Can't run XFCE at all with Nvidia drivers

Superdimitri · 2021-05-21 04:32:47

Can't combine any OS using XFCE + Nvidia propiatry drivers

I'm currently enjoying Manjaro with KDE but before had tried using the XFCE version.
And before that I used Kubuntu, after falling to use Xubuntu.

I want to make XFCE work but whenever I use a distro based on it and install Nvidia drivers my system becomes unstable and freezes up with my second screen connected, either after a few seconds of booting up, or shortly after.

If I only use the integrated screen on my laptop this freeze never happens. I can repeat the problem by booting with an external display connected, or by plugging it in whilst already running. If I use nouveau drivers everything works fine.

I've spent so much time trying to work out the issue, but I'm dumbfounded because everything works fine when using KDE.

What could be different causing this issue?

I've tried drivers from the legacy v380 package up to latest v460 and it's the same.

My computer is a HP Omen laptop and I'm using an external monitor via display port. Both integrated and external displays are gsync. The internal 1080p120. The external 1440p144.

Other specs: 16gb RAM, i7 8750H, GeForce 1060, 256gb NVME, Realtek LAN, Intel WiFi.

I've updated the system to the latest bios. Legacy boot and secure boot are both disabled.

I've tried accessing logs but they don't show anything... I presume because the system just completely locks up. At this moment I can't do anything but power off the computer.

Any pointers?

When the freeze happens I've tried to get some logs but it's hard because it's a full system lock when it happens. Here's my journalctl just before.

I checked my last xorg log but there's no error.

EDIT* I managed to ssh into the system remotely to gather logs. The nvidia script I ran seems to find them all:
https://pastebin.ubuntu.com/p/38jrcPmMwj/

At this moment xrandr seems to have crashed and isn't accessible via ssh.

Last edited by Superdimitri (2021-05-21 06:26:50)

Superdimitri · 2021-06-21 17:33:08

Thanks to this post: https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=13233

I managed to narrow down my issue. Disabling the compositor fixes the issue, as does setting "force composition pipeline" in the nvidia-settings app.

Disabling the compositor has its downsides, I get screen tearing.
Setting "force composition pipeline" works with the compositor but disables gsync.
Setting the compositor "off" or "xpresent" also fixes the problem, but disables gsync.

For now running without the compositor. Any idea why xfwm4 compositor set to glx isn't working for me? It grinds my system to a halt and crashes it when I use multi monitors.

ToZ · 2021-06-21 20:34:38

I'm not that familiar with nvidia as I don't have any devices with it, but specifically which version of xfwm4 did you do the testing with in your last post?

Is this bug report similar/relevant? Or maybe this one?

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#1 2021-05-21 04:32:47

Can't run XFCE at all with Nvidia drivers

#2 2021-06-21 17:33:08

Re: Can't run XFCE at all with Nvidia drivers

#3 2021-06-21 20:34:38

Re: Can't run XFCE at all with Nvidia drivers

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