Laptop VGA Output Randomly Changes Name Between VGA1 and VGA2

graphicsslackwarexorgxrandr

Periodically (every few reboots by the look of it) my external VGA output on my Laptop changes name between VGA1 and VGA2. For example right now xrandr is displaying:

timp@helez:~$ xrandr | grep VGA
VGA2 connected 1680x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 433mm x 271mm

But next time I reboot my system that could easily swap to VGA1 instead.

I do have an Optimus graphics card, so that may be related, and I did in the past have Bumblebee installed, but I have since removed all the related packages and/or downgraded them back to their standard versions.

Has anyone seen anything like this or have any ideas how to fix it?

More info on my system:

Laptop Model: Acer Aspire 5830TG
Distribution: Slackware 14.1 64-bit

GPU: NVIDIA GF 520M:

timp@helez:~$ /sbin/lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF119M [GeForce GT 520M] (rev a1)

Xorg Version Info:

timp@helez:~$ Xorg -version

X.Org X Server 1.14.3
Release Date: 2013-09-12
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Slackware 14.1 Slackware Linux Project
Current Operating System: Linux helez 3.10.17 #2 SMP Wed Oct 23 16:34:38 CDT 2013 x86_64
Kernel command line: auto BOOT_IMAGE=Linux ro root=801 vt.default_utf8=1
Build Date: 09 October 2013  08:27:11PM

Current version of pixman: 0.30.2
    Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
    to make sure that you have the latest version.

Video Driver: Intel:

timp@helez:~$ grep intel /var/log/Xorg.0.log
[   285.689] (II) LoadModule: "intel"
[   285.691] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so
[   285.733] (II) Module intel: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[   285.733] (II) intel: Driver for Intel(R) Integrated Graphics Chipsets:
[snip a bunch more lines of output]

Window Manager: i3 version 4.7.2

Best Answer

You need to parse xrandr output (or write a program, or whatever) to find the correct names, and massage your i3 configuration appropriately.

The order of device detection is random, you can't depend on it.

Related Solutions

Linux – tty and grub boot unreadable with nvidia K1100M on zbook 15 g2 with intel

I finally managed to get everything working fine. Not quite sure exactly how, but it could be related to more recent nvidia drivers.

All of my tty are now working as expected. Sharing my configuration here in case it helps someone.

I followed the wiki documentation on bumblebee

So I used bumblebee and bbswitch

Package versions I'm using right now (latest):

$ sudo aura -Q | grep nvidia 
lib32-nvidia-libgl 375.26-2
lib32-nvidia-utils 375.26-2
nvidia-dkms 375.26-1
nvidia-settings 375.26-1
nvidia-utils 375.26-2

$ sudo aura -Q | grep bumblebee
bumblebee 3.2.1-12

$ sudo aura -Q | grep bbswitch 
bbswitch-dkms 0.8-55

Note that only having these installed, I was able to see my tty, but I wasn't able to startx anymore.

I was getting the following error:

[  2557.515] (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the GLX module; please check in your X
[  2557.515] (EE) NVIDIA(0):     log file that the GLX module has been loaded in your X
[  2557.515] (EE) NVIDIA(0):     server, and that the module is the NVIDIA GLX module.  If
[  2557.515] (EE) NVIDIA(0):     you continue to encounter problems, Please try
[  2557.515] (EE) NVIDIA(0):     reinstalling the NVIDIA driver.
[  2557.681] (--) NVIDIA(0): Valid display device(s) on GPU-0 at PCI:1:0:0

After doing many attempts, I realized I had to delete /etc/X11/xorg.conf. After doing so, I was able to run startx.

For everything else, I followed the bumblebee wiki.

For reference, here's my /etc/default/grub:

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Arch"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Preload both GPT and MBR modules so that they are not missed
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_gpt part_msdos"

# Uncomment to enable Hidden Menu, and optionally hide the timeout count
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=5
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true

# Uncomment to use basic console
GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT=console

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal
GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
GRUB_GFXMODE=1920x1080x32

# Uncomment to allow the kernel use the same resolution used by grub
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

# Uncomment if you want GRUB to pass to the Linux kernel the old parameter 
# format "root=/dev/xxx" instead of "root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/xxx" 
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true

# Uncomment and set to the desired menu colors.  Used by normal and wallpaper 
# modes only.  Entries specified as foreground/background.
#GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="light-blue/black"
#GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="light-cyan/blue"

# Uncomment one of them for the gfx desired, a image background or a gfxtheme
#GRUB_BACKGROUND="/path/to/wallpaper"
#GRUB_THEME="/path/to/gfxtheme"

# Uncomment to get a beep at GRUB start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

#GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="true"

I think important line is GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset".

I've been running with a very low framerate, right click context menu were taking forever to open (1s or 2s, was so damn long...). Everything seems to run very smoothly now. Dismissing the context menu is still a bit long, but everything is way faster than before, I suppose my nvidia driver settings were bad or something like that.

I also enabled both cards "hybrid graphics" in my bios settings.

Edit 1: multi display not working for nvidia card right now, I tried a few things and now other TTYs are only a _ blinking and nothing in the logs in /var/log/Xorg* :(

Edit 2: background terminals do work when I boot in recovery mode (From Advanced menu in grub)

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Linux – tty and grub boot unreadable with nvidia K1100M on zbook 15 g2 with intel

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