[DELL M4800] Display output not working

denisuu · February 17, 2020 at 6:01 PM

Hi all!

I bought a Synology NAS but it's not powerful enough to transcode video to my Raspberry Pi3b so I took my old laptop and put LibreElec on it.

However I can't get HDMI, DisplayPort and VGA working.

~~I changed the Wifi adapter which is fully working in MacOS Catalina on another partition. However I can't select a wireless network in Kodi.~~

HDMI, DP and VGA:

Code

Dell-Kodi:~ # xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 16384 x 16384
VGA-0 disconnected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS-0 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 194mm
   1920x1080     60.15*+  40.06  
DP-0 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   1920x1080     60.00 +  59.94    50.00    29.97    25.00    23.97    60.05    60.00    50.04  
   1360x768      60.02  
   1280x1024     60.02  
   1280x720      59.94    59.81    50.00  
   1152x864      60.00  
   1024x768      60.00  
   800x600       60.32  
   720x576       50.00    50.08  
   720x480       59.94  
   640x480       59.95    59.94    59.93  
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-5 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Dell-Kodi:~ # lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 06)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor PCI Express x16 Controller (rev 06)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller (rev 04)
00:16.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family KT Controller (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I217-LM (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port (rev d4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port (rev d4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port (rev d4)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port (rev d4)
00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port (rev d4)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port (rev d4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation QM87 Express LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK106GLM [Quadro K2100M] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK106 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)
03:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
11:00.0 SD Host controller: O2 Micro, Inc. SD/MMC Card Reader Controller (rev 01)

Display More

**Da Flex** · February 17, 2020 at 9:08 PM Official Post

Download a full Linux, like Ubuntu, and run it in "live" mode. If everything works, look for the loaded driver modules, and try to load them on LE.

I think that's a good way to figure out the usability of an "old laptop".

denisuu · February 18, 2020 at 1:31 PM

Quote from Da Flex

Download a full Linux, like Ubuntu, and run it in "live" mode. If everything works, look for the loaded driver modules, and try to load them on LE.

I think that's a good way to figure out the usability of an "old laptop".

Thanks for the quick reply!

It turns out I was just ignorant regarding the WIFI, there's a physical Airplane-mode on the device. Ubuntu "live" told me to disable it, when I turned the switch of WIFI was working in LibreElec

Everything works in Ubuntu, I also installed Kodi on top to test. All output is working, HDMI which I will be using is displayed as DP-3 in Kodi.

I'm not sure which module I need and how I load them in LibreElec? This is the output of 'lsmod' could you point me in the right direction?

Code

Module                  Size  Used by
rfcomm                 81920  4
cmac                   16384  1
bnep                   24576  2
nls_iso8859_1          16384  1
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     57344  1
intel_rapl_msr         20480  0
intel_rapl_common      24576  1 intel_rapl_msr
x86_pkg_temp_thermal    20480  0
intel_powerclamp       20480  0
coretemp               20480  0
kvm_intel             241664  0
kvm                   651264  1 kvm_intel
irqbypass              16384  1 kvm
mei_hdcp               24576  0
crct10dif_pclmul       16384  1
crc32_pclmul           16384  0
ghash_clmulni_intel    16384  0
dell_laptop            20480  0
dell_smm_hwmon         20480  0
snd_soc_rt5640        143360  0
uvcvideo               94208  0
nouveau              1892352  9
snd_soc_rl6231         20480  1 snd_soc_rt5640
aesni_intel           372736  2
videobuf2_vmalloc      20480  1 uvcvideo
snd_soc_core          237568  1 snd_soc_rt5640
videobuf2_memops       20480  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
ath9k                 151552  0
aes_x86_64             20480  1 aesni_intel
ath3k                  24576  0
crypto_simd            16384  1 aesni_intel
videobuf2_v4l2         24576  1 uvcvideo
snd_compress           24576  1 snd_soc_core
ath9k_common           36864  1 ath9k
mxm_wmi                16384  1 nouveau
btusb                  57344  0
ac97_bus               16384  1 snd_soc_core
videobuf2_common       49152  2 videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo
cryptd                 24576  2 crypto_simd,ghash_clmulni_intel
btrtl                  20480  1 btusb
snd_pcm_dmaengine      16384  1 snd_soc_core
glue_helper            16384  1 aesni_intel
snd_hda_codec_realtek   118784  1
ath9k_hw              475136  2 ath9k_common,ath9k
ttm                   102400  1 nouveau
btbcm                  16384  1 btusb
videodev              208896  3 videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common
intel_cstate           20480  0
snd_hda_codec_generic    81920  1 snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_seq_midi           20480  0
mc                     53248  4 videodev,videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common
intel_rapl_perf        20480  0
ledtrig_audio          16384  3 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_realtek,dell_laptop
btintel                24576  1 btusb
ath                    36864  3 ath9k_common,ath9k,ath9k_hw
drm_kms_helper        180224  1 nouveau
dell_wmi               20480  0
snd_seq_midi_event     16384  1 snd_seq_midi
bluetooth             573440  34 btrtl,btintel,btbcm,bnep,ath3k,btusb,rfcomm
mac80211              847872  1 ath9k
dell_smbios            28672  2 dell_wmi,dell_laptop
snd_hda_intel          49152  5
drm                   491520  6 drm_kms_helper,ttm,nouveau
input_leds             16384  0
joydev                 28672  0
dcdbas                 20480  1 dell_smbios
snd_hda_codec         131072  4 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_rawmidi            36864  1 snd_seq_midi
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 nouveau
serio_raw              20480  0
ecdh_generic           16384  2 bluetooth
sparse_keymap          16384  1 dell_wmi
wmi_bmof               16384  0
dell_wmi_descriptor    20480  2 dell_wmi,dell_smbios
snd_seq                69632  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_hda_core           90112  5 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek
fb_sys_fops            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
ecc                    32768  1 ecdh_generic
cfg80211              704512  4 ath9k_common,ath9k,ath,mac80211
syscopyarea            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
snd_hwdep              20480  1 snd_hda_codec
sysfillrect            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
mei_me                 40960  1
sysimgblt              16384  1 drm_kms_helper
libarc4                16384  1 mac80211
snd_pcm               102400  7 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_soc_rt5640,snd_soc_core,snd_hda_core,snd_pcm_dmaengine
mei                   102400  3 mei_hdcp,mei_me
lpc_ich                24576  0
ie31200_edac           16384  0
snd_seq_device         16384  3 snd_seq,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi
snd_timer              36864  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    86016  23 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_timer,snd_compress,snd_soc_core,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi
soundcore              16384  1 snd
dell_rbtn              20480  1
dell_smo8800           20480  0
mac_hid                16384  0
sch_fq_codel           20480  2
parport_pc             40960  0
ppdev                  24576  0
lp                     20480  0
parport                53248  3 parport_pc,lp,ppdev
ip_tables              32768  0
x_tables               40960  1 ip_tables
autofs4                45056  2
psmouse               151552  0
sdhci_pci              45056  0
ahci                   40960  2
e1000e                253952  0
cqhci                  28672  1 sdhci_pci
libahci                32768  1 ahci
sdhci                  57344  1 sdhci_pci
wmi                    32768  6 dell_wmi,wmi_bmof,dell_smbios,dell_wmi_descriptor,mxm_wmi,nouveau
video                  49152  3 dell_wmi,dell_laptop,nouveau

Display More

akula_man94 · February 18, 2020 at 10:39 PM

Code

Hello. Question on the same topic.
I bought a laptop Dell PRECISION M4800. Does not work external monitor via HDMI port. Apparently I can’t figure out the drivers, please drop the link to the driver. In other aspects, the laptop is very good.

**Klojum** · February 18, 2020 at 11:08 PM Official Post

Quote from akula_man94

Hello. Question on the same topic.

Why are you putting your text in a code tag..?

Quote from akula_man94

I bought a laptop Dell PRECISION M4800.

That is a laptop with a NVIDIA Quadro® graphics card. And possibly not supported by the regular Nvidia graphics drivers.

And also, it's not very polite to "hijack" someone else's forum thread for your own problem computer. Next time simply create your own forum topic.

**Da Flex** · February 18, 2020 at 11:47 PM Official Post

That's the relevant driver modules on Ubuntu:

video 49152 3 dell_wmi,dell_laptop,nouveau

Try to load the "nouveau" driver on LE. My research says the driver has issues with Kodi, so it's probably not available on LE for good reasons.

PS: If "nouveau" isn't on LE, it could be a good idea to stay with Ubuntu. When you autostart Kodi on it, you maybe have all you need.

**chewitt** · February 19, 2020 at 8:36 AM Official Post

LE does not use nouveau. If you can boot a normal Linux distro and find the pci bus device IDs we can cross-check against nvidia drivers.

denisuu · February 19, 2020 at 10:21 AM

Cheers for the help guys, I really appreciate it!

I'm not sure if I even need the Nvidia-card enabled?

In the BIOS there's an option to turn off switchable graphics, the processor i7-4800MQ (Intel HD Graphics 4600) should be powerful enough to HEVC trans-coding I guess? I'll try disabling that option when I get home.

The Dell M4800 is one of the few laptops left that has fully natively supported Nvidia card in MacOS so I don't want disable the Nvidia-card completely in BIOS. On my main laptop I've disabled the Nvidia card with DSDT patches since the card is not supported on MacOS, maybe it's possible to do something similar in Linux to force output through Intel HD graphics?

**Da Flex** · February 19, 2020 at 5:37 PM Official Post

Yes, disable the eGPU in BIOS. You have a good chance to run LE with the iGPU.

denisuu · February 19, 2020 at 10:05 PM

Quote from Da Flex

Yes, disable the eGPU in BIOS. You have a good chance to run LE with the iGPU.

I tried with switchable graphics on and off, neither work.

Quote from chewitt

LE does not use nouveau. If you can boot a normal Linux distro and find the pci bus device IDs we can cross-check against nvidia drivers.

What info do you need?

I attached the output of:

lspci
cat /proc/bus/pci/devices

ACPI dumps from Clover Bootloader

Can I install this somehow?

NVIDIA DRIVERS Linux x64 (AMD64/EM64T) Display Driver

**Da Flex** · February 20, 2020 at 12:33 AM Official Post

"Switchable Graphics" doesn't enforces iGPU usage, so it doesn't help.

Maybe chewitt can explain whether the "nouveau" driver has to be blacklisted, or if there is no need to do that, because the driver doesn't exist on LE. I'm asking because setting the eGPU driver on the blacklist usually enforces iGPU usage.

**Da Flex** · February 20, 2020 at 7:35 PM Official Post

PS: Can you post the output of "lsmod" when you're logged in by SSH on LE?

denisuu · February 20, 2020 at 8:18 PM

It's working but I'm very confused now.

I Googled how to disable the dGPU in Linux. Found the following post: /r/Linux - Complete disable of discrete GPU

So I did the following commands and rebooted.

Code

LibreELEC:~ # cd /etc/modprobe.d/
LibreELEC:~/.config/modprobe.d # echo blacklist nouveau > blacklist-nvidia-nouveau.conf

After the reboot I was able to select DP-0. and it actually works! But Nvidia is still showing under Audio output devices (not a bad thing)

The output of lsmod was exactly the same as before adding the file, I figured it might've been chance. So I deleted the .conf file and rebooted again. HDMI output was still working... To be sure I re-installed LibreElec completely to test if HDMI would still work if it was the cable or chance... After a clean install HDMI did not work until I added the blacklist file.

Quite strange I don't have to disable the dGPU by harware-address...

**Da Flex** · February 21, 2020 at 12:28 AM Official Post

Blacklist the nouveau driver like this:

mount -o remount,rw /flash

Open the config file by editor with nano /flash/syslinux.cfg

Edit the append line like this:

Code

APPEND boot=UUID=<YOUR_BOOT_UUID> disk=UUID=<YOUR_DISK_UUID> quiet initcall_blacklist=nouveau

Store the config file by key combo STRG + O

Leave the editor by key combo STRG + X

If this doesn't work, try nouveau_init instead of nouveau at the append line.

It's not tested by me, I'm just an RPi user.

denisuu · February 23, 2020 at 2:53 PM

Quote from Da Flex
Blacklist the nouveau driver like this:

mount -o remount,rw /flash

Open the config file by editor with nano /flash/syslinux.cfg

Edit the append line like this:
Code
APPEND boot=UUID=<YOUR_BOOT_UUID> disk=UUID=<YOUR_DISK_UUID> quiet initcall_blacklist=nouveau
Store the config file by key combo STRG + O

Leave the editor by key combo STRG + X

If this doesn't work, try nouveau_init instead of nouveau at the append line.

It's not tested by me, I'm just an RPi user.

Sorry for the late response, that seems to work thanks!

So HDMI seems to work without any modifications as long as the laptops lid is closed. When the lid is open and the internal screen is on, there's no output on any of the ports. If I reboot and close the laptop, HDMI and Display Port are working. By blacklisting nouveau in syslinux I can boot the laptop even with the laptop open and the internal screen on, it outputs though HDMI & DP once booted.

I've been a Raspberry Pi user for years, it just sucks my Rpi3b+ can't handle H265 and I don't want to buy a rpi4 or a TVbox.

**Da Flex** · February 23, 2020 at 7:41 PM Official Post

That's great, Denis! Another laptop stays alive.

You can mark the thread as solved now.