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I have a Sony Vaio laptop with an i5 460M CPU and a NVIDIA 310M graphics card. There was no mention by Sony about support for hybrid graphics (specifically Nvidia Optimus), but the processor does have integrated graphics, according to the Intel web site.

However, in the output of lspci -v | grep VGA there is only the entry for the Nvidia dedicated card:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT218 [GeForce 310M] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])

On the other hand, Ubuntu seems to be trying to load some Intel/Graphics related modules, since I get the failed to get i915 symbols, graphics turbo disabled error during boot.

Therefore, I'd like to know if there is the possibility of using the Intel graphics, with bumblebee, or is it safe to remove the modules from boot (it slows down boot for a few seconds).

Any help will be appreciated!

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Try lspci -v | grep -E 'VGA|3D'. Some machines report the Nvidia card as "3D controller". For that error message, see failed to get i915 symbols, graphics turbo disabled error on boot.

You are using the Intel graphics by default, you do not need to do anything. If you want to use the Nvidia card, see Is a NVIDIA GeForce with Optimus Technology supported by Ubuntu?. Usually you do not need the Nvidia card at all, I just disabled mine. The only time I really need it was for an OpenGL 3.1 application that could not run on the Intel one.

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  • Actually, I am pretty sure that I am using the nvidia card by default. My problem is that lspci -v | grep -E 'VGA|3D' does not show any Intel graphics entry, which is weird since the kernel tries to load intel graphics modules, and the CPU does support it.
    – João André
    Jul 12, 2012 at 10:16
  • My bad, I did not paid attention to the fact that only nvidia is shown. In your case, you need to look in the BIOS for an Integrated / Discrete / Optimus setting and set it to Integrated (or Optimus if you intend to use Bumblebee)
    – Lekensteyn
    Jul 12, 2012 at 10:19
  • Is it mandatory for laptops with hybrid graphics to have that BIOS setting? Because I don't have anything like that. Should I assume the laptop does not allow it?
    – João André
    Jul 15, 2012 at 1:22
  • Huh, that's strange. Hybrid graphics laptops do not need to have this BIOS option, but it'd strange since you have otherwise no way to switch graphics. If you submit your machine information to bugs.launchpad.net/lpbugreporter/+bug/752542, I would be able to check your ACPI tables. Perhaps there is a special method for switching cards for the next boot (I have seen this before; note, ACPI methods are machine-specific, I do not recommend execute the methods from that article on your machine)
    – Lekensteyn
    Jul 15, 2012 at 8:26

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