I have been working on this for a couple of days, and I have finally narrowed down the problem, but I haven't quite figured out how to fix the problem.
I just received my new Alienware laptop with a NVidia Geforce GT 650M video card. I have found that whenever I install the nvidia-glx drivers my screen goes black and no key combination will bring it back to live. I am able to install Xorg (7.5) but the first time I reboot, the screen comes to a black screen and no matter what I do I can't bring it back to life without powering it off.
After much reading and trial and error I found that if I install Xorg from the CLI, I am able to successfully install Xorg. But if I try and run startx the screen will go black and never come back.
But if I install Xorg from the CLI and then install nvidia-glx and run startx I get a GUI again, but it is split in half horizontally, and the top 20% of the screen I am unable to access.
Now when I install nvidia-glx or nvidia-settings I receive an error during the install that I haven't found a fix for yet:
graphics-3.0.21-tinycore.tcz: OK
Downloading: nvidia-module-3.0.21-tinycore.tcz
[drm:intel_dsm_platform_ux_info] *ERROR* MUX INFO call failed
Connecting to distrob.ibiblio.org(152.19.134.43:80)
nvidi-module-3.0.21 100%
I think it might have to do with the fact that I think my laptop has a Intel video card, and an NVidia video card in it. But I am not really sure.
A working setting that I have found is if I install Xorg from the CLI, then I installed nvidia-settings (not nvida-glx) from the CLI, then I can run Xorg -configure and then startx. When I do this the GUI opens up and looks the way that it is supposed to. But if I try and run the nvidia-settings app, it says that I do not have my xorg configured for nvidia. If I go back out to a CLI and run nvidia-xconfig then when I try and run startx I receive the error
failed in waitforX
When I dig through the xorg.log.0 the error states that no monitors were found.
When I did a comparison of the xorg.conf for both Xorg -configure and nvidia-xconfig I found the one line that appears to be causing the problem.
Here is my Xorg -configure
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
Section "Files"
ModulePath "/usr/local/lib/X11/modules"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/OTF"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "glx"
Load "extmod"
Load "dri2"
Load "dri"
Load "dbe"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
EndSection
Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "SWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "HWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "NoAccel" # [<bool>]
#Option "ShadowFB" # [<bool>]
#Option "UseFBDev" # [<bool>]
#Option "Rotate" # [<str>]
#Option "VideoKey" # <i>
#Option "FlatPanel" # [<bool>]
#Option "FPDither" # [<bool>]
#Option "CrtcNumber" # <i>
#Option "FPScale" # [<bool>]
#Option "FPTweak" # <i>
#Option "DualHead" # [<bool>]
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "nv"
VendorName "Unknown Vendor"
BoardName "Unknown Board"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection
Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "ShadowFB" # [<bool>]
#Option "Rotate" # <str>
#Option "fbdev" # <str>
#Option "debug" # [<bool>]
Identifier "Card1"
Driver "fbdev"
VendorName "Unknown Vendor"
BoardName "Unknown Board"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "Card1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Here is my nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 280.13 (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-05.nvidia.com) Wed Jul 27 17:18:55 PDT 2011
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
Section "Files"
ModulePath "/usr/local/lib/X11/modules"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/OTF"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "glx"
Load "extmod"
Load "dri2"
Load "dbe"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
EndSection
Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "SWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "HWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "NoAccel" # [<bool>]
#Option "ShadowFB" # [<bool>]
#Option "UseFBDev" # [<bool>]
#Option "Rotate" # [<str>]
#Option "VideoKey" # <i>
#Option "FlatPanel" # [<bool>]
#Option "FPDither" # [<bool>]
#Option "CrtcNumber" # <i>
#Option "FPScale" # [<bool>]
#Option "FPTweak" # <i>
#Option "DualHead" # [<bool>]
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "Unknown Vendor"
BoardName "Unknown Board"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection
Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "ShadowFB" # [<bool>]
#Option "Rotate" # <str>
#Option "fbdev" # <str>
#Option "debug" # [<bool>]
Identifier "Card1"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "Unknown Vendor"
BoardName "Unknown Board"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "Card1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
The first thing that I noticed is that in the Screen section I don't have a Depth of 1, so I added that into the nvidia-xconfig but I still received the failed in waitforX. I then added in the Load "dri" but still no go.
The line that is causing all of my problems is in the second Device section. The driver says "nvidia" in the nvidia-xconfig, but in the Xorg -configure it says "fbdev". I found that if I change the nvidia-xconfig version to just have the fbdev then it works, but nvidia-settings still states that I am not using my nvidia driver and need to run nvidia-xconfig
Now on this laptop I have video outputs for:
Laptop screen
VGA
HDMI
DisplayPort
I am really not sure where to go from here. I could probably manually edit my xorg.conf to make it do what I want in the future, but I would prefer to use the nvidia-settings (I'm kind of lazy). Also I am not sure if everything is working properly since I am using the fbdev rather than nvidia.
I have a feeling that my video card may be a little too new for these drivers, and maybe I should try and download the Linux drivers from NVidia directly to try and get this to work. But that may cause even more problems.
I am currently dual booting this laptop (Windows 7 and Backtrack), and that was a pain in itself to get working. I would really like to use TC as my primary OS though.
All of this is running the TC 4.5.5 booted from the CD. I have the same problem when I do the install, but testing from the CD is way faster to wipe and start over.
Does anyone have any suggestions?