Recently I started using linux mint cinnamon/mate as my main op system for home use and I’ve run into excessive screen tearing when using the nvidia card.
I’m using a lenovo g580 laptop that has dedicated nvidia gt 635m graphics card, as well as integrated intel graphics.
I have the 384.90 drivers installed. Switching between the cards work perfectly.
However when I switch on the nvidia card I have screen tearing while browsing, watching videos, youtube, full screen applications like games, etc. everywhere really.
I’ve tried both cinnamon and mate version that is supposed to have different windows managers, thinking maybe that was the issue, but apparently not. I’ll try xfce as well later, but I highly suspect it’s due to something else, since the screen tearing is everywhere.
I’m stuck using the intel graphics in the meanwhile, which isn’t ideal as I’d like to run more graphics heavy applications.
You have to enable PRIME sync, for that you’ll need an xserver >=1.19. Currently, you’re running xserver 1.18.4, I think Mate 18.3 (currently in beta) has 1.19.5. So upgrade, then enable PRIME sync by setting the kernel parameter nvidia-drm.modeset=1 in grub.
Sorry, was a bit confused. Mate is the desktop environment, the distro is called Mint. Mint 18 is based on Ubuntu 16.04, so Mint 18.3 should be based on Ubuntu 16.04.3 which has xserver 1.19.
Mint is a bit sparse on info about the used packages. Maybe ask in the Mint forums for some more info.
Other than that, you can try to update the HWE to Ubuntu’s current one
sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-hwe-16.04
Add the -s option to the command first to simulate and see what it would install.
Alright, let’s assume I’d install another distribution that has 1.19 already (manjaro for example.) How would I set the kernel parameter nvidia-drm.modeset=1 in grub ? What does it do? Are you sure it’d work?
Since you are novice, I strongly recommend to stay on something Ubuntu based when running an Optimus tech system. It has the needed infrastructure to set up PRIME automagically.
In short, the kernel parameter activates nvidia kms so kernel and X can synchronize the output of intel gpu and nvidia gpu eliminating tearing. Needs kernel >=4.5 and xorg.server>=1.19. See this for info: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/957814/linux/prime-and-prime-synchronization/
Adding the kernel parameter:
as root
edit /etc/default/grub
add the parameter to the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
save and exit
run update-grub
reboot
Alright I’ve isntalled the latest 17.10 ubuntu, disabled wayland so I’m using xorg…
then double checked, and yes I’m uusing x server 1.19.5 with this distro now.
I’ve enable the modeset in grub, restarted and sadly the screen tearing is still here.
I think the problem is that ubuntu 17.10 uses the 4.13 kernel not 4.5.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fix this, so I’ll have to get used to it, or use the integrated graphics, which sucks hard.
Thank you for the support anyways, it was worth a try :)
Please attach a new nvidia-bug-report. PRIME sync is running pretty reliable now so either you did something wrong or there’s a bug that has to be fixed.