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I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 on a DELL XPS with NVIDIA Optimus. I know that questions related to this have been asked several times, and I followed many tutorials and instructions but couldn't make this work.

I tried to install several different versions of NVIDIA proprietary drivers (xswat, xorg edgers, download directly through the site etc.) and none would work (NVIDIA module never gets loaded, and I can't even open nvidia-settings).

I read that NVIDIA drivers are incompatible with this hybrid architecture, so I don't care if I'll use the NVIDIA or Intel card (I'm not using this laptop for gaming, no need for super graphics), I just want the second monitor to work.

I also tried manually changing the xorg.conf file, based on a sample xorg.conf I've found here but it didn't work, so I rolled back the changes; I don't know if the problem was that I just don't know how to properly configure this file, or it wouldn't work regardless of the change made. Removing xorg.conf also doesn't work (i.e. Ubuntu works normally, but still no second monitor).

Here are the outputs of my environment, please let me know if you need anything else:

$ lspci -v | grep VGA

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor    Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF108 [GeForce GT 540M] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])

$ xrandr

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 32767 x 32767
LVDS1 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 193mm
   1920x1080      60.0*+   59.9  
   1680x1050      60.0     59.9  
   1600x1024      60.2  
   1400x1050      60.0  
   1280x1024      60.0  
   1440x900       59.9  
   1280x960       60.0  
   1360x768       59.8     60.0  
   1152x864       60.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

$ lshw -c display

PCI (sysfs)  
  *-display UNCLAIMED     
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: GF108 [GeForce GT 540M]
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: a1
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:f0000000-f0ffffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:d0000000-d1ffffff ioport:3000(size=128) memory:f1000000-f107ffff
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 09
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:53 memory:f1400000-f17fffff memory:e0000000-efffffff ioport:4000(size=64)

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 310.44  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-07)  Wed Mar 27 15:56:20 PDT 2013


Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "X.org Configured"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    ModulePath      "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
    FontPath        "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
    FontPath        "built-ins"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "dri2"
    Load           "record"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Touchpad"
        Driver      "synaptics"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mouse1"
        Option      "Protocol" "auto-dev"
        Option      "LeftEdge" "1700"
        Option      "RightEdge" "5300"
        Option      "TopEdge" "1700"
        Option      "BottomEdge" "4200"
        Option      "FingerLow" "25"
        Option      "FingerHigh" "30"
        Option      "MaxTapTime" "180"
        Option      "MaxTapMove" "220"
        Option      "VertScrollDelta" "100"
        Option      "MinSpeed" "0.06"
        Option      "MaxSpeed" "0.12"
        Option      "AccelFactor" "0.0010"
        Option      "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Monitor Vendor"
    ModelName      "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"

        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz",
        ### <percent>: "<f>%"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "NoAccel"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "AccelMethod"           # <str>
        #Option     "Backlight"             # <str>
        #Option     "DRI"                   # <str>
        #Option     "ColorKey"              # <i>
        #Option     "VideoKey"              # <i>
        #Option     "Tiling"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "LinearFramebuffer"     # [<bool>]
        #Option     "SwapbuffersWait"       # [<bool>]
        #Option     "TripleBuffer"          # [<bool>]
        #Option     "XvPreferOverlay"       # [<bool>]
        #Option     "HotPlug"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "RelaxedFencing"        # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ZaphodHeads"           # <str>
        #Option     "TearFree"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "PerCrtcPixmaps"        # [<bool>]
        #Option     "FallbackDebug"         # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugFlushBatches"     # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugFlushCaches"      # [<bool>]
        #Option     "DebugWait"             # [<bool>]
        #Option     "BufferCache"           # [<bool>]
    Identifier     "Card0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Card0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       4
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       8
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       15
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       16
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

parts of /var/log/Xorg.0.log (let me know if you need the full content)

[    26.008] (II) intel(0): Output HDMI1 has no monitor section
[    26.120] (II) intel(0): Output HDMI1 disconnected

[    25.876] (II) Module glx: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[    25.876]    compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
[    25.876]    Module class: X.Org Server Extension
[    25.876] (II) NVIDIA GLX Module  310.44  Wed Mar 27 15:10:55 PDT 2013
[    25.876] (II) Loading extension GLX
[    25.876] (II) LoadModule: "dri"
[    25.876] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri.so
[    25.876] (II) Module dri: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[    25.876]    compiled for 1.11.3, module version = 1.0.0
[    25.876]    ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 6.0
[    25.876] (II) Loading extension XFree86-DRI
[    25.876] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
[    25.991] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module nvidia
[    25.991] (II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
[    25.991] (II) Unloading nvidia
[    25.991] (EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)
[    25.991] (==) Matched intel as autoconfigured driver 0
[    25.991] (==) Matched vesa as autoconfigured driver 1
[    25.991] (==) Matched fbdev as autoconfigured driver 2
[    25.991] (==) Assigned the driver to the xf86ConfigLayout
[    25.991] (II) LoadModule: "intel"
[    25.991] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so
[    25.991] (II) Module intel: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[    25.991]    compiled for 1.11.3, module version = 2.21.6
[    25.991]    Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[    25.991]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 11.0
[    25.991] (II) LoadModule: "vesa"
[    25.992] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module vesa
[    25.992] (II) UnloadModule: "vesa"
[    25.992] (II) Unloading vesa
[    25.992] (EE) Failed to load module "vesa" (module does not exist, 0)
[    25.992] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
[    25.992] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module fbdev
[    25.992] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdev"
[    25.992] (II) Unloading fbdev
[    25.992] (EE) Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)
[    25.992] (II) intel: Driver for Intel Integrated Graphics Chipsets: i810,

$ udevadm monitor

monitor will print the received events for:
UDEV - the event which udev sends out after rule processing
KERNEL - the kernel uevent

KERNEL[142.165188] add      /devices/virtual/net/lo/queues/rx-0 (queues)
KERNEL[142.165252] add      /devices/virtual/net/lo/queues/tx-0 (queues)
UDEV  [142.165547] add      /devices/virtual/net/lo/queues/tx-0 (queues)
UDEV  [142.165571] add      /devices/virtual/net/lo/queues/rx-0 (queues)

Please help me, I don't want to get back to Windows!

8
  • How are you connecting the external monitor(HDMI,VGA)? What happens when you go to System Settings -> Displays -> Detect Displays? Is the external monitor shown there?
    – Salem
    Apr 18, 2013 at 12:46
  • HDMI. On Displays there's only the laptop monitor, and clicking "Detect Displays" doesn't change nothing (even with the second monitor connected and on) Apr 18, 2013 at 12:59
  • Execute in a terminal udevadm monitor and then connect/disconnect your external monitor. Do you get any event (should be something like UDEV [????.????] change /devices/?????/drm/card0 (drm))?
    – Salem
    Apr 18, 2013 at 13:03
  • No, I don't get any events Apr 18, 2013 at 13:11
  • 1
    Ok, after removing the xorg.conf again (that probably wasn't right) and rebooting, I could finally see one event (see my edit above) at udevadm monitor, when connecting the cable. The strange thing is that if I disconnect and connect again, I don't see any new events, just the first one - is this normal? Oh, and "Detect Displays" still doesn't detect anything. Apr 18, 2013 at 17:45

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