Hello everyone,
There are a lot of topics about Nvidia drivers, but I haven’t seen one addressing my issue.
I have a laptop with an RTX 3060 and an Intel iGPU.
I’ve tried using the video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime setup, and it works, except when I unplug and replug my external screen. It takes ages to display again, and sometimes I need to reboot (I’m using a KVM switch on my screen).
So now I’m using video-linux and Gnome switched to Wayland (this is great).
When I install video-nvidia with video-linux, I have no login screen, and even startx fail to start :
startx
[...]
(EE) Failed to make EGL context current
Can I have video-nvidia installed but use my Nvidia GPU only when running something like prime-run, while using video-linux for everything else?
Also, how can I make video-nvidia work properly without crashing everything?
Please edit your topic title to be clear and concise about the problem your having. Please also show respect to those reading by correcting your spelling.
Maybe, but actually I have four devices connected to the same screen, so not using a KVM switch isn’t really an option here.
That being said, my setup works fine when I’m running video-linux.
To clarify, I want to run the system primarily on the iGPU with video-linux, without completely sidelining my Nvidia GPU.
I’d like to use the Nvidia GPU exclusively for tasks like gaming or CUDA computations—where, to emphasize, the graphics card handles only computation, not display.
However, from what I understand, achieving this setup absolutely requires the intel-nvidia-prime combo.
so maybe i have my answer ?
because video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime setup it’s far too unstable to be used as a main setup.
It means that when I install video-linux and video-nvidia at the same time, I don’t get any display at all (see startx logs)
in the worst case, I keep video-linux only, but it’s a bit sad to have a 3060 and not be able to use it.
This is what the hybrid profile (and PRIME) already does.
You run everything on the igpu (which uses open drivers) … and things only run on the nvidia if you use prime-run.
If, for whatever reason, you believe you need some ‘switcher utility’ to explicitly set ‘iGPU-only’, ‘dGPU-only’ or ‘hybrid’ mode … then please make use of envycontrol.
But I will stress again that ‘hybrid mode’ is what is already provided without such a tool.
You cannot use video-nvidia because you do not have an exclusively or even primarily nvidia system.
However, if PRIME is already a hybrid setup and uses video-linux by default, I find it hard to understand why there’s such a big difference between video-linux, which works fine, and PRIME, which takes ages or even crashes at the first screen change.
Finally, when I install video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime using mhwd, it also installs video-modesetting automatically. So, is hybrid mode using video-linux or video-modesetting ?
And Why manjaro switch to Xorg instead of wayland if video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime is installed if video-linux work fine ?
[edit]
yep prime definitely uses modesetting not video-linux
$ sudo mhwd -i pci video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime
[...]
$ sudo mhwd -r pci video-modesetting
[sudo] Mot de passe de user :
Error: config 'video-modesetting' is required by config(s): video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime
$ sudo mhwd -r pci video-linux
> Removing video-linux...
[...]
> Successfully removed video-linux
I think you are running into trouble due to your secondary screen and/or KVM.
Dont know much about KVM - but the secondary display is a common consternation on hybrid systems. Not least of all because folks usually plug them into the dGPU … making use difficult on a hybrid setup. You dont seem to be having this problem, but instead just some slowness around the display showing. As to why you dont experience this without nvidia installed … I can only guess its something about the easier handoff between the opensource drivers or some such. As in this case your nvidia card would still be available … and so would PRIME. Its just the nvidia card would be using nouveau reverse-engineered open driver.
video-linux is an umbrella for all opensource drivers. video-modesetting is a profile to ensure the modesetting driver is used. Modesetting is opensource and the driver preferable for modern intel devices and is required in order to use PRIME. Your intel device was likely using modesetting even without it … the mhwd profile just makes sure that is the case or else hybrid mode would not work.
It must be stressed that none of those mhwd profiles are drivers themselves. They correlate to one or more drivers. modesetting exists in the kernel. You cannot install something to add it. Though you could install and configure things to avoid it.
Here is what the video-linux profile does:
This is what the modesrtting profile does:
( You may notice that the modesetting profile does virtually nothing )
If you want to test this somehow then check for the existence of xf86-video-intel … if you dont have that your intel uses modesetting. And even with it … it might still. You can also test with something like inxi - inxi -Gaz should show if modesetting is in use.