GDM fails to start on laptop with hybrid Intel/Nvidia graphics and Kernel 5.10.2

Support Graphics & Display
, ,
1

Hey guys,

I’m having an issue with kernel 5.10.2. This happens whenever I’m booting up the system and the Nvidia driver 455 is set up as KMS. Apparently, GDM fails to start (Boot seems to reach graphical target though), and I have to switch manually TTYs to get GDM show up on display.

This doesn’t happen to me when booting up on Kernel 5.4.85. It just loads GDM automatically.

I’m using a DELL Inspiron E15 7559 laptop with hybrid Intel Graphics 5.30 (i915) & Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M (455.45.01). Has anybody experienced this?

For now, I uninstalled the Nvidia driver for the kernel 5.10.2. As a consequence of that, I’m getting Gnome over Xwayland. However, it would be nice to leverage my hardware on the latest kernel.

Your insights would be highly appreciated. :slightly_smiling_face:

PS. Below you will find the output of mhwd-li and inxi -G on kernel 5.4.85.

              NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE

 video-modesetting            2020.01.13                true            PCI

Warning: No installed USB configs!
>>> sudo inxi -G
Graphics: Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 530 driver: i915 v: kernel
Device-2: NVIDIA GM107M [GeForce GTX 960M] driver: nvidia v: 455.45.01
Device-3: Sunplus Innovation Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo
Display: server: X.Org 1.20.10 driver: modesetting,nvidia resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 530 (SKL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.3.1

Thanks again!

2

It looks like this is a well known issue on the Arch Forum

I will try a couple of possible solutions there. Keep you guys posted :slightly_smiling_face:

3

This is solved. The solution was to enable the i915 modeset driver for early KMS.

Note that I had to reinstall the linux510-nvidia 455.45.01-10 package from the official repositories (Since I uninstalled it temporarily as a workaround) prior attempting the Early KMS setup above.

That comes with the price tag of “no more Wayland” on kernel 5.10.2, as it is the case for kernel 5.4.85.

4

This topic was automatically closed 15 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.