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 087KND v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell
    v: 1.4.0 date: 03/08/2022
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 84.8 Wh (100.0%) condition: 84.8/95.1 Wh (89.2%)
    volts: 12.9 min: 11.4 model: SMP DELL 01RR3YM type: Li-poly serial: <filter>
    status: full
Memory:
  RAM: total: 62.49 GiB used: 4.25 GiB (6.8%)
  RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges
    required.
CPU:
  Info: model: 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H bits: 64 type: MST AMCP
    arch: Alder Lake gen: core 12 built: 2021 process: Intel 7 (10nm ESF)
    family: 6 model-id: 0x9A (154) stepping: 3 microcode: 0x421
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 14 mt: 6 tpc: 2 st: 8 threads: 20 smt: enabled
    cache: L1: 1.2 MiB desc: d-8x32 KiB, 6x48 KiB; i-6x32 KiB, 8x64 KiB
    L2: 11.5 MiB desc: 6x1.2 MiB, 2x2 MiB L3: 24 MiB desc: 1x24 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2065 high: 3800 min/max: 400/6300:6400:3800 scaling:
    driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 3015 2: 950 3: 1282
    4: 886 5: 396 6: 1027 7: 876 8: 2723 9: 3506 10: 2841 11: 3800 12: 3800
    13: 2838 14: 2841 15: 2866 16: 2911 17: 1838 18: 723 19: 942 20: 1245
    bogomips: 116780
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm acpi adx aes aperfmperf apic arat
    arch_capabilities arch_lbr arch_perfmon art avx avx2 avx_vnni bmi1 bmi2
    bts cat_l2 cdp_l2 clflush clflushopt clwb cmov constant_tsc cpuid
    cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64 dtherm dts epb ept ept_ad erms est
    f16c flexpriority flush_l1d fma fpu fsgsbase fsrm fxsr gfni ht hwp
    hwp_act_window hwp_epp hwp_notify hwp_pkg_req ibpb ibrs ibrs_enhanced ida
    intel_pt invpcid invpcid_single lahf_lm lm mca mce md_clear mmx monitor
    movbe movdir64b movdiri msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx ospke pae pat pbe
    pcid pclmulqdq pconfig pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge pku pln pni popcnt pse pse36
    pts rdpid rdrand rdseed rdt_a rdtscp rep_good sdbg sep serialize sha_ni
    smap smep smx split_lock_detect ss ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 stibp
    syscall tm tm2 tme tpr_shadow tsc tsc_adjust tsc_deadline_timer
    tsc_known_freq umip vaes vme vmx vnmi vpclmulqdq vpid waitpkg x2apic
    xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveopt xsaves xtopology xtpr
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl and seccomp
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 status: Vulnerable: eIBRS with unprivileged eBPF
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-P Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-12.2 process: Intel 10nm built: 2021-22+ ports:
    active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, DP-4, DP-5, HDMI-A-1
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:46a6 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA104GLM [RTX A3000 Laptop GPU] vendor: Dell
    driver: nvidia v: 515.65.01 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 515.xx+
    status: current (as of 2022-07) arch: Ampere code: GAxxx process: TSMC n7
    (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8 link-max:
    gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:24bb
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: Microdia Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 1-6:2 chip-ID: 0c45:6a15 class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.4 compositor: Picom v: git-7e568
    driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa
    gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x3200 s-dpi: 64 s-size: 1524x1270mm (60.00x50.00")
    s-diag: 1984mm (78.1")
  Monitor-1: DP-1-0 pos: primary,top res: 3840x1600 dpi: 111
    size: 879x366mm (34.61x14.41") diag: 952mm (37.49") modes: N/A
  Monitor-2: eDP-1 pos: primary,bottom res: 2560x1600 hz: 60 dpi: 178
    size: 366x229mm (14.41x9.02") diag: 432mm (17") modes: N/A
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (ADL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.1.6
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake PCH-P High Definition Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl
    bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:51c8 class-ID: 0401
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA104 High Definition Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8
    link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1
    chip-ID: 10de:228b class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.60-1-MANJARO running: yes
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.21 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.56 running: no
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-P PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:51f0 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
    broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  IF-ID-1: br-a182e017d6ab state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: unknown
    mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> scope: global broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> scope: link
  IF-ID-2: br-bf3edf1b45c3 state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: unknown
    mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> scope: global broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> scope: link
  IF-ID-3: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Message: Output throttled. IPs: 1; Limit: 10; Override: --limit [1-x;-1
    all]
  IF-ID-4: veth2e0d7eb state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
    mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-5: veth3f89f27 state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
    mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-6: veth64341fe state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
    mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-7: vethf2838a9 state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
    mac: <filter>
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-10:4
    chip-ID: 8087:0033 class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: up address: see --recommends
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 2.05 TiB used: 119.9 GiB (5.7%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:3 vendor: SK Hynix model: BC711 NVMe 256GB
    size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 41002131 temp: 29.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 980 PRO 2TB
    size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 3B2QGXA7 temp: 38.9 C scheme: GPT
  Message: No optical or floppy data found.
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 1.82 TiB size: 1.79 TiB (98.37%) used: 119.9 GiB (6.5%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme1n1p2 maj-min: 259:2 label: N/A
    uuid: 2ea59b10-ae23-4e87-a32b-cf15ef914681
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%) used: 304 KiB
    (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme1n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 label: NO_LABEL
    uuid: D41A-1FFC
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Unmounted:
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:4 size: 775 MiB fs: vfat label: ESP
    uuid: F261-3CCC
  ID-2: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:5 size: 8 GiB fs: vfat label: OS
    uuid: AE7A-1926
  ID-3: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:6 size: 229.72 GiB fs: ext4
    label: UBUNTU uuid: 178dabb0-24a4-4910-aa23-55b057b90bed
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 12 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-6:2 info: Microdia Integrated_Webcam_HD type: Video
    driver: uvcvideo interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA
    chip-ID: 0c45:6a15 class-ID: 0e02
  Device-2: 1-9:3 info: Shenzhen Goodix USB2.0 MISC type: <vendor specific>
    driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 27c6:63ac class-ID: ef00 serial: <filter>
  Device-3: 1-10:4 info: Intel type: Bluetooth driver: btusb interfaces: 2
    rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0033 class-ID: e001
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 2 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-4: 4-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-5: 5-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 2 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-6: 5-2:2 info: Texas Instruments TUSB8041 4-Port Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.1
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 0451:8142 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 5-2.1:3 info: ZSA Moonlander Mark I type: Keyboard,Mouse,HID
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 4 rev: 2.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
    power: 500mA chip-ID: 3297:1969 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: 5-2.2:4 info: Evoluent VerticalMouse D type: Mouse
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
    power: 100mA chip-ID: 1a7c:0197 class-ID: 0301
  Device-3: 5-2.4:5 info: LG USA Monitor Controls type: HID
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
    chip-ID: 043e:9a39 class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
  Hub-7: 6-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-8: 6-1:2 info: Texas Instruments TUSB8041 4-Port Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.0
    speed: 5 Gb/s chip-ID: 0451:8140 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-9: 7-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 2 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-10: 8-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  Message: No sensor data found. Is lm-sensors configured?
Info:
  Processes: 416 Uptime: 7h 17m wakeups: 4151 Init: systemd v: 251
  default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.1.1 clang: 14.0.6
  Packages: 1494 nix-default: 0 nix-sys: 0 nix-usr: 227 lib: 65 pacman: 1267
  lib: 332 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 running-in: alacritty inxi: 3.3.20

xrandr:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3840 x 3200, maximum 16384 x 16384
eDP-1 connected primary 2560x1600+0+1600 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 366mm x 229mm
   3840x2400     59.99 +  48.00
   3840x2160     60.00    60.01    59.98    59.97
   3200x1800     59.96    59.94
   2880x1620     59.96    59.97
   2560x1600     59.99*   59.97
   2560x1440     59.99    59.99    59.96    59.95
   2048x1536     60.00
   1920x1440     60.00
   1856x1392     60.01
   1792x1344     60.01
   2048x1152     59.99    59.98    59.90    59.91
   1920x1200     59.88    59.95
   1920x1080     60.01    59.97    59.96    59.93
   1600x1200     60.00
   1680x1050     59.95    59.88
   1400x1050     59.98
   1600x900      59.99    59.94    59.95    59.82
   1280x1024     60.02
   1400x900      59.96    59.88
   1280x960      60.00
   1440x810      60.00    59.97
   1368x768      59.88    59.85
   1280x800      59.99    59.97    59.81    59.91
   1280x720      60.00    59.99    59.86    59.74
   1024x768      60.04    60.00
   960x720       60.00
   928x696       60.05
   896x672       60.01
   1024x576      59.95    59.96    59.90    59.82
   960x600       59.93    60.00
   960x540       59.96    59.99    59.63    59.82
   800x600       60.00    60.32    56.25
   840x525       60.01    59.88
   864x486       59.92    59.57
   700x525       59.98
   800x450       59.95    59.82
   640x512       60.02
   700x450       59.96    59.88
   640x480       60.00    59.94
   720x405       59.51    58.99
   684x384       59.88    59.85
   640x400       59.88    59.98
   640x360       59.86    59.83    59.84    59.32
   512x384       60.00
   512x288       60.00    59.92
   480x270       59.63    59.82
   400x300       60.32    56.34
   432x243       59.92    59.57
   320x240       60.05
   360x202       59.51    59.13
   320x180       59.84    59.32
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-5 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-0 connected 3840x1600+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 879mm x 366mm
   3840x1600     74.98 +  59.99*
   1920x1080     60.00    59.94
   1280x720      59.94
   1024x768      60.00
   800x600       60.32
   720x480       59.94
   640x480       59.94    59.93
DP-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-5 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-6 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-7 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
  1024x768 (0x81) 65.000MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width  1024 start 1048 end 1184 total 1344 skew    0 clock  48.36KHz
        v: height  768 start  771 end  777 total  806           clock  60.00Hz
  800x600 (0x90) 40.000MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width   800 start  840 end  968 total 1056 skew    0 clock  37.88KHz
        v: height  600 start  601 end  605 total  628           clock  60.32Hz
  640x480 (0x9d) 25.175MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width   640 start  656 end  752 total  800 skew    0 clock  31.47KHz
        v: height  480 start  490 end  492 total  525           clock  59.94Hz

sudo mhwd -li:

> Installed PCI configs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime            2021.12.18               false            PCI
     video-modesetting            2020.01.13                true            PCI


Warning: No installed USB configs!

sudo dmesg | less shows many lines like the following:

[25385.381149] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* Fault errors on pipe A: 0x00000080

cat /proc/cmdline:

BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.15-x86_64 root=[redacted] rw quiet apparmor=1 security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 snd-intel-dspcfg.dsp_driver=1

please open a console and post the output of

glxinfo | grep server

server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:

well in the actual setting you are running on the internal gpu of the intel cpu. you own a new powerful laptop but you should check the specifications if you’re running the laptop-screen and a 4k-external device only with the intel-internal-graphics are able. that might run, it might be a setting of the display-manager lightdm or you propably need also nvidia or hybrid-mode. in general i think your internal should be able to drive 2 displays, but sometimes hardware uses a so called hardwired-mode. in this case it wouldn’t be possible to run 2 displays on intel.
i think it’s a setting of light-dm. a simple way is to download a live-iso with another display-manager as plasma or gnome and boot into a live-session. there it should be able if the problem persists or if it’s simple light-dm

Thank you for the help. I tried switching to SDDM, but the same problem occurs. I have another similar but slightly older laptop running SDDM which is able to display both monitors.

My current laptop was able to display both monitors once in the past, which worked until reboot, but I’m unable to reproduce it.

Note that both the laptop screen and the external monitor are visible and work as expected in both of the following circumstances:

(1) before login
(2) after I lock the screen (I can see the blurred content of the laptop screen, and i can see the green/red circles shown by i3lock when I type correct/incorrect password characters)

Would bad display manager settings explain that behavior?

i would ask and check for this before changing any driver-settings or whatever. i could imagine that there is this function set “if i plug in external, i will shut down internal”. it might be also possible that this behaviour might be a function of your bios. as said you’re using very new hardware and i expect that it can run 2 displays even with only the intel-i-gpu. but keep in mind in this case the power consumption of the i-gpu would increase to max and it might be that there is a power-setting that prevent this.

you owe a nvidia-mobile.graphics, that is absolutely capable and why don’t you want to use this instead of the intel and by the way why have you paid such a big amount for this hardware if you don’t use it ?

I’m not sure the display manager is the problem - here’s another clue:

xrandr --output DP-2 --mode 3840x1600 --rate 59.99 --same-as eDP-1 --output eDP-1 --mode 2560x1600

works, and shows both monitors, but they are of course duplicated, and I would like them to display different content.

Are there any bios settings you would recommend looking at? I’ve tried toggling some display related settings, but nothing worked.

Blockquote
you owe a nvidia-mobile.graphics, that is absolutely capable and why don’t you want to use this instead of the intel and by the way why have you paid such a big amount for this hardware if you don’t use it ?

Certainly I’d like to, but I haven’t figured out this setting yet, my first priority is just getting both monitors to work. If it’s easy, I can try it, but my research suggests I might need something like these instructions NVIDIA Optimus - ArchWiki, which changes many settings. If there’s a better way you can point me to I’m happy to try that too.

no this must be a setting of light-dm. sorry that i can’t help because i’m using plasma, but it’s same with plasma, you can choose if thge screens are duplicated (as in your case) or separated and you can choose the positions where they are placed. so i think you should check how to setup the system-settings of your display-manager.