Lenovo W520 > NVIDIA 2000M > External Monitor = Problems

[jasonwomack]

Update: Thought it might be helpful to provide the Xorg.0.log for when I attempt to use the notebook with the external display. As well I've attached the output of nvidia-bug-report and my current xorg.conf.

I have a Lenovo W520 running SLED 11 SP1. It's working fine with the notebook display using the Discrete Only BIOS setting and the newly release NVIDIA driver for the chip.

Fine that is until I attempt to use the external display attached to the docking station I have for the W520. The external display (a DELL U2410f, with a native resolution of 1920x1200) just isn't found by the NVIDIA driver.

Oddly enough the video chip device entry in the xorg,conf, when it is using the NVIDIA driver refers to VESA as the vendor and "Framebuffer Graphics" for the BoardName. Where as my HP 8510W which also has an NVIDIA chip (FX580) refers to these as 'NVidia' and 'Quadro FX 570M'. My xorg.conf is the result of having run nvidia-xconfig after installing the driver. So I'm not sure how to get the 2000M to detect the external display.

Thank you in advance for any help/suggestions.

[cheechr1]

Youve got optimus in your laptop :-(. It is likely your Nvidia graphics will never work in linux because of this. If you're lucky you will have a BIOS option to use the Nvidia graphics.
Good Luck.

[jasonwomack]

Originally Posted by cheechr1

Youve got optimus in your laptop :-(. It is likely your Nvidia graphics will never work in linux because of this. If you're lucky you will have a BIOS option to use the Nvidia graphics.
Good Luck.

Thank you for your response however the BIOS does allow me to override the Optimus feature and hard set the video chip to either Discrete (NVIDIA as I understand it), Integrated (Intel GMA HD 3000 as I understand it) or both (Optimus as I understand it.) I have the Discrete setting working with the notebook display and I've tried the Integrated (which works but only at a resolution of 1280x1024 on both the notebook and external display.... a 24" display ugh.)

Anyone else?

[cheechr1]

How is your external display connected? Many laptops have the function key to switch between the laptop screen and the external VGA monitor. If it's an HDMI connection, it will depend on how that is connected in the laptop. It is possible I suppose that your external display is run through the optimus somehow, making it unusable if GPU switching is disabled. I hope this is not the case.

Again what type of connection are you using to your external display?

[jasonwomack]

Originally Posted by cheechr1

How is your external display connected? Many laptops have the function key to switch between the laptop screen and the external VGA monitor. If it's an HDMI connection, it will depend on how that is connected in the laptop. It is possible I suppose that your external display is run through the optimus somehow, making it unusable if GPU switching is disabled. I hope this is not the case.

Again what type of connection are you using to your external display?

It's attached to the VGA port of the docking station that my notebook is docked it. The external display is fine until X starts then I lose it. If I load to run level 3 I'm fine. I've tried leaving the lid of my notebook open and playing with the display toggle function key but it doesn't seem to do anything.

My understanding, which is novice at best, is that optimus is a feature that allows for switching between the NVIDIA (Discrete) and Intel (Integrated) video chips to optimize performance (NVIDIA) when needed and battery (Intel) when performance is not needed. Given that, I can't think of a way for a display to override the BIOS setting which is hard setting to the chip being used. That said, I could be wrong.

Thank you for your response.

[liucougar]

Originally Posted by jasonwomack

I have the Discrete setting working with the notebook display and I've tried the Integrated (which works but only at a resolution of 1280x1024 on both the notebook and external display.... a 24" display ugh.)

May I know how can you connect an external monitor to the integrated GFX card? AFAICT, all the video ports on my w520 (and those on the dock) with nvidia 1000M all connect to the nvidia video card