New Dell laptop 17R - 2GB NVIDIA graphics not being used

[Steve-01370]

Oay, I just got a new laptop - and installed Kubuntu along with Windoze in a dual boot setup. The system is:
Dell Inspiron 17R SE 7720,
Kubuntu 12.04,
KDE 4.8.5,
GRUB 0.97-29ubuntu66, and the output of "lspci | grep aphic" is:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Ivy Bridge Graphics Controller (rev 09).

This system is also running Windows 7 Ultimate,
The PC has 8GB RAM and
2 internal HDDs - sda is a 120GB SSD, and sdb is a 1 TB drive.

The system has 2 graphics chips/processors. 1 is Intel HD 4000.
The second (the one I wanted) is an NVIDIA GT 650M.

The problem is, the KDEINFOCENTER information just listed the Intel graphics, and the video performance was under what I get in Windows, so I looked online and tried [other Drivers]. Nothing came up, so I used the Synaptik Package Manager to get and install the NVIDIA drivers. Now, the KDEINFOCENTER can't initialize OpenGL, video performance is still sub-Windoze, and when I try to run The NVIDIA X Server Settings, I get this message "You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X driver. Please edit your X configuration file (just run `nvidia-xconfig` as root), and restart the X server." I've run "sudo nvidia-xconfig" twice and verified that the xorg.conf was updated, but I still get that message and performance is still sub-Windoze. I've got no idea what I'm doing wrong. If anyone else knows, I'd be very appreciative. Running Kubuntu was the reason I bought this laptop, but video display is critical to my work.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Steve
steve@notdos.com

[claydoh]

Try using the "Additional Drivers" tool
start menu → Applications → System → Additional Drivers. to install the drivers
This will install the drivers for you

The real issue is going to be the problem dealing with/switching multiple graphics cards. There should be some recent posts on this here in KFN on this.

also some random stuff I dug up:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/16263...-graphics-card
http://askubuntu.com/questions/36930...a-optimus-work

You may have a slightly better support for dual gpu's with 12.10

[vinnywright]

perhaps look into this http://bumblebee-project.org/

VINNY

[Steve-01370]

I tried the [ADDITIONAL DRIVERS] . It says there are no additional drivers in use on my system. I should just upgrade to 12.10, I guess. OK. Thanks.

Try using the "Additional Drivers" tool
start menu → Applications → System → Additional Drivers. to install the drivers
This will install the drivers for you

The real issue is going to be the problem dealing with/switching multiple graphics cards. There should be some recent posts on this here in KFN on this.

also some random stuff I dug up:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/16263...-graphics-card
http://askubuntu.com/questions/36930...a-optimus-work

You may have a slightly better support for dual gpu's with 12.10

[SteveRiley]

Unless you need the battery savings that come from switching graphics, I'd recommend configuring your firmware so that only the discrete graphics is used (that is, the nVidia chip). Then perform a clean installation of Kubuntu. The installer should pick up the nVidia hardware just fine in this case.

[Steve-01370]

I have no need of the battery savings as I'm almost always plugged in, but I've got no idea how to configure the firmware. I couldn't find any settings at all for video in the BIOS. Do I need a BIOS update or is it something else?

[SteveRiley]

Well, even though manufacturers still call the firmware a "BIOS," it's highly unlikely that this is what you have. Instead, all new machines come with a different kind of firmware called "UEFI." Unfortunately, it appears that Dell is intentionally blocking UEFI functionality in some cases, forcing them to run in BIOS compatibility mode:

http://en.community.dell.com/support.../20121208.aspx
http://en.community.dell.com/support.../20254861.aspx

It's difficult to tell exactly which version/mode yours is running in without seeing it. Can you take some photos of the various setup screens after you press F2 during boot?

[Steve-01370]

I'll reply back with pictures in a bit - right now I'm doing a clean install of 12.10. I very much appreciate the assistance, though.

That computer DOES have UEFI. And it was set to only allow the Windows boot manager, but I changed it to do a "legacy boot" so I could boot off CDs (and because because the manufacturer trying to tell me what I can do with a computer they SELL me just really pisses me off.

Thanks again. Be back in a short while with pictures.

Steve
steve@notdos.com

[Steve-01370]

Well, I tried some stuff...

I did a clean install of 12.10. Then I did all the updates. The system was using the intel video with 1600/900 display. Then I went into [ADDITIONAL DRIVERS] and installed the NVIDIA driver. It told me to restart, and when I did, I booted to a screen that was 640x480 - and that was the max (and only) setting, open GL could not be initialized and running the NVIDIA x-server gave me the same error message I got yesterday. I logged onto the bumblebee(?) site, and installed that, but it made no difference. I looked at the backup xorg.conf that got saved when NVIDIA got installed, and the backup is an empty file. So, I'm probably looking at another clean install. Anyway, here are the 4 pics I took.

[SteveRiley]

What's under the "Miscellaneous Devices" menu in photo #2?

---

Yes, get rid of Bumblebee.

---

Do you have the file xrandrrc anywhere?

sudo updatedb  && locate xrandrrc

If you do, delete it. Log out and log back in. Then can you run nvidia-settings?

We can also do a bit more work to force the kernel and X to ignore the Intel stuff, but let's try these other things first.

[Steve-01370]

I've got no idea how to get rid of bumblebee. It's not listed in any menu. All that's under MISCELLANEOUS in my BIOS is "External USB ports" [ENABLED], and "USB Debug" [DISABLED]. There's no "xrandrrc", so I couldn't delete it, but nvidia-settings still tells me that I don't appear to be using an nvidia driver and to run nvidia-xconfig. I run it (sudo) but nothing changes. Still 640x480 and grainy as hell.

[Steve-01370]

Okay. I have no idea how to find or get rid of Bumblebee - it wasn't referenced in any menu. I reinstalled 12.10. 640x480 was making my eyes ache.

Anyway, no xrandcc. Either before a reinstall or now.
All that's under "Miscellaneous Devices" in photo2 is "External USB Ports [ENABLED]" and "USB Debug [DISABLED]".

[Steve-01370]

Well, THAT was interesting. After I reinstalled 12.10, I did all the updates and then I was just poking around. I looked at Kinfocenter -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL , and NVIDIA was listed under 3D accelerator. I hook up the PC to a projector via HDMI (like I've done for the last several laptops - including this one with Windoze), and I get a crappy display with lots of artifacts and fuzziness. So I check Kinfocenter -> Graphical Information -> OpenGL again and there's no mention of NVIDIA. I didn't change a thing except hooking it up to the projector. I even power off the computer, wait 10-15 seconds and start back up. Still no mention of NVIDIA. This doesn't make any sense.

[dmeyer]

You have an optimus laptop. It isn't supported under Linux yet. You have two solutions:

1. Install Bumblee from bumblebee-project.org/ and configure it as a workaround. This is what I use on my Dell XPS17. I recommend this route!

2. You can mess around with xorg or something and manually do this the hard way!

Dell laptops do not let us disable optimus or choose our graphics card like you can on Thinkpads.

[dibl]

Disclaimer: I have no experience with optimus; I only know what I read about it.In the bumblebee wiki there is a FAQs page. Down the page I see this, which looks like it is applicable to your situation:"nvidia-settings doesn't work (it tells me I'm not using the card)?Try running

optirun nvidia-settings -c :8

"