X11 keeps booting in failsafe mode due to xorg.conf having the nvidia set as primary GPU.

Bug #1508573 reported by Omega-xis
20
This bug affects 4 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
xorg (Ubuntu)
Expired
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

removing the nvidia-driver and /etc/X11/xorg.conf and manually launching lightdm from the command-line solves it.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.10
Package: bumblebee 3.2.1-9
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.2.0-16.19-generic 4.2.3
Uname: Linux 4.2.0-16-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.19.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Wed Oct 21 20:56:04 2015
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-11-08 (347 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.10 "Utopic Unicorn" - Release amd64 (20141022.1)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=nl_NL
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=nl_NL.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: bumblebee
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to wily on 2015-10-19 (2 days ago)
mtime.conffile..etc.bumblebee.xorg.conf.nouveau: 2015-10-21T20:48:11.549384
mtime.conffile..etc.bumblebee.xorg.conf.nvidia: 2015-10-21T20:48:51.188097

Revision history for this message
Omega-xis (nieknooijens) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Omega-xis (nieknooijens) wrote :

also see:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2297755

every reboot results in having the following contents in /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "layout"
    Screen 0 "nvidia"
    Inactive "intel"
EndSection

the intel section also displays "none" as acceleration method.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in bumblebee (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in lightdm (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Omega-xis (nieknooijens) wrote :

there is a workaround to this.
install the nvidia-prime package and type
"sudo prime-select intel" this will force the intel GPU.

Changed in bumblebee (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → High
Changed in lightdm (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → High
Changed in xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → High
Revision history for this message
penalvch (penalvch) wrote :

Omega-xis, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better.

Could you please run the following command once from a terminal by ensuring you have the package xdiagnose installed, and that you click the Yes button for attaching additional debugging information:
apport-collect -p xorg 1508573

no longer affects: bumblebee (Ubuntu)
no longer affects: lightdm (Ubuntu)
affects: xserver-xorg-video-intel (Ubuntu) → xorg (Ubuntu)
Changed in xorg (Ubuntu):
importance: High → Low
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Omega-xis (nieknooijens) wrote :

hi there.

I managed to fix this by installing the nvidia-prime package and tweaking the bumblebee config files a little.
this is weird though since on previous versions of ubuntu the installation of the nvidia-prime package used to break bumblebee, but the same thing that breaks it apparently fixed it too. My Geforce GTX840M still can't run on the nvidia itself (using prime-select) but bumblebee works, so it's not a big deal anymore. Bumblebee is however broken when I put my laptop to sleep mode, since the discrete GPU is turned off but doesn't get back on again. a reboot fixes this, but that's for another bug.
Do you still need the xdiagnose information? because I will happily provide it for you since I've had so many issues with hybrid graphics before and I really want this solved once and for all! I guess vulkan will fix this soon.

Revision history for this message
penalvch (penalvch) wrote :

Omega-xis:

>"hi there. I managed to fix this by installing the nvidia-prime package and tweaking the bumblebee config files a little. this is weird though since on previous versions of ubuntu the installation of the nvidia-prime package used to break bumblebee, but the same thing that breaks it apparently fixed it too."

I'm not a bumblebee expert by any means, but perhaps at least the documentation would need to be updated to include your use case noted at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bumblebee ? What do you think?

>"My Geforce GTX840M still can't run on the nvidia itself (using prime-select) but bumblebee works, so it's not a big deal anymore."

Were you expecting it to work with nvidia itself via prime-select?

>"Bumblebee is however broken when I put my laptop to sleep mode, since the discrete GPU is turned off but doesn't get back on again. a reboot fixes this, but that's for another bug."

Yes. Please feel free to file a new report about that via a terminal:
ubuntu-bug xorg

Please feel free to subscribe me to it.

>"Do you still need the xdiagnose information? because I will happily provide it for you since I've had so many issues with hybrid graphics before and I really want this solved once and for all! I guess vulkan will fix this soon."

Anything that isn't the scope of this report, would need a separate report, one report per distinct issue.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

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

Changed in xorg (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Expired
To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.