# FreeBSD vs nVidia on laptop.



## setevoy (Jul 6, 2012)

Hi!

Third day try to setup NVidia under FreeBSD on my laptop Acer AS3750G.
System - FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE 86_64 with GENERIC kernel.

Two videocards:


```
# pciconf -lv | grep -B 4 VGA
vgapci1@pci0:0:2:0:     card=0x053a1025 chip=0x01168086 rev=0x09 hdr=0x00
vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
device     = '2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller'
class      = display
subclass   = VGA
-- 
subclass   = SMBus
vgapci0@pci0:1:0:0:     card=0x053a1025 chip=0x105010de rev=0xa1 hdr=0x00
vendor     = 'nVidia Corporation'
class      = display
subclass   = VGA
```

xorg bilded and installed with vesa and nv support.

With vesa driver - no problems, everything works, but resolution in KDE only 1024 I need more - 1280. 

So, first I tried nv driver.

Here is xorg.conf for nv: http://rtfm.co.ua/uploads/xorg.conf.nv

After *startx* *I* got:


```
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found
```

Log is here: http://rtfm.co.ua/uploads/Xorg.0.log.nv

From log I see, that nv driver from x11/nvidia-driver doesn't support my GT 520M card.

OK, next I tried driver from official website NVidia here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html

After setup 302.17 version and *startx* - system going to reboot immediately, so I'll not show log of it.

Trying to setup 295.59. Videocard pretend in support devices list. 

Make nvidia-xconfig - xorg.conf rewriting to new one, here it is: http://rtfm.co.ua/uploads/xorg.conf.nvidia

After *startx* *I* again got:

```
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found
```

Here is log: http://rtfm.co.ua/uploads/Xorg.0.log.nvidia

Main from log:


```
(II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver  302.17  Tue Jun 12 17:27:32 PDT 2012
(II) NVIDIA Unified Driver for all Supported NVIDIA GPUs
(II) Primary Device is:
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found
```

Setup and install xorg and NVidia drivers was without any mistakes.

nvidia module booted:

```
# kldstat | grep nvidia
 2    1 0xffffffff813ce000 e1ec38   nvidia.ko
```

Present in autoboot:


```
# less /boot/loader.conf | grep nvidia
nvidia_load="YES"
```

procfs mounted:


```
# df -h
Filesystem      Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/ada0s4a     43G    3.6G     36G     9%    /
devfs           1.0k    1.0k      0B   100%    /dev
procfs          4.0k    4.0k      0B   100%    /proc
```

My dmesg: http://rtfm.co.ua/uploads/dmesg.txt

Unfortunately in my BIOS missing option to disable one from videocards.

Can somebody please explain me - what I doing wrong?

P.S. sorry for my English, greetings from Ukraine


----------



## SirDice (Jul 6, 2012)

setevoy said:
			
		

> From log I see, that nv driver from x11/nvidia-driver doesn't support my GT 520M card.


The nv driver is the standard Xorg driver from x11-drivers/xf86-video-nv. The x11/nvidia-driver port installs the nvidia driver.


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## xibo (Jul 6, 2012)

You don't need procfs(5) for the nvidia-driver to work. 
Try 

 checking for the "screen" and "monitor" sections of the xorg.conf
 dropping nvidia module loading from loader.conf and loading it at runtime
 checking if there is anything _weird_ in your make.conf, especially something like CPUTYPE (some archs buggy on clang) or CFLAGS modifying. If there is, remove it and rebuild FreeBSD  (kernel+userland) , X11 and it's dependencies


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## setevoy (Jul 6, 2012)

SirDice said:
			
		

> The nv driver is the standard Xorg driver from x11-drivers/xf86-video-nv. The x11/nvidia-driver port installs the nvidia driver.



Sorry, I was wrong 
But anyway - there is a problem with it.


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## setevoy (Jul 6, 2012)

xibo said:
			
		

> You don't need procfs(5) for the nvidia-driver to work.



After setup complite from downloaded nvidia driver there was a massage that sometimes system need procfs, that why I mouted it.



> Try
> 
> checking for the "screen" and "monitor" sections of the xorg.conf
> building graphics/libdrm with KMS support and installing x11-drivers/xf86-video-intel to see whether the IGP works
> ...



Thanks, I'll try it later on.


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## SirDice (Jul 6, 2012)

I'd definitely build x11/xorg with WITHOUT_NOUVEAU in /etc/make.conf. That will give you a slightly newer DRI. I've noticed the nvidia driver is more stable that way.

Here's my xorg.conf:

```
Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "X.org Configured"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
        ModulePath   "/usr/local/lib/xorg/modules"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/OTF"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/bitstream-vera/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/webfonts/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/dejavu/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/terminus-font/"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
        Driver      "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Mouse0"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "auto"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/sysmouse"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
        ModelName    "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Card0"
        Driver      "nvidia"
        VendorName  "nVidia Corporation"
        BoardName   "G73 [GeForce 7600 GT]"
        #BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
        EndSubSection
EndSection
```


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## setevoy (Jul 6, 2012)

Can't find EDIT option here :-(


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## SirDice (Jul 6, 2012)

setevoy said:
			
		

> Can't find EDIT option here :-(



Read your sign up email.


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## adamk (Jul 6, 2012)

Is there an option to disable the intel GPU via the BIOS?  If not, you can not use the nvidia GPU on FreeBSD.

Adam


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## setevoy (Jul 6, 2012)

adamk said:
			
		

> Is there an option to disable the intel GPU via the BIOS?  If not, you can not use the nvidia GPU on FreeBSD.



No, my BIOS haven't any option about it.
Bit - nowhere says about "cant use nvidia if cant disable intel"... Where did you get this info, plz?


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## adamk (Jul 6, 2012)

> nowhere says about "cant use nvidia if cant disable intel"



Actually, that's written in any number of places, though perhaps not in so many words.


The fact that Optimus setups are only officially supported on Windows 7 is common knowledge.  There is an open source project to support Optimus on Linux, but there is no support yet for that on FreeBSD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus

Adam


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## setevoy (Jul 7, 2012)

adamk said:
			
		

> Actually, that's written in any number of places, though perhaps not in so many words.
> 
> 
> The fact that Optimus setups are only officially supported on Windows 7 is common knowledge.  There is an open source project to support Optimus on Linux, but there is no support yet for that on FreeBSD.
> ...



OK, so - I must try to setup intel instead of nvidia... I'll try tomorrow rebuild xorg again with intel and vesa, but - first time when I setup xorg I make nv+vesa+intel - and intel also didn't works :-(

Tomorrow I'll show logs&conf if it will again doesn't work.

Actually, there no differnt for me - use intel or nvdida, I just need normal resolution in KDE.


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## adamk (Jul 7, 2012)

To use the intel driver, you'll have to use the patches that implement KMS/GEM.  I do not know if this is still up-to-date:

http://wiki.freebsd.org/Intel_GPU

Adam


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## setevoy (Jul 8, 2012)

Who will can start (and explain what was a problem) nvidia or intel on that f*** laptop - i'll buy a pack of beer on Amazon :-D
I'll give SSH, yes.


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## setevoy (Jul 8, 2012)

Well, I rebuild *xorg *with:


```
WITH_NEW_XORG="YES"
WITH_KMS="YES"
WITHOUT_NOUVEAU="YES"
```

And still got the same:


```
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found
```

*xorg *build and configuring with *vesa *and *intel *only.

xorg.conf:
http://paste.org.ru/?151psb

xorg.log:
http://paste.org.ru/?irn9h6

What else I can try to do?


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## G_Nerc (Nov 3, 2012)

Setevoy Hi from Russia!
I have similar problem with laptop GT630M and Intel HD4000 video cards onboard.
And I want use FreeBSD with normal graphics, did you find solution for yourself?
I have 10-CURRENT amd64 + x11/nvidia-driver
make.conf

```
WITH_NEW_XORG="YES"
WITHOUT_NOUVEAU="YES"
```
And when I'm try to *startx* system reboot immediately.


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## zspider (Nov 6, 2012)

G_Nerc said:
			
		

> *Setevoy* Hi from Russia!
> I have similar problem with laptop GT630M and Intel HD4000 video cards onboard.
> And I want use FreeBSD with normal graphics, did you find solution for yourself?
> I have 10-CURRENT amd64 + x11/nvidia-driver
> ...



It won't work short of Nvidia Optimus being brought to FreeBSD, which I don't see happening anytime soon and additionally it is very difficult to find a new laptop with Nvidia graphics that does not have Optimus. The only way is to use your Intel HD4000, which I am about to test myself.


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## zspider (Nov 7, 2012)

setevoy said:
			
		

> Well, I rebuild *xorg *with:
> 
> 
> ```
> ...



I'm getting the same errors. Ivy Bridge Core I5 with Intel HD4000. Anyone figure this out yet?


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## ColdfireMC (Nov 7, 2012)

nouveau depends on KMS, and will be only available once 10 released

switchable grpahics on linux are being supported using bumblebee, but isn't avalable for freebsd yet. i don't know how that switchable graphics works, but if you can statically assign a graphic card for your screen, do it, and install his driver.


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## adamk (Nov 7, 2012)

ColdfireMC said:
			
		

> nouveau depends on KMS, and will be only available once 10 released



As far as I've heard, the only KMS support  being developed on FreeBSD is for Intel GPUs.

Adam


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## zspider (Nov 7, 2012)

ColdfireMC said:
			
		

> nouveau depends on KMS, and will be only available once 10 released
> 
> switchable grpahics on linux are being supported using bumblebee, but isn't avalable for freebsd yet. i don't know how that switchable graphics works, but if you can statically assign a graphic card for your screen, do it, and install his driver.



I guess I didn't explain that very well, what I meant, is that I'm trying to use my Intel HD4000. I put the relevant lines into the /etc/make.conf, compiled Xorg and installed the latest Intel driver from ports, but when I try to startx, it tells me, "no screens found" just like the errors above. Is it just not supported? Or did I miss something?


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