XServer is broken on my Lenovo z580

[loewenheim]

Hi,

I have just bought a Lenovo Ideapad z580 with an nVidia GT 640M video card as well as Intel HD 4000 onboard graphics. After installing PCLinuxOS, the system worked fine at first, but by "setting up my video card" in the system options, I apparently screwed up my XServer. Whenever I boot the system or try to start X with startx, I get

(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

Unfortunately, I don't have a backup of the working xorg.conf and don't know how to get it back in a working state. Running nvidia-xconf (iirc) didn't work. I don't even know for sure which driver is right for my card (I would like the proprietary one, but don't know the right package). Multiple driver packages appear to be installed already. Can anybody help?

[JohnW_57]

Remove /etc/X11/xorg.conf  (as su) and if it's correct you get a new xorg.conf  (after a system reboot)

JohnW

[loewenheim]

Thanks, that worked. The XServer boots again. But I don't seem to have a new xorg.conf—I suppose that the server is just using default values now. It runs now, but I would still like to have the right driver for my nVidia card.

[Just17]

Thanks, that worked. The XServer boots again. But I don't seem to have a new xorg.conf—I suppose that the server is just using default values now. It runs now, but I would still like to have the right driver for my nVidia card.

Have you tried disabling the video card you do not wish to use through BIOS?

You should then be able to select the correct driver for the remaining video card through PCC.

You should probably - temporarily - set the video driver in use to Vesa before going down to turn off the unwanted video card.

[JohnW_57]

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/notebook-gpus/geforce-gt-640m/description

Get great performance and great battery life with NVIDIA Optimus technology
NVIDIA Optimus is the industry’s only fully automatic switchable graphics technology for your PC, giving you the performance of dedicated graphics when you need it, and conserves your battery when you don’t. Whether you’re editing a video, surfing the web, or playing a 3D game, NVIDIA Optimus technology selects the perfect balance of performance and battery life.

Nvidia says for the current nvidia driver: http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/52240

For the current driver in repository: 304.51:
http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/49072

More info:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/261874/coming_soon_to_linux_nvidia_optimus_graphics_support.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/linux-nvidia-gpu-driver-optimus,17394.html

The Bumblebee package is not repositories yet (still as package suggest).

JohnW

[loewenheim]

Thanks for the detailed reply. In that case I guess I'll wait for bumblebee to hit the repositories.