Member Avatar for Violet_82

Hi all, I am having serious troubles connecting my laptop to the tv. I can do that with windows ok, but not in the linux. Somebody suggested to install bumblebee which I seem to have successfully done. I think the reason was because my laptop had the nvidia drives and they were causing troubles etc etc. Still I get a no signal message on the tv. I have tried the fn keys as I would in windows but nothing. I have tried under monitor no joy either. Is there any command I have to issue to get tv to pick up my laptop or something else? Is there anything else I should check on my laptop, like right drives being loaded or whatever?

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Short expert summary and next steps tied to the existing replies: the laptop already has Bumblebee installed (post by ), and and covered the obvious quick checks (boot with the HDMI attached, try the display Fn keys). On many Optimus/hybrid machines the HDMI port is physically wired to the discrete NVIDIA GPU; Bumblebee keeps that GPU powered down unless explicitly used, so an external display attached to the NVIDIA outputs often reports “no signal” even though the cable and TV work in Windows.

Useful diagnostics (run in a terminal):

lspci -nnk | egrep -i 'vga|3d' -A2
lsmod | egrep 'nvidia|nouveau|i915|bbswitch'
xrandr --query | grep -i hdmi || xrandr --listproviders

Quick interpretation of results: lspci showing both Intel and NVIDIA means hybrid graphics; lsmod shows which kernel module is active; xrandr lists outputs exposed to the running X server. X logs also show connector probing (see /var/log/Xorg.0.log for HDMI/connect messages).

Practical resolution paths (pick one depending on power vs. external-display priority): either (A) switch the system to use the NVIDIA driver for the whole X session (remove Bumblebee and install the distro-packaged NVIDIA driver via “Additional Drivers” / package manager), then use NVIDIA X Server Settings to enable the TV; or (B) keep Bumblebee for battery life but accept that HDMI tied to the discrete GPU usually won’t be usable. Newer Ubuntu releases with NVIDIA PRIME provide cleaner GPU switching if dual-mode operation with external displays is required.

Quick extra checks: boot with HDMI connected (as suggested), verify the TV input selector, and scan logs for HDMI messages:

grep -i HDMI /var/log/Xorg.0.log
dmesg | grep -i hdmi

Backup the current X configuration before changing drivers and prefer the distro’s packaged NVIDIA driver over the standalone .run installer to avoid kernel/module complications.

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Member Avatar for rubberman
  1. (with laptop shut down) connect hdmi cable to TV.
  2. Boot laptop.
  3. If TV still shows "no signal", go into nvidia x-server settings and set the system to use the hdmi monitor.

If #3 doesn't work... I'm at a loss. :-( Try it, in any case. Often, booting with the device attached will let the system "see" it and enable it on boot.

Member Avatar for Violet_82

I tried already to boot up with the cable connected to it, and it didn't work, how fo I go to the invidia settings and how do I set the system to use the monitor?
thanks

Member Avatar for rubberman

Do you have the default nouveau driver installed, or the proprietary nVidia driver? You REALLY need the proprietary one, and that requires blacklisting the nouveau driver so it doesn't get loaded at boot time.

Once you have the proprietary driver installed, you will see in the System->Preferences menu the entry "Nvidia X Server Settings". To install it, download the nVidia*.run file, and then edit the file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, adding the entry "blacklist nouveau". Next, switch to non-gui mode. You should be able to do that with the command "telinit 3" which will set you to console mode (at least for Red Hat distributions - not sure about Ubuntu, but there is something similar for that". Then, you can install the proprietary nVidia driver. Once that is successfully done (don't use the drivers in the Ubuntu package managers...), then you can reboot, and you should be able to configure your displays with the nVidia X server settings.

Member Avatar for Violet_82

well I am not sure anymore what driver I have to be honest, I have tampered so much with that...Let's start from the beginning, how do I find out wha driver I have, is there a command for that?

Member Avatar for aVar++

Try pressing one of these when it's connected to the external monitor: Fn + F3, F4, F5, F8, or F9.

Member Avatar for Violet_82

Done that already mat1998x

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