Re: x11/nvidia-driver (340.24/340.32/343.13): nvidia BLOB doesn't recognize any display socket on Lenovo E540/UEFI and FBSD CURRENT

Am Sat, 20 Sep 2014 08:27:27 -0600 (MDT)
Warren Block <wblock_at_wonkity.com> schrieb:

> On Sat, 20 Sep 2014, O. Hartmann wrote:
> 
> > Am Sat, 20 Sep 2014 07:36:21 -0600 (MDT)
> > Warren Block <wblock_at_wonkity.com> schrieb:
> >
> >> On Fri, 19 Sep 2014, O. Hartmann wrote:
> >>
> >>> nVidia's BLOB from port x11/nvidia-driver seems to have problems in FreeBSD
> >>> 11.0-CURRENT #2 r271869: Fri Sep 19 13:28:03 CEST 2014 amd64, on Lenovo ThinkPad
> >>> Edge E540 laptop with CPU i5-4200M (Haswell) with integrated HD4600 Intel iGPU and
> >>> dedicated nVidia GT 740M (Optimus) working correctly.
> >>
> >> Optimus is supposed to be full Intel graphics plus an Nvidia GPU.  The
> >> extra GPU uses the same display memory and can be enabled to speed up
> >> the Intel graphics or disabled for power saving.  I don't know if
> >> versions where the Nvidia section is a full discrete video adapter that
> >> can be used alone are still called "Optimus".
> >>
> >> Some Optimus owners have reported being able to use the Intel drivers
> >> after disabling the Nvidia GPU in the BIOS or UEFI.  If an option to
> >> disable the Nvidia GPU is not present, some people have reported success
> >> with an xorg.conf that uses only the intel driver and ignores the Nvidia
> >> hardware.
> >
> > Thanks Warren.
> >
> > But this sounds even more frustrating now. I look around the web even at Lenovo's
> > support forum. Many people report the GT 740M nVidia adaptor as a discrete adaptor
> > with Optimus technology and everything sounds to me like it can be selected
> > exclusively. What you describes is that I definitely need to use the HD4600 iGPU on
> > FreeBSD in the first place since the nVidia hardware is a kind of "appendix" to the
> > HD4600.
> 
> Optimus started out that way, but they might use the same name now for 
> models where the additional GPU is a full discrete adapter.

I tried to retrieve  informations about the settings and implementations in the lenovo
E540, but I guess the only answer can be given by developer documentation. I can not
figure out how the GPU is attached to the system. The technical specifications do not
mention the requirement of a iGPU and shared memory - as Optimus would require.

But extrapolating from that "shit-covering" public relations talking at nVidia's site I
guess the GT 740M is definitely a shared memory solution and requires the presence of
the iGPU. That would explain why the nvidia BLOB is detecting the GPU, but can not find
any physical display socket, not even the built-in LCD. They're maybe wired all throught
the Haswell's HD4600 iGPU? 

> 
> > Anyway, I also tried to configure X11 as HD4600 only and X11 doesn't work properly: it
> > doesn't even start up and loading the "intel" driver complains about a missing device
> > - preceeded by a lot of /dev/dri errors. This indicates to me, in a naiv manner, that
> > this HD4600 isn't recodnized by the kernel, either. I do not see any kind of vga0:
> > entry in the kernel log when enabling "Integrated Graphics" only in the laptop's
> > UEFI/Firmware. When enabling "nVidia Optimus", a recognized vga0: device shows up.
> 
> Whoops, HD4600 is Haswell.  The intel driver on FreeBSD does not support 
> Haswell video yet.


I suspected that :-(

Thanks anyway,

Oliver