Nvidia dGPU active despite prime-select set to Intel card

[Mateusz Litwin]

After fresh installation of Ubuntu 20.04 I changed used card to Intel GPU with command "sudo prime-select intel". After reboot Intel card is used to display, but dGPU is still active (more heat and power consumption, this laptop also has led that indicate dGPU activation).

In Ubuntu 19.04 which I used till today, after change to iGPU, laptop use iGPU and dGPU is in inactive state.

I have MSI PE70 7RD laptop with Intel 7700HQ processor and NVIDIA 1050 GPU. I found similar problem on net, but without solution.
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1232461/ubuntu-20-04-dgpu-is-always-on

Workaround that I found is use "powertop" and in Tunables card activate power saving for dGPU card "Runtime PM for PCI Device NVIDIA Corporation GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile]", but I think it should work without such changes every reboot.

Description: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Release: 20.04

nvidia-prime:
  Installed: 0.8.14
  Candidate: 0.8.14
  Version table:
 *** 0.8.14 500
        500 http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: nvidia-prime 0.8.14
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-29.33-generic 5.4.30
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-29-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sat May 9 11:38:41 2020
Dependencies:

InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-05-09 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: nvidia-prime
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Alain Rouet (alainrouet-deactivatedaccount)]

Same issue here with an Intel Core i5-7200U and an NVIDIA Geforce GTX 950M. Had to use the same workaround with Powertop and power consumption went from 12W to 6W after. It kept working after restarting, though.

[Alain Rouet (alainrouet-deactivatedaccount)]

I'm sorry for spamming this bug report, I should've make all my tests before posting anything.

I made a clean install today but, this time, without installing the proprietary drivers during setup. I installed the Nvidia driver after the first batch of updates, via the Additional Drivers application. And I can't reproduce this issue anymore. It's working as it should.

It unfortunately means that installing the proprietary drivers during setup isn't working well. For instance, I had to manually install the nvidia-dkms-440 package, which was missing. I can't say for sure that this bug is also caused by a faulty Nvidia driver installation, but it looks like it. If someone can tell me where I can report this issue, I'll gladly make it (if it hasn't been reported yet).

Once again, sorry for spamming this bug report. Feel free to delete some of my comments, as I don't feel they're really useful.

[Mateusz Litwin (matlit)]

I also confirm that clean install of Ubuntu without option to install proprietary driver works OK. This is problem with installer option.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thanks for the comments, the new ones speaking about the installer are a bit confusing. Could you describe exactly what issue you had and what are the difference by eabling the driver post installation?

[Mateusz Litwin (matlit)]

- Install WITH "Install third-party software for graphics and WiFi hardware and additional media formats"

1. Open "Nvidia X Server Setting"
2. Changing card in "Prime Profiles" from "NVIDIA (Performance Mode)" to "Intel (Power Saving Mode)"
3. Reboot
4. After start Nvidia card STILL active (check by led light - orange - nvidia ACTIVE and more power consumption)

- Install WITHOUT "Install third-party software for graphics and WiFi hardware and additional media formats"

1. Open "Additional drivers"
2. Click "Using NVIDIA driver metapackage from nvidia-driver-440 (proprietary, tested)"
3. Apply Changes, password
4. Reboot
5. Open "Nvidia X Server Setting"
6. Changing card in "Prime Profiles" from "NVIDIA (Performance Mode)" to "Intel (Power Saving Mode)"
7. Reboot
8. After start Nvidia card NOT active (check by led light - blue - nvidia INACTIVE and less power consumption)

If any more info need please ask. I have separate partition on disk if there is need to do any test with newly installed Ubuntu.

[Alberto Milone (albertomilone)]

I suspect this is LP: #1875339 . The ubuntu-drivers-common in the image doesn't have the fix that version 1:0.8.1.1 (which you are probably using when installing the drivers manually) has.

[Diana Shehu (roadrunner56)]

I can confirm this bug. I am currently on Kubuntu 20.04, on a Dell XPS L502x. I am using the 390xx Nvidia driver and the 8086:0116 Intel driver. My 'nvidia-prime' package is 0.8.14. I checked "Install third-party software for graphics and WiFi hardware and additional media formats" during installation, and even when I use prime-select to switch to my Intel drivers, my power consumption is still around 22 W. I have not tried reinstalling Kubuntu without installing third-party drivers at startup, and then manually adding them after the installation is complete.

[Diana Shehu (roadrunner56)]

Update: I have reinstalled Kubuntu on the same laptop, but did not click "Install third-party software for graphics and WiFi hardware and additional media formats" during installation. I then manually added the proprietary Nvidia 390 driver after installation. When on prime-select intel, powertop now reports a discharge of 2.7 W, suggesting that the nvidia card is now turned off. The workaround was successful, indicating that the bug is in the installation process and not prime-select itself. Thanks for your help, Rouet and matlit!

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

The path to this issue for me is different. I installed this laptop originally with 19.04 and nvidia-435 (possibly post installation?) and all was well upon upgrade to 19.10 and later on to 20.04.

Upgrading to 20.04 kept the nvidia-435 driver and this bug did not manifest.

Today I upgraded the driver to nvidia-440 via `ubuntu-driver install` and the issue started happening - the gpu is still powered up even though I rebooted into intel. I switched back and forth using `prime-select`.

I tried reverting back to nvidia-435 to no avail.

I can apply the "fix" via powertop (it does `echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:01:00.0/power/control';`) and I can confirm this shuts down the GPU properly and cuts power usage dramatically, until next boot.

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

I'm on a Dell XPS 9560, i7-7700HQ, GP107M (GTX 1050 mobile).

[Luis Alberto Pabón (copong)]

More info:
 * ubuntu-driver install did not install nvidia-dkms-440 (had to be installed by hand)
 * Upon boot, /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:01:00.0/power/control is set to `auto`, but the GPU is powered on. Setting it to `on` then to `auto` again powers down the GPU.
 * This temporary fix above survives suspend/resume