I'm stuck with the: NVS Optimus 4200M Drivers - Thinkpad T520 (4243VE1)

Hello,

This will be the first time I’ll ask a question because I always want to figure it out myself but I just can’t get my Graphics card to work.

I’ve tried so many methods, and I always end up with either an error, a missing file path, something with Xconfig that always seems to be missing or anything else I’ve seen so far.

I also looked on linux-hardware. I can find the T520 but not the T520 (4243VE1)
I know that it is intergrated with the VGA output, but there is a way to switch between the other card I have in my system the; Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 3000 (SNB GT2).

I have been trying out different distro’s, and I got it to work on Linux Mint at some point. Then I went to reboot the system and the screen just stayed black the whole time.

Fedora is by far the best OS I’ve been using and I want to keep using it. I hope someone knows a solution or can help me out.

Thanks!

Welcome to ask.:fedora:edora @gabbercloud

Could you please give us more info’s as :

inxi -Fzx in terminal and post the output as </> Preformatted text here.


</>user@fedora ~]$ inxi -Fzx
System:
  Kernel: 5.19.0-0.rc3.27.fc37.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 2.38-15.fc37 Desktop: GNOME v: 42.2
    Distro: Fedora release 36 (Thirty Six)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 4243VE1 v: ThinkPad T520
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 4243VE1 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO
    v: 8AET49WW (1.29 ) date: 07/11/2011
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 52.8 Wh (94.6%) condition: 55.8/56.2 Wh (99.3%)
    volts: 12.1 min: 10.8 model: LGC 42T4911 status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Core i5-2520M bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Sandy Bridge rev: 7 cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 512 KiB L3: 3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 834 high: 943 min/max: 800/3200 cores: 1: 797 2: 943
    3: 797 4: 800 bogomips: 19935
  Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics
    vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0
  Device-2: NVIDIA GF119M [Quadro NVS 4200M] vendor: Lenovo driver: nouveau
    v: kernel arch: Fermi bus-ID: 01:00.0
  Device-3: Chicony Lenovo Integrated Camera (0.3MP) type: USB
    driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-1.6:5
  Display: wayland server: X.Org v: 1.22.1.2 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.2
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: gpu: i915 resolution: 1600x900~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 3000 (SNB GT2)
    v: 3.3 Mesa 22.1.2 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio
    vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad T520 driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:1b.0
  Device-2: NVIDIA GF119 HDMI Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.19.0-0.rc3.27.fc37.x86_64 running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.52 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad T520
    driver: e1000e v: kernel port: 6080 bus-ID: 00:19.0
  IF: enp0s25 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 03:00.0
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: wwp0s29u1u4i6 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Broadcom BCM2045B (BDC-2.1) type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 1-1.4:4
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 5 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 12.13 GiB (2.6%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST9500325AS size: 465.76 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 464.17 GiB used: 11.87 GiB (2.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda3
  ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 259.7 MiB (26.7%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 14 MiB (2.3%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
  ID-4: /home size: 464.17 GiB used: 11.87 GiB (2.6%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/sda3
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 5.58 GiB used: 39.1 MiB (0.7%)
    dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 39.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 mobo: 65535 fan-2:
Info:
  Processes: 720 Uptime: 1d 6h 54m Memory: 5.58 GiB used: 2.96 GiB (52.9%)
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 12.1.1 Packages: 30
  note: see --pkg Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16 inxi: 3.3.16</>`</>user@fedora ~]$ inxi -Fzx
System:
  Kernel: 5.19.0-0.rc3.27.fc37.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 2.38-15.fc37 Desktop: GNOME v: 42.2
    Distro: Fedora release 36 (Thirty Six)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 4243VE1 v: ThinkPad T520
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 4243VE1 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO
    v: 8AET49WW (1.29 ) date: 07/11/2011
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 52.8 Wh (94.6%) condition: 55.8/56.2 Wh (99.3%)
    volts: 12.1 min: 10.8 model: LGC 42T4911 status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Core i5-2520M bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Sandy Bridge rev: 7 cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 512 KiB L3: 3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 834 high: 943 min/max: 800/3200 cores: 1: 797 2: 943
    3: 797 4: 800 bogomips: 19935
  Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics
    vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0
  Device-2: NVIDIA GF119M [Quadro NVS 4200M] vendor: Lenovo driver: nouveau
    v: kernel arch: Fermi bus-ID: 01:00.0
  Device-3: Chicony Lenovo Integrated Camera (0.3MP) type: USB
    driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-1.6:5
  Display: wayland server: X.Org v: 1.22.1.2 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.2
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: gpu: i915 resolution: 1600x900~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 3000 (SNB GT2)
    v: 3.3 Mesa 22.1.2 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio
    vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad T520 driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:1b.0
  Device-2: NVIDIA GF119 HDMI Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.19.0-0.rc3.27.fc37.x86_64 running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.52 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad T520
    driver: e1000e v: kernel port: 6080 bus-ID: 00:19.0
  IF: enp0s25 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 03:00.0
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: wwp0s29u1u4i6 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Broadcom BCM2045B (BDC-2.1) type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 1-1.4:4
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 5 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 12.13 GiB (2.6%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST9500325AS size: 465.76 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 464.17 GiB used: 11.87 GiB (2.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda3
  ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 259.7 MiB (26.7%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 14 MiB (2.3%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
  ID-4: /home size: 464.17 GiB used: 11.87 GiB (2.6%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/sda3
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 5.58 GiB used: 39.1 MiB (0.7%)
    dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 39.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 mobo: 65535 fan-2:
Info:
  Processes: 720 Uptime: 1d 6h 54m Memory: 5.58 GiB used: 2.96 GiB (52.9%)
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 12.1.1 Packages: 30
  note: see --pkg Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16 inxi: 3.3.16</>`

This is what I got.

-Update:

I Followed another Tutorial on how to Switch between them, and I got it to work! After I rebooted the screen just stayed black for 3 hours so I decided to turn it off and reinstall Fedora.

I read something about changing from Wayland to X11. So I followed the instructions. Now when I’m in my login screen I can click in the right bottom corner to select X11. It only does not appear on the about page in settings.

I need to change a file located at: /etc/gdm/custom.conf
When I try the permission is denied, I did make an Administrator account.

Might be this a step in the right direction?

I hope to hear from someone.

Kind Regards,

Niels

Yes this is the right direction, have you made a su terminal and put your adim password ?
Or simply with sudo nano /etc/gdm/custom.conf

If you are unsure what to change please post the links of the manual/tutorial you use.