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I have a Lenovo W530 with Nvidia Optimus technology running Ubuntu 14.04. I am using the Nouveau drivers and experiencing problems when connecting a second monitor to the VGA port. I would like to be able to use a second monitor without issues where I'm experiencing the following;

Configuration 1

In the BIOS I have set 'Nvidia Optimus' and have the following kernel parameters;

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash pcie_aspm=force"

In that configuration the mouse on the 'Built-in Display' flickers and disappears (*Note I do not have an unknown monitor in System Settings -> Display) and the windows on the second monitor appear streaky/fuzzy sometimes (most of the time they're fine). Without plugging into a second monitor there are no issues however, once a monitor is attached to the laptop the machine will crash and it will not go into hibernate when the lid is closed. I have to poweroff as the machine becomes unstable.

Configuration 2

In the BIOS I have set 'discrete' and have the following kernel paramenters;

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash pcie_aspm=force video.use_native_backlight=1 acpi_backlight=vendor"

I have also tried

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash pcie_aspm=force acpi_backlight=vendor"

And

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash pcie_aspm=force video.use_native_backlight=1"

Without the acpi_backlight=vendor the machine will hang once the brightness is adjusted on the laptop (F8/F9). With the kernel parameter the brightness adjustment doesn't work.

I've tried installing the nvidia-current drivers but they don't pick up the second monitor at all...

Any help would be appreciated.

1 Answer 1

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To resolve this issue requires changes to BIOS settings. Under 'Display' set the graphics to

Graphics Device [Discrete Graphics]

Under 'Virtualization';

Intel (R) Virtualization Technology [Enabled]

Intel (R) VT-d Feature [Disabled]

I also added the following to /etc/default/grub

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash thinkpad-acpi.brightness_enable=1"

but I don't think it was necessary...

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  • Thanks a lot. This finally solved my crashing when using the discrete card on ARchlinux
    – Sam S
    Oct 15, 2015 at 4:29

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