ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS fails to install on Optimus

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Hi ubuysa,

not sure what you mean. You mention "drives", so just to be sure, I can write fine on the hard drive. I am only having issues with NVidia drivers (not drives).

Or is that what you meant? Either way, I've installed ubuntu studio, and not running off the install media anymore.

Sorry, I misread drivers for drives. I't's been a bit of a hectic time of late.... :)
 

guifra

Member
I am now back on ubuntu 17.10, since most of the threads I read about are using this version.

In a previous message, I mentioned that I could not set "nomodeset", but that was because it was tricky to enter rescue boot and edit the boot command. For some reason, pressing shift did not work, so I had to press several times esc. (But if I pressed too many times, it selects the first entry, which goes into a grub prompt, which I dont know about and not quite sure that I can edit the command anymore).

So, I have tried the following and nothing worked, the login loop is still there:
- setting nvidia-drm.nomodeset=1 in grub
- checking permission on .Xauthority and .ICEauthority (they re fine)
- blacklisting nouveau
- using lightdm instead of gdm (although lightdm makes the login loop more bearable, as gdm keeps flickering every 5 seconds, making writing commands in tty difficult)
- deactivate wayland
- disable secure boot and reinstall drivers (as mentioned here: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1027759)

Regarding Secure boot, can someone clarify what it is? How unsafe is it to deactivate it?

And of course, I'm still very keep to hear suggestions on how to make those drivers work.
 

guifra

Member
I forgot to mention that the nouveau drivers are installed by default, which allows webgl to work. But the performance is really low. This is especially the case when I tried with vfx packages Blender and Houdini.
 

guifra

Member
Alright, it seems to be finally working!

So following the thread mentioned in my previous comment (https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1027759), here is what I did:
- set boot to secure 'disabled'
- install ubuntu 17.10
- on reboot, there was no need for nomodeset. I could login just fine
- select the nvidia driver that were already populated in the software and updates panel. 384 was the only version suggested.
- reboot
- I could then login and have nvidia working. webgl demos mentioned previously and vfx packages were both performing very fast.

Thank you very much for all the advices mentioned here. I learned a lot.

Also, I d still love to know if setting the boot to secure 'disabled' is asking for trouble. Is someone who understand what it is can confirm this is okay or not, that'd be helpful.
 

Stephen M

Author Level
Glad you have it working. I have got some of my machines going on secure boot although I am not sure how much difference it makes. Talking to quite a few Linux users they are not particularly bothered about not using it.
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Also, I d still love to know if setting the boot to secure 'disabled' is asking for trouble. Is someone who understand what it is can confirm this is okay or not, that'd be helpful.

Setting secureboot to 'disabled' isn't asking for trouble and the sky won't fall in. :)

This simply means that on boot UEFI doesn't check the security certificate of the bootloader, the only implication of this is that malware could potentially replace your bootloader and infect your machine on every boot. The chances of this happening are slim.

I'm no Linux expert but it's my understanding that (some at least) Linux distros can use secureboot.
 

guifra

Member
Cool, thank you for letting me know. I'll keep it as is then.

One thing that could still be resolved, is that when I turn off my computer, it goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor on the top left, and never actually turns off. I have to turn it off manually by pressing the power button for 5 sec.
Rebooting is fine though, only full turn off doesn't work.

Not a massive issue, but worth mentioning if anyone encountered the same problem. I'll write back here if I find a solution.
 

Stephen M

Author Level
That is also a problem I have had but it is not always there. I have not found a solution but know others have had the same, I think it may be something that will go as the distro is upgraded. Will post back if I find anything.
 

erik_0000

Bronze Level Poster
In a previous message, I mentioned that I could not set "nomodeset", but that was because it was tricky to enter rescue boot and edit the boot command. For some reason, pressing shift did not work, so I had to press several times esc. (But if I pressed too many times, it selects the first entry, which goes into a grub prompt, which I dont know about and not quite sure that I can edit the command anymore).
here is how to get in to the grub menu: as the machine starts up, tap the Escape key repeatedly. the grub menu will come up, but your multiple Escape keystrokes will cause you to exit out of the menu to the grub prompt at which it enters multiple further escapes (generating carriage returns). at that point if you exit the grub command line, the machine boots up without giving you a chance to get back to the grub menu. the solution is to enter "normal" (without the quotes) at the grub command line, followed by the Enter key, this kicks off the boot process but if you immediately hit Escape once more then you arrive back at the grub menu.

i now have the nvidia drivers working on my optimus under ubuntu 18.04. initially they did not work and i tried many times to reinstall them, to no avail. i gave up and switched back to nouveau and forgot about it. but then for other reasons i had to do a bare metal reinstall and this time when i tried the nvidia drivers they worked on the first attempt (i think i did "sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall"). i am not sure what changed, perhaps ubuntu made some fix to their online repo which now gets picked up during the installation. i am on version 390.
 
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