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I have a dell XPS 15 laptop (GTX 960M) with Ubuntu 16.04 installed which is connected to two dell monitors.

After installing the nvidia drivers via Sofware & Updates (I am using NVIDIA binary drivers version 378.09 from nvidia-378) I proceed to "NVIDIA X Server Settings" to configure which of my monitors will be the primary one.

Sadly, I am unable to configure the primary monitor and the monitors layout. All screens in "X Server Display Configuration" are shaded and with the following note:

"PRIME Displays cannot be controlled by nvidia-settings and must be configured by an external RandR capable tool. The display is shown in the layout window for information purposes only". (see NVIDIA X Server Setting screen-shot)

I am not sure if this is due to the nvidia drivers I installed or another issue alltogether. I checked on nvidia-drivers site and for my graphics card (GTX 960M) there are no drivers for a 64 bit linux OS, only 32.

If anybody has a solution such that I can configure my screens, choose primary display and which is to the left and right, I would greatly appreciate the help.

Guillaume
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2 Answers2

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Here is my recent revised solution on Ubuntu 18.04 to get screen synchronization on my External Monitor to ...

... STOP SCREEN TEARING!! with Nvidia Drivers in use

04/12/18 ∘ PRIME Synchronization on Optimus

To check:

sudo cat /sys/module/nvidia_drm/parameters/modeset

It Should say "y" for modeset=1, for your Monitor ex. HDMI-1-1, or eDP-1-1

To get PRIME Synchronization on Optimus when it says "N" for NO , create a new file in /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-drm-nomodeset.conf

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-drm-nomodeset.conf

And make sure the following line is present;

options nvidia-drm modeset=1

And after a Reboot or Update Intramfs Here is the Update Intramfs code sudo update-initramfs -u

Now sudo cat /sys/module/nvidia_drm/parameters/modeset, will give a Y for Yes, and screen tearing is greatly reduced!

markackerman8-gmail.com
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  • Great :) it works for Lenovo legion y720 – madzohan May 29 '18 at 05:25
  • Fantastic! I had been struggling for years with my Lenovo Y700 and this finally solved it on Pop!_OS 18.04. – sanwablo Nov 05 '18 at 16:20
  • unfortunately for me it disables one of 2 external monitors (Ubuntu 18.04, dell precision 7520, 2 external monitors + laptop's monitor) – rgrebski Nov 28 '18 at 08:20
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    This tecnique of Prime Synchronization (putting `options nvidia-drm modeset=1` inside a config file in `modprobe.d`) completely broke my system. At restart, kubuntu restarted into a black screen. After 3 hours the solution was to remove a corrupted xorg.conf file: `mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak` – robertspierre Dec 07 '18 at 00:00
  • Worked for me on Ubuntu 20.04, with driver version 440.82 on an MX250 – Radvylf Programs May 19 '20 at 23:07
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    Recent versions of PRIME as with Ubuntu 20.04 and Nvidia driver 440 do control the modeset with the file `/lib/modprobe.d/nvidia-kms.conf` so all other solutions will not work or might mess things up. – w-sky Jul 21 '20 at 22:45
  • unfortunately, this method not working on Ubuntu 20.04 – Qudor Eng Oct 05 '20 at 08:23
  • even if it says "y" - create that file and update initramfs. Works like a charm on Kubuntu 22.04 – madzohan May 22 '22 at 19:02
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Use the native Displays settings panel:

Displays Settings

You can open this by going to System Settings and selecting Displays, or by just searching for Displays in the Dash.

Kaz Wolfe
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