I have some progress with Ubuntu 4.18.0-11-generic. Here’s what I have in the /etc/default/grub file
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
## GRUB_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nosplash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nouveau.blacklist=1 acpi_rev_override=1 acpi_osi=Linux nouveau.modeset=0 pcie_aspm=force drm.vblankoffdelay=1 scsi_mod.use_blk_mq=1 nouveau.runpm=0 mem_sleep_default=deep"
Does this look right?
When I do this on Dell Precision 5510 with hybrid graphics, either with nvidia-390 or nvidia-415, I get a couple of funny video anomalies. THe problems I wish to understand now are the “small X11 display” and the failure of gdm3 entirely.
I’ve disabled the display manager entirely because the problems with gdm3 were baffling. Ubuntu has this program that can specify whether the graphics are only the Intel card, or will use Nvidia PRIME which, so far as I can tell, is close to the Optimus idea. User runs “sudo prime-select nvidia” to specify this. Verify the modules load
$ /sbin/lsmod | grep nvid
nvidia_uvm 786432 0
nvidia_drm 40960 4
nvidia_modeset 1110016 4 nvidia_drm
nvidia 14368768 227 nvidia_uvm,nvidia_modeset
ipmi_msghandler 102400 2 ipmi_devintf,nvidia
drm_kms_helper 172032 2 nvidia_drm,i915
drm 458752 6 drm_kms_helper,nvidia_drm,i915
Here’s a puzzle. IF there is any xorg.conf file, the X server will not start at all if I run “startx”.
IF I run nvidia-xconfig, it creates an xorg.conf file. After that, the X server will not start at all.
After deleting /etc/X11/xorg.conf, then I can run “startx” however the X11 display is weird. It flashes for a moment “full sized” onto the laptop display, but then only a small square on bottom left is turned on. There is big black nothing top and right. I can interact with the tiny square, but the mouse cursor measurement is way off. The things displayed inside the tiny lighted-up area are “regular sized”, as if they were projected onto the full laptop display, but they are in that tiny box. So I just get a terminal and restart.
I’ve tested the same setup with “systemctl start gdm3” and I end up with black screen of death, even though I have:
$ cat /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
# GDM configuration storage
#
# See /usr/share/gdm/gdm.schemas for a list of available options.
[daemon]
WaylandEnable=false
After a restart, I can launch “systemctl start lightdm” and the display manager does start, using the whole screen. After that, when I log in, then I am using the full laptop display at 1920x1080. Equally importantly, I DO have access to external monitors via Thunderbolt dock.
Many parts of this are working with the newer Ubuntu kernel.
$ uname -a
Linux delllap-16 4.18.0-11-generic #12-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 23 19:22:37 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
I have the nvidia bug file, bug no log files in /var/log/gdm3 to share to you.
nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (119 KB)