Nvidia-xconfig allows for a great 4K experience on the external projector but prevents me from booting without it

Hello,

recently I got access to a 4K projector, and the initial experience was quite poor: the video had choppy frames and was slow.

My first attempt was to install optimus-manager, but after numerous tries, I gave up because it always prevented me from booting, despite following all instructions related to SDDM for Manjaro KDE users.

Then, I decided to try the “nvidia-xconfig” command to generate something in ‘/etc/X11/xorg.conf’ that could help. This worked, with one detail I need to resolve: I can only complete the boot process if the projector is connected to my HDMI port, and the login screen only appears on the external monitor. I tried reconfiguring the generated xorg.conf file, but I’m really not understanding all the parameters well, and in the forums I’ve researched, the recommendations have been only to avoid using this file (which would bring me back tto no solution).

Here is some information of my system:

inxi --full --admin --filter --width

System:
  Kernel: 6.6.3-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
    clocksource: tsc available: acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-6.6-x86_64
    root=UUID=0ab22a03-e964-4b7e-89ca-8d7b69bf5237 rw rootflags=subvol=@
    performance threadirqs quiet
    resume=UUID=4953d6f8-3614-4fde-b72b-2bda82bb3abe udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.9 tk: Qt v: 5.15.11 info: latte-dock
    wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: 1: GDM v: 45.0.1 note: stopped 2: SDDM
    Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Predator PH315-54 v: V1.14
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: TGL model: QX60_TLS v: V1.14 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: Insyde v: 1.14 date: 10/25/2022
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 48.2 Wh (96.6%) condition: 49.9/58.8 Wh (85.0%)
    volts: 17.2 min: 15.4 model: SMP AP18E7M type: Li-ion serial: <filter>
    status: charging cycles: 221
CPU:
  Info: model: 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11800H bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Tiger Lake gen: core 11 level: v4 note: check built: 2020
    process: Intel 10nm family: 6 model-id: 0x8D (141) stepping: 1
    microcode: 0x4E
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 tpc: 2 threads: 16 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 640 KiB desc: d-8x48 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 10 MiB desc: 8x1.2 MiB
    L3: 24 MiB desc: 1x24 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1482 high: 4460 min/max: 800/4600 scaling:
    driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 800 2: 801 3: 800 4: 800
    5: 4460 6: 800 7: 1618 8: 800 9: 800 10: 800 11: 3429 12: 800 13: 4460
    14: 873 15: 800 16: 883 bogomips: 73744
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode
  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_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced / Automatic IBRS, IBPB: conditional,
    RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel TigerLake-H GT1 [UHD Graphics] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-12.1 process: Intel 10nm built: 2020-21
    ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,DP-2 bus-ID: 0000:00:02.0
    chip-ID: 8086:9a60 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA106M [GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile / Max-Q]
    vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: nvidia v: 545.29.06
    alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 545.xx+ status: current (as of
    2023-11; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Ampere code: GAxxx process: TSMC n7 (7nm)
    built: 2020-2023 bus-ID: 0000:01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2520 class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: Quanta HD User Facing driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-9:2 chip-ID: 0408:a061
    class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.9 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.2
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia dri: iris
    gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x2160 s-dpi: 91 s-size: 535x602mm (21.06x23.70")
    s-diag: 805mm (31.71")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-0 pos: top res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 94
    size: 521x293mm (20.51x11.54") diag: 598mm (23.53") modes: N/A
  Monitor-2: eDP-1-1 pos: primary,bottom res: 1920x1080 hz: 144 dpi: 142
    size: 344x193mm (13.54x7.6") diag: 394mm (15.53") modes: N/A
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0
    drv: nvidia device: 2 drv: iris device: 3 drv: swrast gbm: drv: nvidia
    surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia inactive: wayland,device-1
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 545.29.06
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop
    GPU/PCIe/SSE2 memory: 5.86 GiB
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.269 layers: 2 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: NVIDIA
    GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU driver: nvidia v: 545.29.06
    device-ID: 10de:2520 surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake-H HD Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl
    bus-ID: 0000:00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:43c8 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: NVIDIA GA106 High Definition Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 0000:01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228e
    class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.6.3-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake PCH CNVi WiFi vendor: Rivet Networks
    driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 0000:00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:43f0
    class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel
    port: 3000 bus-ID: 0000:2c:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:2600 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp44s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 3-14:3 chip-ID: 8087:0026
    class-ID: e001
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2
    lmp-v: 11 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 7c010c
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller driver: vmd
    v: 0.6 port: N/A bus-ID: 0000:00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:9a0b rev: class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 2.33 TiB used: 1.63 TiB (69.9%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Kingston model: SKC3000D2048G
    size: 1.86 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: EIFK31.6 temp: 47.9 C
    scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:6 vendor: A-Data model: IM2P33F8ABR2-512GB
    size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: U0513A0L temp: 46.9 C
    scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 390.62 GiB size: 390.62 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 178.36 GiB (45.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:4
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 513 MiB size: 512 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 624 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 1000 GiB size: 983.23 GiB (98.32%)
    used: 790.82 GiB (80.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 390.62 GiB size: 390.62 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 178.36 GiB (45.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:4
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: yes
    compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 22 GiB used: 907.5 MiB (4.0%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: N/A mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 58 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 473 Uptime: 11m wakeups: 0 Memory: total: 16 GiB
  available: 15.4 GiB used: 5.3 GiB (34.4%) Init: systemd v: 254
  default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 13.2.1 alt: 12/5
  clang: 16.0.6 Packages: 2773 pm: pacman pkgs: 2768 libs: 581 tools: pamac,yay
  pm: flatpak pkgs: 5 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 default: Bash v: 5.2.21
  running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.31

xrandr --listproviders

Providers: number : 2
Provider 0: id: 0x1b7 cap: 0x1, Source Output crtcs: 4 outputs: 3 associated providers: 1 name:NVIDIA-0
Provider 1: id: 0x1f5 cap: 0xf, Source Output, Sink Output, Source Offload, Sink Offload crtcs: 4 outputs: 3 associated providers: 1 name:modesetting

mhwd -l -li

> Installed PCI configs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     video-modesetting            2020.01.13                true            PCI
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime            2023.03.23               false            PCI


Warning: No installed USB configs!
> 0000:01:00.0 (0300:10de:2520) Display controller nVidia Corporation:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime            2023.03.23               false            PCI
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-470xx-prime            2023.03.23               false            PCI
          video-nvidia            2023.03.23               false            PCI
    video-nvidia-470xx            2023.03.23               false            PCI
           video-linux            2018.05.04                true            PCI
     video-modesetting            2020.01.13                true            PCI
            video-vesa            2017.03.12                true            PCI


> 0000:00:02.0 (0300:8086:9a60) Display controller Intel Corporation:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime            2023.03.23               false            PCI
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-470xx-prime            2023.03.23               false            PCI
           video-linux            2018.05.04                true            PCI
     video-modesetting            2020.01.13                true            PCI
            video-vesa            2017.03.12                true            PCI

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 545.29.06
Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "InactiveDevice1"
    Driver         "modesetting"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "True"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Any tips on how to configure the xorg.conf (or, potentially, the boot process in general) so that I can maintain the Nvidia configuration without needing an external monitor or projector connected for the boot process?

Thank you!

It seems I’ve figured it out after reading this post: SDDM doesn't load unless external monitor plugged in - #6 by tachyon! Here is my new ‘/etc/X11/xorg.conf,’ which might be useful in case someone finds themselves in a similar situation to mine:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 545.29.06

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    Option         "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
  Identifier "iGPU"
  VendorName "Intel Corporation"
  Driver "modesetting"
  BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "iGPU"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "True"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

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