Optimus Laptop, another GPU thread

[M_Firew]

Hi,

First off, great distro. Love it. Have been using it for 2 months now I believe and it is splendid.
I installed it in a dual-boot configuration and I have been Gparted more and more memory for my needs.

But now I have encountered some issues, lets start from the top.

Original issue: my monitor would not work. Tried it all. ended up following this guide:

https://www.errors404.com/install-nvidia-drivers-in-garuda-linux/

And essentially installed proprietary drivers by downloading from nvidia etc. Probably not recommended but that was the only strategy that worked.

Everything was flawless after that untill I decided to dust off my steam account and launch PoE/DOTA2
Terrible lag, 20-30 FPS no matter proton version or if I ran Vulkan. Even tried to download standalone for PoE via Lutris, same thing.

Started to watch nvidia-smi to see how much gpu memory I was using. 1-1.5gb/6gb. (wtf)
Strange part was that MangoHud was showing a 100% GPU load so I knew something was off on both sides- Probably something wrong in the config file for MangoHud and something about the drivers for nvidia.

So, some research later i found another guide here on garuda forums:

[GUIDE][OLD][OPINION] Configuring Garuda Linux for Laptop

I will be updating this guide from time to time with new information as I come accross it or correct old mis/information that exist as I wrote this while being a newbie. So check back every month or so if you need. Garuda Linux by default is configured to provide the best performance out of the box on your Desktop machine. With a little setup you can use garuda on your laptop just fine as well. My laptop has an i7 9750H processor which on the default pstate driver thermal throttles very badly…

Followed the guide, and took some valuable tips (with additional reasearch ofc)
Could not update the nvidia drivers due to conflicting files, probably due to the nvidia drived mistake I did previously.

So I had to pacman -S --overwrite “*” nvidia (packages) in order to make it work.
Kind of broke everything. Had to roll back a snapshot, and in order to make my monitor work I had to install nvidia drivers from the first guide.

So, I ended up making the scenario worse, nothing worked and I was back to square 1.
Refusing to re-install everything and taking the easy way out, I seek guidance.

Thanks!

Edit: Forgot about my specs:

Alienware M15 R1 latop with

System:    Kernel: 5.12.3-zen1-1-zen x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0  
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen root=UUID=d5eb95ed-56d2-420f-8b7e-75254adcea9e  
rw rootflags=subvol=@ quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1 loglevel=3 nouveau.modeset=0
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.21.5 tk: Qt 5.15.2 info: latte-dock wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM  
Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux  
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Alienware product: Alienware m15 v: 2.5.0 serial: <filter> Chassis:  
type: 10 serial: <filter>  
Mobo: Alienware model: 0WCNK6 v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI: Alienware v: 2.5.0 date: 05/28/2020  
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 23.3 Wh (100.0%) condition: 23.3/60.0 Wh (38.8%) volts: 17.0 min: 15.2  
model: DELL HYWXJ8B1 type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Full  
Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse MX Master 2S serial: <filter>  
charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: Discharging  
CPU:       Info: 6-Core model: Intel Core i7-8750H bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Kaby Lake note: check  
family: 6 model-id: 9E (158) stepping: A (10) microcode: DE cache: L2: 9 MiB  
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 52799  
Speed: 3218 MHz min/max: 800/4100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3218 2: 900 3: 900 4: 901 5: 899  
6: 900 7: 900 8: 900 9: 900 10: 900 11: 899 12: 900  
Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled  
Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable  
Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable  
Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI  
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp  
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization  
Type: spectre_v2  
mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling  
Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode  
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected  
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 630 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0  
chip-ID: 8086:3e9b class-ID: 0300  
Device-2: NVIDIA GP106M [GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile] vendor: Dell driver: nvidia v: 460.73.01  
alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c20 class-ID: 0300  
Device-3: Realtek Integrated_Webcam_FHD type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-9:5  
chip-ID: 0bda:5765 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>  
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: loaded: modesetting,nvidia  
display-ID: :0 screens: 1  
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2160 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 1013x570mm (39.9x22.4") s-diag: 1162mm (45.8")  
Monitor-1: HDMI-0 res: 3840x2160 hz: 60 dpi: 160 size: 608x345mm (23.9x13.6")  
diag: 699mm (27.5")  
OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GTX 1060/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 460.73.01 direct render: Yes  
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel  
alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci_intel_cnl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a348 class-ID: 0403  
Device-2: NVIDIA GP106 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1  
chip-ID: 10de:10f1 class-ID: 0403  
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.12.3-zen1-1-zen running: yes  
Sound Server-2: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no  
Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes  
Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.27 running: no  
Network:   Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2500 Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Rivet Networks driver: alx  
v: kernel port: 3000 bus-ID: 70:00.0 chip-ID: 1969:e0b1 class-ID: 0200  
IF: enp112s0 state: down mac: <filter>  
Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Dell  
driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: 3000 bus-ID: 71:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:003e class-ID: 0280  
IF: wlp113s0 state: up mac: <filter>  
IF-ID-1: wg-mullvad state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A  
Bluetooth: Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-7:4 chip-ID: 0cf3:e007  
class-ID: e001  
Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter>  
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 704.24 GiB used: 117.62 GiB (16.7%)  
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.  
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Toshiba model: KXG50ZNV256G NVMe 256GB  
size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4  
rotation: SSD serial: <filter> rev: AADA4105 scheme: GPT  
ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:8 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB  
block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 rotation: SSD  
serial: <filter> rev: 2B2QEXE7 scheme: GPT  
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 48.83 GiB size: 48.83 GiB (100.00%) used: 43.7 GiB (89.5%) fs: btrfs  
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p7 maj-min: 259:7  
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 650 MiB size: 646 MiB (99.38%) used: 81.7 MiB (12.6%) fs: vfat  
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1  
ID-3: /home raw-size: 48.83 GiB size: 48.83 GiB (100.00%) used: 43.7 GiB (89.5%) fs: btrfs
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p7 maj-min: 259:7
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 48.83 GiB size: 48.83 GiB (100.00%) used: 43.7 GiB (89.5%) fs: btrfs
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p7 maj-min: 259:7
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 48.83 GiB size: 48.83 GiB (100.00%) used: 43.7 GiB (89.5%) fs: btrfs
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p7 maj-min: 259:7
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache-pressure: 75 (default 100)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram0
ID-2: swap-2 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram1
ID-3: swap-3 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram2
ID-4: swap-4 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram3
ID-5: swap-5 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram4
ID-6: swap-6 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram5
ID-7: swap-7 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram6
ID-8: swap-8 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram7
ID-9: swap-9 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram8
ID-10: swap-10 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram9
ID-11: swap-11 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram10
ID-12: swap-12 type: zram size: 1.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram11
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 68.0 C mobo: 27.8 C gpu: nvidia temp: 61 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:      Processes: 323 Uptime: 34m wakeups: 5 Memory: 15.43 GiB used: 3.22 GiB (20.9%) Init: systemd
v: 248 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 clang: 11.1.0 Packages: pacman: 1829 lib: 550
Shell: fish v: 3.2.2 default: Zsh v: 5.8 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.04

[SGS]

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please

[jonathon]

@M_Firew

Refusing to re-install everything and taking the easy way out, I seek guidance.

Refusing to provide guidance with such a messed up installation, I seek you to reinstall.

[M_Firew]

Hey,Gotcha and edited. Thanks!

[Khsh01]

@M_Firew

Refusing to re-install everything and taking the easy way out

If you still wanna do this consider rolling back your setup to before following my guide. Then just remove all packages that involve nvidia. I recently switched to using drivers from nvidia-all from frogging family and what I did was use pamac to search nvidia and proceed to uninstall all the nvidia packages that were installed. Then I reinstalled proper drivers.

Takeaway from this would be to take a snapshot before you try anything you aren’t sure of.

Of course a fresh install is always better.

[tbg]

Some people with Optimus laptops have reported issues with kernel 5.12 that were only resolved by switching to the LTS kernel.

[zensin]

I had recently installed Garuda Gnome on an optimus laptop. It was working. I then switched to KDE and it was still working. I then switched back to Gnome and it no longer works. I used zen kernel for each install.

The temporary solution I used (Due to time constraints) was to boot into UEFI firmware/BIOS setup via:

sudo systemctl reboot --firmware-setup

and switch from Optimus mode (In my BIOS it's called MSHybrid) to Discrete mode.

Note: This will obviously negate some battery-saving benefits. It doesn't mean that your integrated graphics are unusable. It just means you can't use hybrid mode.

After switching to Discrete mode, you may need to reinstall the proprietary driver or switch to NVIDIA mode after boot. I just reinstalled so that Garuda wouldn't install optimus manager and whatnot but you should be able to duplicate the discrete config pretty easily. If you need to know what any of my configs or packages are, let me know.

[M_Firew]

Good tips from everyone, will do a fresh install during the weekend. Thanks!