[ERROR]Cannot access secondary GPU - error: [XORG] (EE) Unable to locate/open config directory: "/etc/bumblebee/xorg...

[beng]

This is not a help request. This is info / help for people searching for how to fix this problem with the Nvidia driver not working.

I am using MX Linux 23.4 but the solution should also work for other Debian-based distros and probably Ubuntu-based ones like Mint.

Problem: I have a laptop with 2 graphics adapters: an Intel one and an Nvidia one. I was following the instructions in Staempunk's video on how to install Nvidia drivers. I could not get

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optirun inxi -G

to work. It would give this error:

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[ERROR]Cannot access secondary GPU - error: [XORG] (EE) Unable to locate/open config directory: "/etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.d"

Solution:
First do a system backup using timeshift, or maybe, uninstall the Nvidia proprietary driver first (in MX Linux you can do this by sudo ddm-mx -p nvidia ), and then do a timeshift system backup so that if something goes wrong you can revert to the state before you tried to install the Nvidia driver. If you uninstalled the Nvidia driver to do the timeshift, install the driver again (and it will fail to work again but we will fix this).

Then, install the following:

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sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-mouse
sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-kbd

Then, purge xserver-xorg-legacy

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sudo apt purge xserver-xorg-legacy

Then, make a dummy conf file:

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sudo touch /etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.d/10-dummy.conf

Then, find the PCI bus address of your Nvidia GPU:

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lspci | egrep 'VGA|3D'

The output of the above command on my particular laptop (Fujitsu Lifebook AH544) is:

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$ lspci | egrep 'VGA|3D'
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 06)
01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF117M [GeForce 610M/710M/810M/820M / GT 620M/625M/630M/720M] (rev a1)

From this I can see that the bus address for my Nvidia GPU is 01:00.0 , note down whatever the address for yours is.

Open your /etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.nvidia file using a text editor with sudo privileges. On MX Linux Xfce, this would be done with:

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sudo featherpad /etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.nvidia

Find the line that says:

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#   If the X server does not automatically detect your VGA device,
#   you can manually set it here.
#   To get the BusID prop, run `lspci | egrep 'VGA|3D'` and input the data
#   as you see in the commented example.
#   This Setting may be needed in some platforms with more than one
#   nvidia card, which may confuse the proprietary driver (e.g.,
#   trying to take ownership of the wrong device). Also needed on Ubuntu 13.04.
#   BusID "PCI:01:00:0"

Delete the # sign at the front of the BusID line so that it is uncommented, and change the bus address to that of your Nvidia GPU if it is not 01:00.00

Save the file.

Reboot the computer.

After this it (optirun inxi -G) should work.

Sources that I used:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/question ... -bumblebee

https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/Bu ... ssues/1082

https://unix.stackexchange.com/question ... ondary-gpu

[Stevo]

What went wrong with our recommended procedure of using the MX Nvidia Installer and PRIME switching with the "nvidia-run-mx" wrapper for PRIME?

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$ nvidia-run-mx inxi -G

Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA107M [GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile] driver: nvidia
    v: 535.183.06
  Device-2: AMD Cezanne [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Mobile Series]
    driver: amdgpu v: kernel
  Device-3: Microdia Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.9 driver: X:
    loaded: amdgpu,nvidia dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu resolution: 1: 2560x1440
    2: N/A
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 535.183.06 renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050
    Ti Laptop GPU/PCIe/SSE2

Maybe you're having to use a legacy Nvidia driver without PRIME support. That would explain it...