PLEASE REFER TO THE FOLLOWING GITLAB REPOSITORY I HAVE CREATED FOR STORING DEBUG FILES, LOG FILES, SCREENSHOTS AND PICTURES THAT YOU GUYS HAVE REQUESTED.
GITLAB REPOSITORY LINK
https://gitlab.com/shanedora/dual_monitors_do_not_work_centos7_running_two_rtx_2080_tis_with_nvidia_driver_410
Software Environment
Distribution: CentOS 7.5.1804 (Core) “GNOME Shell 3.25.4”
Linux Kernel: 4.18.14-1.el7.elrepo.x86_64
Nvidia Drivers: 410.57
Hardware Environment:
Monitors: (Quantity: 2) Asus MG279 Monitors
Graphic Cards: (Quantity: 2) Asus Dual GeForce RTX 2080TI’s
Motherboard: X399 AORUS XTREME SocketTR4
CPU: Threadripper AMD 16 Core
INITIAL SETUP AND INSTALLATION
NOTE:
FOR THIS SECTION PLEASE REFER TO ALL FILES IN THE “initial_setup_and_installation” FOLDER IN MY GITLAB REPOSITORY
I have currently installed CentOS 7.5.1804 from the (CentOS-7-x86_64-Everything-1804.iso) without any noticeable errors/issues during the install process.
I have currently updated the kernel from 3.10 (which came with the iso) to 4.18 without any noticeable errors/issues during the install process.
I have went to the nvidia site https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us and entered the following information then clicked “searched”. It gave me the driver 410.57.
Product Type: GeForce
Product Series: GeForce RTX 20 Series
Product: GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
Operating System: Linux 64bit
Language: English
Once I had this driver downloaded I executed these exact instructions in the following order…
sudo yum install epel-release
sudo yum install dkms
Blacklist the nouveau driver
sudo vim /etc/default/grub
Append to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX this “rdblacklist=nouveau"
sudo vim /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
Append “blacklist nouveau”
sudo dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r) –-force
sudo systemctl disable gdm
reboot
execute the nvidia driver “.sh” script as root
Say yes about using dkms during the installation process
Say yes that you want it to automatically run the nvidia config utility
systemctl enable gdm
reboot
I was able to install the drivers without any noticeable errors/issues during the install process of the nvidia drivers.
After I rebooted I was presented with a log in screen as I expected. At this point the second monitor was black but I expected this to be the case since usually the login screen appears only on one monitor. Though even after logging in only one monitor was being utilized. See my image titled “after_log_in” in my gitlab repositoory. The other screen was not being used and remained black. I could not even move my cursor over to the second monitor.
Please see the file “xorg.conf_backup” in my repository for what my /etc/Xll/xorg.conf file looks like. At this point in time I have not touched any settings in the nvidia-settings controls panel. I should also note that the two graphics cards are not bridged in anyway (such as a nvlink sli adapter). I currently have a nvlink sli adapater on order but I have not received it yet.
My two monitors have both display ports and hdmi ports. I have tried both of them. At this moment in time when running your nvidia-bug-report.sh script I am using the display ports as such…
Monitor_1 Display Port ---------> GraphicsCard_1 Display Port
Monitor_2 Display Port ---------> GraphicsCard_2 Display Port
I have tried HDMI cables but the same result occurs (being the black screen). I have tried plugging in both monitors to GraphicsCard_1 but same result occurs (being the black screen). I have tried pluggin in both monitors to GraphicsCard_2 and BOTH MONITORS GO BLACK. CAN’T EVEN SEE MY CURSOR.
When I go into Applications->Settings->Devices->Displays there is only one monitor being detected which is titled as “Ancor Communications Inc 27”.
I’m going to throw pictures of what my nvidia-settings control panel options look like at this current moment. These files are named as follows…
nvidiasettings_x_server_inforrmation
nvidiasettings_X_Server_Display_Configuration
nvidiasettings_X_screen_0
nvidiasettings_nvidia-settings_configuration
nvidiasettings_GPU_1
nvidiasettings_GPU_0
Here is the output when I run xrandr…
[user@host Downloads]$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 2560 x 1440, maximum 32767 x 32767
DP-0 connected primary 2560x1440+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 597mm x 336mm
2560x1440 143.86*+ 119.88 59.95
1920x1080 60.00 59.94 50.00
1440x900 59.89
1440x576 50.00
1440x480 59.94
1280x1024 75.02 60.02
1280x720 60.00 59.94 50.00
1152x864 75.00
1024x768 75.03 70.07 60.00
800x600 75.00 72.19 60.32 56.25
720x576 50.00
640x480 75.00 59.94
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-5 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-6 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
TWEAKED NVIDIA SETTINGS BY ENABLING THE “DISABLED” DISPLAY
NOTE:
FOR THIS SECTION PLEASE REFER TO THE FOLDER “tweaked_nvidia_settings” IN MY GITLAB REPOSITORY
In this section I wanted to point out some troubleshooting I did that I feel is important to mention. I actually did quite a bit of troubleshooting but I’m not going to write a novel here and instead keep it short but as descriptive as I can with what I believe is relevant.
You’ll notice that in the image “/initial_setup_and_installation/nvidiasettings_X_Server_Display_Configuration” one of the displays (shown as the color orange with big bold letters titled “Disabled”) is disabled. I took the liberty in enabling this by the option provided by the drop down menu “Configuration”. The only option in the drop down menu was "New X screen (requires X restart). So i did that and then restarted my computer. I didn’t just restart X because for one I don’t know how so I figured a full restart will do the job.
Just to be clear after selecting that option (before i closed nvidia-settings console) I ensured that I clicked “Apply” and then “Save to X configuration File”. It told me it was going to merge with the existing file which I agreed to (checked the box) and proceeded to click saved. At this point I did a reboot.
This time around I was presented with the same login screen as before just as I expected. The second monitor was black but I figured that to be normal. After I logged in only one monitor was displaying the desktop background, icons, etc, etc (which looked normal just like before). However, this time I was able to move my cursor over to the second display. The second display was still black but when I moved my cursor over to it the cursor went from a normal looking mouse pointer to a black “x” looking cursor. See file “/tweaked_nvidia_settings/black_x_cursor”. I couldn’t drag a terminal window (for example) over to it either.
I ran the “nvidia-bug-report.sh” again in case it reported anything new. This new log.gz version I threw in the “tweaked_nvidia_settings” folder in my repo to keep it separate from the other. I also threw in the new “xorg.conf” file which I renamed to “xorg.conf_backup_tweaked_nvidia_settings”. You’ll find it in the “tweaked_nvidia_settings” folder as well. I took some pictures of the nvidia-settings control panel this go around in case you were curious in seeing that too.
ONE FINAL TROUBLESHOOTING STEP
I have not saved off any debug info for this final “small” test nor have I taken any pictures. I figure an explanation will do it but if you prefer I recreate this issue and provide some more info just let me know and I will.
I enabled this feature called Xinerama. Once I did that I clicked apply and save to x configuration file just like before. After I rebooted both screens were black. However, this go around I could see my cursor and I could move my cursor from one monitor over to the other monitor. The black “x” looking cursor issue wasn’t there anymore. The only way I was able to recover from this weird state was to press Ctrl + Alt + F2 which presented me with a bash prompt. I reverted my xorg.conf file back to where it was in the beginning with this “Xinerama” feature disabled.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can provide you with.