Alienware M17x - linux compatibility?

Thanks for the reply, Pitabred. I know in the past that has worked. The problem is when the notebook is unplugged from the power it automatically disables the gt260 cards and enables the 9400m. That would actually be ok, however when the 9400m is enabled linux will not see it and it cannot be used in linux. I don't understand that

I have tried several just released distros with the same result. Why does the 9400m disappear when it is enabled in the BIOS

I'm dual booting with win7 so I have access to the FX Control Panel and windows has no problem with this because, of course, the notebook is designed for windows.

If I could find out why the card is not visable in linux when it is ENABLED I think the problem would go away. As it is now every time I unplug the notebook and restart the computer I have to run nvidia-xconfig and usually fsck before I have access to the desktop again-very annoying.

Any assistance you can give would be appreciated

penguin

 

OK, just got off the phone with Alienware Support. They were real nice, however they refused a request for a "manual" setting for the graphics cards saying that the alienware notebook was designed the way it is and the only BIOS updates would be for performance or bugs

Doesn't hurt to try So I guess its up to us in the linux community to make this puppy work (as usual)

penguin

 

Ahhh. So unplugging a live machine? It bombs because the driver is hooked into the 260M GTX while the switch happens (BIOS level, something the OS can't anticipate or control).

What does your xorg.conf look like when you have it set up for the 260's? I'll bet we can tweak it so all you have to do is stop the X server (switch to a new terminal [ctrl+alt+f3], log in, run 'sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop') unplug, and then start it up again (sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start). A bit of a pain, but that's the only solution I can think of as of now. Only ATI drivers have started the beginnings of working of "live" switching on Linux.

 

Hi Pitabred, yes unplugging the live machine OR unplugging the machine BEFORE booting has the same effect. After unplugging the machine and then starting it the BIOS automatically changes the graphics card settings so going into the BIOS and resetting the cards to disabled is a MUST or it will mess up Linux.

I can start the machine unpowered by not allowing the machine to start BEFORE I go into the BIOS and disable both cards, save, and then reboot. Sometimes I have to do nvidia-xconfig or even do fsck and reboot (not all the time though)

I can use the notebook the way it is but its a pain Do you have any idea why the graphics cards have to be disabled before linux can use them?????? Thats one thing I can't understand

penguin

 

It's likely that the xorg.conf has a hardcoded PCI address in it for your 260 from running nvidia-xconfig, and when that's disabled it gets pissy because the 9400 isn't at the same PCI address, so it can't find a GPU, and so on. Like I said, post your xorg.conf and I'll bet we can edit it to just not have a hardcoded PCI address, and then it should just be happy loading the Nvidia driver for whatever card is currently active.

 

Ok here is the xorg.conf for my running install. As near as I can figure it would be the same driver for the 9400m graphics ie nvidia 6100 and later driver which I think is the 195.36.15. If you need more info just ask and thank you for the help.

penguin

 

Is this a multi-monitor setup? If not, the attached xorg.conf will likely work for you.

View attachment xorg.conf.txt

 

Hi Pitabred, no this is a single notebook monitor setup. Should I just copy and paste the attached xorg.conf into mine after saving the old one?

penguin

 

Yes, or just save the file I posted as xorg.conf. Whatever works easiest. Make sure you make a backup of your working one, but the one I edited there should be quite safe and do what you want. I hope Compare it to what your current one says, I simply removed a couple sections, and the BusID specifier for the device.

 

Thanks Petabread, I'm off to work, but when I come home will let you know how it goes. If its not to much trouble could you post what lines you edited and why so I can learn a little about these things and not continue to be ignorant

penguin

 

Allrightythen, no joy here. I had to restart with the pclos live disk and fixe my xorg.conf the get going again, but thanks for the effort.

over at the pclos forum, here:

PCLinuxOS 2010 KDE: Can't use Current NVIDIA 195.36 driver - VESA only

This did enable me to reboot my alienware m17x without a crash and fsck. I still do have to do: nvidia-xconfig after starting the notebook with the power supply unplugged but then I can do the config thing and be up and running without rebuilding the boot record every time.

Seems there is a regression in the kernels above the 2.6.31-12 and reverting back from the 2.6.33 kernel solves at least part of the problem. I still have to change the Bios each time the computer is started without the power brick plugged in.

penguin

 

Hi all, thought I would update my on going struggle with my M17X all powerful. Had a breakthrough of sorts after talking to support.

Using the A03 Bios and two Nvidia GT260 and Nvidia 9400m graphics cards. I found that in the Bios Settings under Advanced Settings the is an entry called "PowerAdapter". When I disabled that and saved all my problems with the Graphics Settings went away.

Using PClinuxOS version 2010 PowerPak with the 2.6.32-5 PAE Kernel. Now I dont have to resave the Bios settings each time.

penguin7009

 

Did you get it to run with hybrid graphics enabled?

 

Hey f4ding, good to hear from you. Yes, when both cards are disabled PClinuxOS picks up the GT260 cards by default when using the Nvidia blob drivers. Boy what a relief to get this thing working without having to constantly reconfigure the xserver all the time.

Hope this helps someone else

penguin

 

Errr, I'm lost here. What's Nvidia blob drivers?

 

Nvidia Linux Graphics drivers are known as the blob because they include .run files sorta like the tar.gz linux files that try to include all the needed files for most linux types.

penguin

 

More specifically it's because the driver is closed source, or a binary blob.