[MSI CX420] vgaswitcheroo is not activated even after multiple restarts

[Jan-Raphael Chua]

I am running Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit on a MSI CX-420 machine. It as two GPUs, an ATI HD 5470 and an onboard Intel HD Graphics. I do not usually use the ATI card and turn it off all the time on boot as it heats up my computer.

At first, I did not have a problem with turning off the GPU from ubuntu 10.10, 11.10 (not counting the time when the kernel would crash on me on removable storages since it was fixed - thanks!), and then 12.04 until very recently. Whenever I boot my computer up, the /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo directory does not exist until I restart it again. However, now, I have restarted my computer for the third time already and the vgaswitcheroo directory still does not exist.

Running the command " lspci | grep VGA " only outputs the ff:
    00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 12)
when it should have reported 2 GPUs

I am thinking this should be a problem in the kernel since it is the vgaswitcheroo (or the detection of GPU hardware) that I am having problems with. I hope I am not mistaken in sending this bug report.

Hoping this gets fixed soon ('cause it's an LTS release, people really are expecting a lot) and thanks in advance

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-24-generic 3.2.0-24.39
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic 3.2.16
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: aeroheart-c6 1968 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf7c00000 irq 45'
   Mixer name : 'Intel IbexPeak HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0662,14621038,00100101 HDA:80862804,80860101,00100000'
   Controls : 24
   Simple ctrls : 11
Date: Tue May 29 11:16:59 2012
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=8f715962-cf5f-4ed1-8fb1-de82559527a6
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
Lsusb:
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
 Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
 Bus 002 Device 003: ID 15d9:0a4c Trust International B.V. USB+PS/2 Optical Mouse
MachineType: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD MS-1453
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_PH:en
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_PH.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-24-generic root=UUID=a00b38d0-92d5-4fdc-9cd3-bf6623b24204 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.2.0-24-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.2.0-24-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.79
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
SourcePackage: linux
StagingDrivers: mei
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 03/30/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: E1453IMS.119
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: MS-1453
dmi.board.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
dmi.board.version: REV:1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: MS-1453
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrE1453IMS.119:bd03/30/2010:svnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:pnMS-1453:pvrREV1.0:rvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:rnMS-1453:rvrREV1.0:cvnMS-1453:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: MS-1453
dmi.product.version: REV:1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD

[Jan-Raphael Chua (aeroheart-c6)]

Hi, I don't know if this will help, but whenever I'm on battery, the problem does not replicate most of the time, if not all the time. You see, I haven't been using the battery whenever I use my machine.

Random thought, though, could this be that my hardware is starting to fail on me?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Jan-Raphael Chua, as per http://www.msi.com/product/nb/CX420.html#?div=BIOS an update is available for your BIOS (1.1P). If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BiosUpdate , does it change anything? If it doesn't, could you please both specify what happened, and just provide the output of the following terminal command:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date

Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful.

For more on BIOS updates and linux, please see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette .

Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]