I am new to this forum and I have just switched from windows and installed manjaro with i3. When I try to connect my 2 external monitors 1 of them which is connected through an c-type hub is working fine and in nvidia-settings is marked by it’s name, but the other one which is connected directly to my laptops HDMI port is not working (is detected by xrandr but it’s just a black screen, altough I can physically move my mouse on the screen) and in nvidia-setting is marked as PRIME display (to my knowledge it means it’s connected to iGPU instead of GPU). I tried to switch the cables and it seems that whichever monitor is connected through the c hub is recognised by it’s name but throught the hdmi only as PRIME display. The weird part is when I play around with arandr and move the monitors around sometimes it works, but I have no clue when and why.
I’ll preface this by stating I only have superficial experience with i3 (during my distro-hopping phase). I can however, help you find information about your system that will assist others to work through it with you.
I’m guessing that you’re using Wayland and not X11 with i3. Firstly, I suggest you install inxi, if it’s not installed already:
$ pacman -S inxi
... or ...
# pamac install inxi
... if you have the AUR setup on your machine
Once inxi is installed, use it to discover your graphic related devices. In Terminal enter this command, from memory (enter man inxi if I got it wrong):
$ inxi -G
Inxi should report information about your devices, as mentioned. Look through that information and you can easily see whether Wayland or X11 is being used. This information may be useful later.
To save that information to a text file, use the command in this format:
sudo inxi -G > inxi_output.txt
Assuming you did that in your home directory, that’s where you’ll find the text file when generated. You can refer to that file if someone needs more information; and they will.
That’s all I can do for you right now, but I’m sure someone else will carry on from here. Cheers.
I also believe people had better luck using envycontrol instead of optimus-manager to avoid the issue. Keep in mind that this AUR package has already been made available in the manjaro repos, it’s in testing right now: More tools for Optimus laptops are now available .
Thank you so much! envycontrol -s nvidia fixed it
Still don’t know why it wasn’t working with optimus-manager tho, because I also specified optimus-manager --switch nvidia.
