[Optimus Manager] Switching to Nvidia leads to Blank Screen

mizumi · 30 September 2020 18:25

Okay, I somehow managed to open a tty session by appending a 3 after quiet in the GRUB_LINUX line. I reinstalled linux414-bbswitch and I’m able to boot into a DM now…

Phew.

mizumi · 30 September 2020 18:31

I tried installing linux58-bbswitch again, this time I kept linux414, but it still boots into the company logo what do I do?

XRaTiX · 30 September 2020 18:37

I don’t use GNOME,but according to the guide you posted

install gdm-prime from AUR
On Manjaro Gnome you may have manjaro-gdm-tweak installed which requires gdm, so when you install gdm-prime, you get error because of the dependency with gdm.

You need gdm-prime from the aur,maybe you don’t have it installed?

I don’t know what is the cause of this

mizumi · 30 September 2020 18:45

I did install gdm-prime, I think the problem is occuring because I installed the wrong bbswitch package. I installed linux414 bbswitch.

I just tried to uninstall it from the pacam gui, and it warns me saying that

Warning: optimus-manager optionally requires bbswitch: alternative power switching meth

But when I removed it either way and installed linux58, it just boots into the company logo when I reboot.

mizumi · 30 September 2020 18:53

I should probably start another thread explaining all the stuff again, especially about installing linux414-bbswitch, and linux58-bbswitch.

Sigh

Thanks @XRaTiX and @bogdancovaciu for your valuable input. Love the fact that there’s someone willing to help a random stranger.

P.S: Fortunately I’m still able to use the HDMI again, but with intel only.

XRaTiX · 30 September 2020 19:01

Yeah there is something weird abut that linux414,the only thing i know is that linux414-bbswitch is for the kernel 4.14,but you are using the kernel 5.8,it should’t prevent the boot up,maybe you can uninstall that kernel if you don’t use it but i don’t know what would happen,either a black screen again or what…

I only have the kernel 5.8 and 5.4,I use the kernel 5.8 and have 5.4 as a safe backup kernel in case 5.8 starts to fail somehow.

When you resolve the issue with the bbswitch,you should be able to use the nvidia card

Also,make a backup with timeshift and have a usb with manjaro on it, just to prevent disasters later you can always restore the backup

mizumi · 30 September 2020 19:05

I did make a timeshift backup, although it’s in the / partition itself, and I do have a bootable USB stick, so I’m prepared for the worst. It just beats me that I can’t use my dedicated graphics(that I spent extra money for), because I’m planning to shift to Manjaro entirely as a daily driver.

mizumi · 30 September 2020 19:16

Do you think it’ll be a good idea to start a new thread asking why inxi -G, shows that my driver is

  Device-2: NVIDIA GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] driver: nouveau 
  v: kernel

instead of hybrid-450xx? Maybe there’s a problem with my driver itself…

XRaTiX · 30 September 2020 19:24

I don’t know about that,don’t hurt a try i guess but now that you mention it…you install the video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-450xx-prime,how is your mhwd -li?

I have this
mhwd -li

Installed PCI configs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     video-modesetting            2020.01.13                true            PCI
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-450xx-prime            2019.10.25               false            PCI


Warning: No installed USB configs!

Do you have video-linux still installed? I think thats the nouveau driver and its preventing the nvidia driver to load properly? video-modesetting is the driver for intel so it should be there normal,try uninstalling the video-linux if you still have it.

mizumi · 30 September 2020 19:30

Yes, this is mine:

~ >>> mhwd -li                                                                 
> Installed PCI configs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-450xx-prime            2019.10.25               false            PCI
     video-modesetting            2020.01.13                true            PCI
           video-linux            2018.05.04                true            PCI


Warning: No installed USB configs!

This might help too

>>>  pacman -Qqs nvidia                                                      
lib32-libvdpau
lib32-nvidia-450xx-utils
libvdpau
libxnvctrl
linux414-nvidia-450xx
mhwd-nvidia-340xx
mhwd-nvidia-390xx
mhwd-nvidia-418xx
mhwd-nvidia-430xx
mhwd-nvidia-435xx
mhwd-nvidia-440xx
mhwd-nvidia-450xx
nvidia-450xx-utils
nvidia-prime
xf86-video-nouveau

Anyways, I’m wrting a new thread already, thanks a lot

mizumi · 30 September 2020 19:32

I didn’t want to uninstall video-linux, because if all fails, I can simply remove 450xx and still manage to boot into a display… Do you think having it is really a problem?

XRaTiX · 30 September 2020 19:39

I have this

$ pacman -Qqs nvidia
lib32-libvdpau
lib32-nvidia-450xx-utils
libvdpau
libxnvctrl
linux54-nvidia-450xx
linux58-nvidia-450xx
mhwd-nvidia-340xx
mhwd-nvidia-390xx
mhwd-nvidia-418xx
mhwd-nvidia-430xx
mhwd-nvidia-435xx
mhwd-nvidia-440xx
mhwd-nvidia-450xx
nvidia-450xx-utils
nvidia-prime

There is something weird,why it install the linux414-nvidia-450xx? it never install the linux58-nvidia-450xx for the kernel 5.8,are you sure you boot it up in the correct kernel? you can check what kernel you are with uname -a, and yes you still have the nouveau drivers apparently.

I don’t think it will cause a problem because the modesetting driver for intel is still installed,but i prefer you have a usb with manjaro just in case,playing with video drivers can be a little dangerous

mizumi · 30 September 2020 19:54

That was an ignorant mistake I made, when it asked to install bbswitch I just pressed enter without looking and I just installed the default one out of the options which happened to be 414.

Yes I’m running a 5.8 kernel

>>> uname -r                                                                 
5.8.6-1-MANJARO

Yeah, I’ll try doing that with a second opinion . I’ve already created a new thread here.

michaldybczak · 30 September 2020 19:58

mizumi:

This is my /etc/modprobe.d file and it says that Nouveau is blacklisted:

>>> cat mhwd-gpu.conf                                          
##
## Generated by mhwd - Manjaro Hardware Detection
##
 
blacklist nouveau
blacklist ttm
blacklist drm_kms_helper
blacklist drm
options nvidia "NVreg_DynamicPowerManagement=0x02"

Yeap, that is OK. I also have the same conf with the same lines. I use noveau for switching. I believe, this conf is only for regular mhwd configurations, but optimus-manager requires disabling other graphical confs, including the main mhwd confs, so the other ones, are inactive. If you want, you can disable it (by adding .bak ending to the name) and see if it changes anything. For optimus-manager configuration this shouldn’t do anything as far I know.

I have no idea why people installing it. It’s causing only issues. video-linux mhwd configuration is not needed with Intel-Nvidia combo. Get rid of it, because it’s a potential source of the conflicts. I can’t say if this is the direct cause but if it isn’t, it’s making harder to detect the cause of the issue.

About apparmor, I have no idea. You may try to disable it and see if it helps.

Usually the issues during the switch happen on DM layer, so various confs may be involved here. See your DM logs during the switch. Check if there is something hinting on the root of the problem.

mizumi · 30 September 2020 20:02

Thanks, I’ll try removing video-linux, and apparmor, also I’m a beginner and I don’t know where I should look for to get DM logs…

michaldybczak · 30 September 2020 20:11

Don’t remove apparmor. Just disable its service to check if that makes any difference. If not, enable it again:

To disable on boot:

sudo systemctl disable apparmor.service

To stop now:

sudo systemctl stop apparmor.service

Then you can reverse it using start and enable commands, similar like above.

openminded · 1 October 2020 01:48

Apparmor discussion is irrelevant here imho.

Regarding your issues:

List your kernels:
mhwd-kernel -li
Install nvidia modules for your kernels:
sudo pacman -S [yourkernel]-nvidia-450xx
Install bbswitch for your kernels:
sudo pacman -S [yourkernel]-bbswitch
List your mhwd configs:
mhwd -li
You should have video-modesetting AND video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-450xx-prime only. Everything else must be removed:
sudo mhwd -r [someconfig]
Then install what’s necessary:
sudo mhwd -i -f pci video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-450xx-prime
Disable optimus-manager:
systemctl disable optimus-manager.service
At this point you can reboot and your system should be running fine.
Open Pamac app and search for -bbswith. Find all modules you installed for kernel you didn’t have and remove them. Make sure to not uninstall bbswitch modules for kernels you have now.
Open your browser and navigate to optimus-manager github page, click on Wiki link. Read. Setup it if you want. A small tip: don’t use nouveau for switching, well, practically for anything. It’s a source of numerous issues on cards like 1050. Consider blacklisting it. There are 2 switching methods you can try: bbswitch or none.

And please don’t even try to copypaste commands from this post, think before you do something. This thread is so big because you used the reversed order, hence this warning.

pedroegg · 1 October 2020 04:03

I use a Nvidia Geforce 940MX in my notebook. I simply type prime-run COMMAND to run anything i want with my nvidia graphic card, and it’s the same on steam (you can type prime-run %command%)

I don’t know if u can try that to reach your goal, but you can try

I also use the same driver that you video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-440xx-prime and i also have video-linux activated for nvidia graphic card

For my HD Graphics 620, i have activated video-linux, video-modesetting and video-vesa

mizumi · 1 October 2020 12:27

Thanks for leaving a detailed explanation! Luckily I managed to get it working, from the other post I wrote, with the help from @michaldybczak. Now I’m able switch without using bbswitch, I’m just using the None mode and it works. I’m adding a summary of what I did(of course all credits go to the people who helped me):

Uninstalled all the drivers configurations, and reinstalled video-modesetting and video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-450xx-prime using the command sudo mhwd -a pci nonfree 0300.
And then simply followed this guide again.
[For gdm users], Install libgdm-prime(probably this did the trick not sure).
Added a kernel boot parameter using this post: How to Choose the Proper ACPI Kernel Argument (Not sure if this affected anything but it’s worth giving a shot I suppose).

And that’s it. I rebooted my system and I could login in with no issues using the intel driver.

However, switching using nouveau didn’t seem to work, it just led to the company logo, however I logged into a tty session, Ctrl + Alt + F6 in my case, and switched back to the main tty (Ctrl + Alt + F1), and I could see the login screen again. Voila, it works. Yes it’s a workaround, but I’m happy it works.

Later I tried switching using the None option and I can confirm that it works for me. I could now delete bbswitch without any login issues. So bye bbswitch.

I don’t know either, I haven’t tried stopping/disabling it, but it works.

Yes this was all my fault, if only I had installed the correct version for bbswitch, I probably wouldn’t have faced these issues. Lessons learnt, I won’t do this again. Thanks!

@XRaTiX, @bogdancovaciu thanks for the valuable inputs, I’m ever so grateful for this community that can tolerate noobs like myself, and lend a helping hand.

mizumi · 1 October 2020 13:19

Yup, prime-run works perfectly fine, but my goal was to connect my TV to my laptop via HDMI, for which I had to make a switch to Nvidia entirely, or use the Hybrid mode.

Anyways, it’s all sorted now. Thankz