Trusty/HybridGraphics: nvidia not detected, prime-switch segfaulting since introduced.

[Bontius]

I had a working system a month ago, with a lucky xorg.conf that allowed the unity desktop to use gdm as window manager, and the mini-displayport to work (wired to the nvidia card).
I hadn't updated for a month (mid-August 2014), because it was a production system, and then on 28 Sep 2014, after a full update and restart, gdm only worked on the built-in screen again, only with the intel card. Nvidia-settings suddenly is much smaller, and has a switch option, that does not work (gives an empty warning box as response, if I try to switch to nvidia from intel).

- The result of prime-switch nvidia is "Segmentation fault",
- The gpu manager log says "Has nvidia? no",
- Xorg.0.log says "Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)"

- sudo modprobe nvidia finishes without error, only, because I added the line "alias nvidia nvidia-331" to /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-331_hybrid.conf

- The command: sudo prime-select nvidia results in:
Error: alternatives are not set up properly
Error: nvidia mode can't be enabled

- lspci output:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK106M [GeForce GTX 770M] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])

- the xorg.conf is constantly deleted, which is annoying, I had a nice working version earlier
- the best kernel option, that used to work was nvidia.modeset=1, I tried nomodeset and nothing, but none of them help

I'd appreciate some help here, even if it's a revert (when was gpumanager introduced?), I just need to continue work as quickly as possible.

Thanks,
Best,
Aron

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-37.64-generic 3.13.11.7
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-37-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia wl
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 331.38 Wed Jan 8 19:32:30 PST 2014
 GCC version: gcc version 4.8.2 (Ubuntu 4.8.2-19ubuntu1)
.tmp.unity.support.test.1:

ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.5
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Thu Oct 16 14:06:17 2014
DistUpgraded: 2014-06-06 12:58:55,700 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 bbswitch, 0.7, 3.13.0-37-generic, x86_64: installed
 bcmwl, 6.30.223.141+bdcom, 3.13.0-35-generic, x86_64: installed
 bcmwl, 6.30.223.141+bdcom, 3.13.0-37-generic, x86_64: installed
 bcmwl, 6.30.223.141+bdcom, 3.13.0-38-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-331, 331.38, 3.13.0-37-generic, x86_64: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, if not too technical
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0416] (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:05aa]
 NVIDIA Corporation GK106M [GeForce GTX 770M] [10de:11e0] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:05aa]
MachineType: Alienware Alienware 17
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-37-generic root=UUID=2c5dc3f6-ea71-4ae6-b6d9-adc1534ff0bb ro nomodeset nosplash
Renderer: Software
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-06-06 (132 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 07/15/2013
dmi.bios.vendor: Alienware
dmi.bios.version: A03
dmi.board.name: 068R5X
dmi.board.vendor: Alienware
dmi.board.version: A01
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Alienware
dmi.chassis.version: A03
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAlienware:bvrA03:bd07/15/2013:svnAlienware:pnAlienware17:pvr1747:rvnAlienware:rn068R5X:rvrA01:cvnAlienware:ct8:cvrA03:
dmi.product.name: Alienware 17
dmi.product.version: 1747
dmi.sys.vendor: Alienware
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.11.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.58+git20141006.00847fa4-0ubuntu0ricotz~trusty
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.4.0~git20141006.ca824e69-0ubuntu0ricotz~trusty
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.4.0~git20141006.ca824e69-0ubuntu0ricotz~trusty
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2.1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.4.99+git20140806.fbf575cb-0ubuntu0sarvatt~trusty
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.916+git20141006.ec2b9ac8-0ubuntu0sarvatt~trusty
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau N/A
xserver.bootTime: Thu Oct 16 13:59:49 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:

xserver.version: 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2.1

[Bontius (bontius)]

I found a working combination:
nvidia-331 nvidia-settings-updates from xorg-edgers
ubuntu-drivers-common:1:0.2.98.4 from packages.ubuntu.com (utopic!)

kernel:
3.13.0-37-generic

dpkg -l | grep nvidia:

ii nvidia-331 331.89-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA binary driver - version 331.89
ii nvidia-libopencl1-331 331.89-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL Driver and ICD Loader library
ii nvidia-opencl-icd-331 331.89-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
ii nvidia-prime 0.6.2 amd64 Tools to enable NVIDIA's Prime
ii nvidia-settings 343.13-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.1 amd64 Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii nvidia-settings-updates 343.13-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.1 amd64 Transitional package for nvidia-settings

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Bontius, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. As per http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/alienware-17/drivers an update to your computer's buggy and outdated BIOS is available (A14). 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 provide the output of the following terminal command:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date

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

Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful. As well, you don't have to create a new bug report.

Once the BIOS is updated, and the information above is provided, then please mark this report Status New.

Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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