It's impossible to easily switch between integrated AMD GPU and dedicated NVIDIA card without rebooting

[Julien Olivier]

I have a laptop with both AMD Raven and Nvidia GTX 1050 video adapters. I wanted to test the new game mode in Ubuntu 20.04, and noticed that only the AMD Raven actually works. To do the test, I tried launching a terminal and running gxgears, both in a normal way, and then using the "start using dedicated video adapter" (or whatever it really is in English) option in gnome-shell.

Using the standard video adapter (probably the AMD Raven), it works, but slowly.
Using the dedicated video adapter, I get the following:

juloliv@juloliv:~$ glxgears
X Error of failed request: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation)
  Major opcode of failed request: 152 (GLX)
  Minor opcode of failed request: 3 (X_GLXCreateContext)
  Value in failed request: 0x0
  Serial number of failed request: 25
  Current serial number in output stream: 26

NB: in both cases, I tried launching nvidia-settings and got the following:

juloliv@juloliv:~$ nvidia-settings

ERROR: Unable to load info from any available system

(nvidia-settings:9213): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 12:33:29.270: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
** Message: 12:33:29.273: PRIME: No offloading required. Abort
** Message: 12:33:29.273: PRIME: is it supported? no

And then a blank window...

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+19ubuntu14
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-26.30-generic 5.4.30
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-26-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0000.01.00.0: Error: [Errno 21] est un dossier: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.suspend: suspend hibernate resume
.proc.driver.nvidia.suspend_depth: default modeset uvm
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 440.64 Fri Feb 21 01:17:26 UTC 2020
 GCC version: gcc version 9.3.0 (Ubuntu 9.3.0-10ubuntu2)
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27
Architecture: amd64
BootLog: Error: [Errno 13] Permission non accordée: '/var/log/boot.log'
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Sat Apr 25 12:26:50 2020
DistUpgraded: 2020-04-24 17:27:13,114 ERROR got error from PostInstallScript ./xorg_fix_proprietary.py (g-exec-error-quark: L’exécution du processus fils « ./xorg_fix_proprietary.py » a échoué (Aucun fichier ou dossier de ce type) (8))
DistroCodename: focal
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus: nvidia, 440.64, 5.4.0-26-generic, x86_64: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] [1043:1bb1]
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Picasso [1002:15d8] (rev c2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Picasso [1043:1bb1]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-02-07 (77 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
MachineType: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. VivoBook_ASUSLaptop X570DD_D570DD
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-26-generic root=UUID=decd423a-61f1-452c-bf0d-16b54ea1b5ad ro quiet splash nouveau.modeset=0 vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-04-24 (0 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 06/28/2019
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: X570DD.300
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: X570DD
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrX570DD.300:bd06/28/2019:svnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:pnVivoBook_ASUSLaptopX570DD_D570DD:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnX570DD:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.family: VivoBook
dmi.product.name: VivoBook_ASUSLaptop X570DD_D570DD
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
nvidia-settings:
 ERROR: Unable to load info from any available system

 ERROR: Unable to load info from any available system
version.compiz: compiz N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.101-2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 20.0.4-2ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 20.0.4-2ubuntu1
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers-* N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.20.8-2ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:19.1.0-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20200226-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.16-1

[Julien Olivier (julo)]

PS: Forgot to say that I'm using nvidia-driver-440 installed through "additional drivers".

[Julien Olivier (julo)]

Actually, I’ve just found out that adding “Option “PrimaryGPU” “Yes”” to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-nvidia.conf made the 3D acceleration (and nvidia-settings) work! However, now, I have no way to switch between AMR Raven and GTX: it always uses the GTX.

[Julien Olivier (julo)]

With the help of Nvidia support, I found out that disabling nvidia-persistenced makes it possible, now, to switch between Nvidia and AMD drivers (intel prime profile) by using prime-select. But this demands a reboot between each switch. And, after using "prime-select intel", gnome-shell's option to "start a program using the dedicated video adapter" isn't available anymore.

[Julien Olivier (julo)]

Daniel,

there are actually two bugs here: the first one being that 3D acceleration doesn't work out of the box using Ubuntu's installation of the Nvidia driver through "additional pilots": for that to work, you need to add “Option “PrimaryGPU” “Yes”” to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-nvidia.conf.

The second bug is that, once this configuration fixed, it's impossible to easily switch between integrated card and dedicated card without rebooting (either through prime-select or with the new gnome-shell's shortcut).

Let's say that this report is about the 2nd one, and I've opened a new report for the first one: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/1875794

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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