Re: Debian 11 freezes on Dell Latitude e6520
On Mon, Dec 27, 2021 at 12:58:51PM +0100, Miguel Ortiz Lombardía wrote:
> Wow! Thanks a lot to David and to you Andy!
>
> Yes, all that is right about the graphic cards. So far, I never had a
> problem with the installers (but never used the standard ones,
> actually) I will check whenever possible, but I sort of remember to
> have disable at some point the Optimus switch on the BIOS. If so, the
> Intel card should be disabled.
>
> Anyway, you give me some work to do :-) I'll try that as soon as
> possible.
>
> All the best,
>
> mol
>
More than happy to help. I have had good results when using the bumblebee
packages in the past. When I didn't have them, then I got lockups and
mysterious problems. It took me about 3 days to work out how best to
do the sequencing I've laid out above. The _crucial_ thing is not to
use any graphical environment until after the drivers you want are compiled /
installed and available.
It was hard work to do once, then I forgot and had to do it all again
and document it - so now I remember it well :)
All the very best, as ever,
Andy Cater
>
>
> El Mon, 27 Dec 2021 07:28:02 +0000
> "Andrew M.A. Cater" <amacater@einval.com> escribió:
>
> > Thanks to David Christensen over on debian-user mailing list:
> >
> > Your E6520 is a hybrid laptop with two chipsets: one Intel graphics,
> > one Nvidia. On battery power, it will use the Intel, when plugged in
> > to higher resolution displays or whatever, it will use the Nvidia.
> >
> > This is also similar to high end gaming laptops.
> >
> > With the standard install, it's occasionally possible that conflict
> > between which display chipset to use / nouveau drivers may mean
> > lock-ups.
> >
> > There are three solutions possible, I think [I no longer have one of
> > these to deal with]
> >
> > 1. Ignore the Nvidia and use the Intel driver only. This will probably
> > work to some extent. It may be necessary to deny list the Nvidia
> > drivers
> >
> > 2. Ignore the Intel and use the Nvidia drivers only - probably the
> > non-free drivers
> >
> > 3. Use the Optimus drivers which will allow the laptop to switch
> > between chipsets. This is provided by the bumblebee package in Debian
> > - and there are two types: one is a fully free driver and links in
> > with nouveau, one relies on the Nvidia proprietary drivers.
> >
> > In my limited experience:
> >
> > It is easiest to start with an expert text mode install and
> > explicitly uncheck/deselect the graphics drivers as you go: uncheck
> > Debian graphical environment and Gnome.
> > Install only the standard packages and minimal drivers - command line
> > only.
> >
> > Install build-essential and dkms packages and also choose which
> > bumblebee package to use and add it.
> >
> > If you choose to use the proprietary drivers - build them at this
> > point with no major graphics drivers loaded. The proprietary drivers
> > will taint the kernel. dkms - if properly installed - should build
> > the necessary kernel drivers with each kernel change.
> >
> > At that point, everything should work on the command line.
> >
> > After that, reboot and as root/sudo equivalent, use the tasksel
> > command to install a desktop environment. This _should_ allow
> > everything to work correctly.
> >
> > Hope this helps. With every good wish, as ever,
> >
> > Andy Cater
> >
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