How to get the nVidia Optimus card working on the Zenbook UX32VD (Ubuntu 12.04/12.10)

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NOTE: This guide assumes that your bios version is 211 or higher. If you haven’t already done it, download the update from here.

If you’re on Ubuntu 13.04, see here.

1) Upgrade your kernel to version 3.5.2 (or, presumably, newer). Assuming we’re dealing with a 64-bit system:

$ mkdir /tmp/new_kernel
$ cd /tmp/new_kernel
$ wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.5.2-quantal/linux-headers-3.5.2-030502-generic_3.5.2-030502.201208151151_amd64.deb
$ wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.5.2-quantal/linux-headers-3.5.2-030502_3.5.2-030502.201208151151_all.deb
$ wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.5.2-quantal/linux-image-3.5.2-030502-generic_3.5.2-030502.201208151151_amd64.deb
$ wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.5.2-quantal/linux-image-extra-3.5.2-030502-generic_3.5.2-030502.201208151151_amd64.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i *.deb

2) Reboot

3) Install bumblebee and the updated X packages. If you previously installed nVidia drivers… remove ‘em completely before performing this step!

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable
$ sudo apt-get purge nvidia-current
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia

4) Open (as superuser) the “/etc/bumblebee/bumblebee.conf” file. I suggest the “nano” editor, but for the less experienced users I’ll use gedit:

$ gksu gedit /etc/bumblebee/bumblebee.conf

5) In the [driver-nvidia] section, at the line “KernelDriver=” set the value to “nvidia-current” (without quotation marks). Make sure that, in the [bumblebeed] section, the line “Driver=” is without a value.

6) Save, close and reboot.

7) At this point you should have a working Bumblebee (that is Optimus). To start your applications with the nVidia card, run them with “optirun softwarename“. For example, “optirun firefox”. If you want to do another test, run the “glxspheres” command for about 30 seconds, with and without optirun, then compare the output values on the terminal (they’ll be higher for the nVidia card, of course).

62 pensieri su “How to get the nVidia Optimus card working on the Zenbook UX32VD (Ubuntu 12.04/12.10)”

  1. Thanks. Worked great whit ubuntu 12.10 for me but i actualy cudn’t get it to work under 12.04.

  2. Hmm that’s strange. Maybe your 12.04 installation wasn’t clean enough?
    However I’m glad it worked on 12.10 anyway :)

  3. So does Ubuntu not automatically switch between the two? Or in another words, do I have to manually choose which graphics card to run?

  4. That’s correct. Right now, whenever you need extra power, you have to manually use the “optirun” command.
    I’m working on a software to provide a solution to this problem, but I can’t make any promises.

  5. So… It’s currently impossible to have KDE or any environment accelerated by the nVidia card whenever needed? That sucks.

  7. Do you have nomodeset in your kernel line? Because I can’t boot 12.10 without it and then it makes it impossible to recover from suspend or screen off.

    Thanks

  8. Nope, there is no nomodeset. You could try using a different kernel version from 3.5.x series (take it from here: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ )

    However, I’m currently on 12.10 with kernel 3.5.2 and it works fine. I had a problem with a GRUB update some days ago: can you try updating all your packages and then re-running “sudo grub-install /dev/sda; sudo update-grub” ?

  10. Thanks a lot! Works like a charm on my UX32VD with Kubuntu 12.04.1 64 bit running on the SSD.

  13. Hi.

    I tried this instructions but after the last reboot I got a black screen I have to enable nomodeset jusy to get a large trace but no good information I think. I even upgrade my bios to 213 and still nothing.

  14. Strange. Try with a newer kernel! Some people have problems, some don’t. I don’t know what’s the difference.

    By the way, when you get the black screen, a temporary fix could be suspending the notebook (Fn+F1) and then resuming.

  15. Hi, Is really necessary have BIOS 211? I have 206 and Bumblebee 3.0 working fine, but few days ago i reinstall ubuntu 12.10, kernel 3.8.0 and install Bumblebee 3.1. Since it appears that the bumblebee does not work. Consumption is 11W and the fan is still spinning.

  16. Hi everybody,
    after performing the instructions in this guide could I be able to CUDA programming or I would have other troubles? I have a zenbook UX32VD with a GeForce GT 620 M.
    Thanks for your replies :-)

  17. I have installed Bumblebee, and when I have rebooted laptop and got a black screen, so I set grub in the “nomodeset” instead of “splash”. Bumblebee seems to work, but now I have the mouse pointer that “pulses” and disappears when it is moved. How could I solve this problem? It’s annoying!!!

  19. Hi, April 2013:

    Step 4:
    No need to change the Module= line, as it has been removed from the BB project.
    Also the KernelDriver= should be “nvidia-current” as the module name has changed.

  21. Pingback: How to get the nVidia Optimus card working on the Zenbook UX32VD (Ubuntu 13.04) | WebEnt

  23. This is output of uname -a on my machine :
    “3.8.3-030803-generic #201303141650 SMP Thu Mar 14 20:51:08 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux”
    Do i need to install 3.5.2 (or 1st step of above mentioned procedure)?
    I am trying install it on Asus Ux32vd.

    Thanks in advance

  26. Sorry to bother u again daniele. I am new to this field. My model number is UX32VDA. Output of
    “sudo dmidecode -s bios-version”
    “UX32VDA.202”
    I checked on Asus website and there are only two BIOS for UX32VDA- 202 and 203 and not 211 or higher as required in your tutorial. My questions are-
    1) Should I still go ahead with present BIOS (already 202) on my zenbook.
    2) Or shall I update to 203 and try bumblebee?
    3) This is the first time I will be updating BIOS and I dont want to mess up, so I have a childish question- When I flash UX32VDA 202 file in my BIOS setup, does it update it to 203?

  27. 1+2) If everything works for you, you can stay with 202. Try installing bumblebee without upgrading the BIOS and see if it works. If it doesn’t, then do the upgrade.
    3) It will update to 203 only if you use the UX32VDA 203 file.

    A BIOS upgrade is never a bad thing, it usually carries many improvements to the system… you only need to be careful about power losses :)

  28. Thanks daniele. Two more things: While editing bumblebee.conf, I noticed that I have following lines
    KernelDriver=nvidia-current
    Shall I delete “current” here?
    Next line is as follow
    PMMethod=auto
    and not
    Module=
    where I can put “nvidia”. Infact there is no such line “Module=” in my .conf file. So what do u suggest? Shall I write
    “Module=nvidia” after KernelDriver=nvidia-current?

  29. Hmm right, there has been a change in bumblebee recently. Follow these instructions, I’ll update the post ASAP:

    * In the [driver-nvidia] section, at the line “KernelDriver=” set the value to “nvidia-current” (without quotation marks).
    * Make sure that, in the [bumblebeed] section, the line “Driver=” is without a value.

  31. Perhaps something is wrong. I followed all the instructions and you can see the output plz.
    praveen@bhisma:~$ optirun glxspheres
    [ 22.943783] [ERROR]The Bumblebee daemon has not been started yet or the socket path /var/run/bumblebee.socket was incorrect.
    [ 22.943804] [ERROR]Could not connect to bumblebee daemon – is it running?

    and
    praveen@bhisma:~$ bumblebeed
    FATAL: Module bbswitch not found.
    [ 117.064836] [ERROR]Module bbswitch could not be loaded (timeout?)
    [ 117.064925] [WARN]No switching method available. The dedicated card will always be on.
    [ 117.064958] [ERROR]Invalid configuration: no driver configured.

    Does it mean it cannot be installed on my machine?

  32. Could be. I can’t find any info on installing bumblebee on UX32VDA, so maybe you can’t.
    The last thing you can try is setting KernelDriver=nvidia instead of KernelDriver=nvidia-current.

    Or, you could try with Ubuntu 13.04, if you can.

  33. What about
    “Module=”
    that too is missing from in my bumblebee.conf. Is this also a change in bumblebee?

  35. Nothing worked. :(
    UX32VDA is not much different. UX32VD without on-board SSD is called UX32VDA. Rest of the config is same.

  37. Here is the output.

    praveen@bhisma:~$ sudo service bumblebeed restart
    stop: Unknown instance:
    bumblebeed start/running, process 12239

    praveen@bhisma:~$ dmesg|tail
    [13394.546558] init: bumblebeed main process (12307) terminated with status 1
    [13394.546620] init: bumblebeed main process ended, respawning
    [13394.577552] init: bumblebeed main process (12318) terminated with status 1
    [13394.577622] init: bumblebeed main process ended, respawning
    [13394.609741] init: bumblebeed main process (12329) terminated with status 1
    [13394.609806] init: bumblebeed main process ended, respawning
    [13394.640380] init: bumblebeed main process (12340) terminated with status 1
    [13394.640443] init: bumblebeed main process ended, respawning
    [13394.672437] init: bumblebeed main process (12351) terminated with status 1
    [13394.672504] init: bumblebeed respawning too fast, stopped

  39. i already have kernel of 13.04 (3.8.3-030803-generic) so never thought of upgraing it. But if everything fails then will try on 13.04. However, I dont think that is going to help much. :(

  40. Aug 15 23:32:06 bhisma bumblebeed[12329]: Invalid configuration: no driver configured.
    Aug 15 23:32:06 bhisma bumblebeed[12340]: Module bbswitch could not be loaded (timeout?)
    Aug 15 23:32:06 bhisma bumblebeed[12340]: No switching method available. The dedicated card will always be on.
    Aug 15 23:32:06 bhisma bumblebeed[12340]: Invalid configuration: no driver configured.
    Aug 15 23:32:06 bhisma bumblebeed[12351]: Module bbswitch could not be loaded (timeout?)
    Aug 15 23:32:06 bhisma bumblebeed[12351]: No switching method available. The dedicated card will always be on.
    Aug 15 23:32:06 bhisma bumblebeed[12351]: Invalid configuration: no driver configured.
    Aug 15 23:35:08 bhisma kernel: [13576.378615] CPU0: Package power limit notification (total events = 10442)
    Aug 15 23:35:08 bhisma kernel: [13576.378618] CPU1: Package power limit notification (total events = 10442)
    Aug 15 23:35:08 bhisma kernel: [13576.378619] CPU2: Package power limit notification (total events = 10441)
    Aug 15 23:35:08 bhisma kernel: [13576.378621] CPU3: Package power limit notification (total events = 10442)
    Aug 15 23:35:08 bhisma kernel: [13576.386816] CPU2: Package power limit normal

  41. Try upgrading, if you can… the kernel is only a small part of the system.
    Indeed, the problem could actually be the kernel: I’ve found this bug report about some problem very similar to yours: https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/Bumblebee/issues/335
    The bug was closed with the following reason: “all people having issues here were trying non-mainline kernel, with either unadapted toolchain or incompatible nvidia driver.”

    So yeah, try 13.04 ;-)

  42. OK so now I am on 13.04, before starting, I shall remove everything related with nvidia. So will this be harmless?
    sudo apt-get remove –purge nvidia-*

  43. Yes, but be sure to have the official kernel and the official X packages: no PPAs except for “bumblebee/stable”. If you didn’t do a fresh install, maybe “ppa-purge” could be useful.

  44. I have installed bumblebee on 13.04 and still not working. Here is the output
    praveen@bhisma:~$ optirun vlc
    [ 37.040362] [ERROR]Cannot access secondary GPU – error: Could not load GPU driver

    [ 37.040387] [ERROR]Aborting because fallback start is disabled.

    and yes it is not fresh install. What I did to remove
    dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia
    and then
    remove purge

  45. It’s a difficult situation: the hardware is not a UX32VD and the system is tweaked with external PPAs that aren’t valid for 13.04… so it’s very difficult to understand if the problem is a bug of bumblebee, a problem in your configuration, a problem in the system setup, or a problem in the hardware.

    The easiest thing to do is a fresh install of Ubuntu 13.04 (EFI version), and then to follow exactly my blog post about bumblebee for 13.04.

    If, before the fresh install, you want to do one last try:
    * sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
    * sudo ppa-purge xorg-edgers
    * sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
    * sudo ppa-purge ppa:bumblebee/stable
    Then make sure that your kernel version (the output of “uname -r”) is “3.8.0-27-generic”.
    At this point, follow the instructions on the blog post about 13.04 :)

  46. well kernel in my machine is
    3.8.3-030803-generic
    DO u think I should downgrade it to 3.8.0.27 and try it? I thought kernel downgradation should be avoided

  47. one error which i got is
    praveen@bhisma:~$ sudo ppa-purge xorg-edgers
    Updating packages lists
    PPA to be removed: xorg-edgers ppa
    Warning: Could not find package list for PPA: xorg-edgers ppa

  48. Yes, try downgrading. In this case it’s not an issue: you’ll be back to the “official” version that gets distributed through the system updates.

    Oh, and don’t worry about the error with ppa-purge ;)

  49. Daniele

    Problem solved after installing linux-headers related to my kernel image. Thanks. Its working. I know about Optirun command, but how can I see if nvidia GPU is not on? which command shall I use?
    Also, any reco for nvidia-gui?

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