[SOLVED] Linux kernel 3.6 and Bumblebee

[Erunur]

So i recently upgraded to the new kernel and Bumblebee no longer works. I have a lenovo ideapad y570 and I installed bumblebee from here so i could use my nvidia GPU. Bumblebee normally survives a kernel upgrade but not since the new one was released. Is there a workaround or will I have to just wait for someone to update the bumblebee repo? Or is their maybe a different repo i can use to install bumblebee?

[lala4yaya]

It looks like bbswitch should be built by dkms. Some things you could double check are current kernel headers installed? does 'lsmod | grep bbswitch' show a loaded module?

For a workaround you could revert to the last kernel that worked until the package is updated.

[Dutchy]

Isn't that an extremely old version? (v1.0.1 vs 3.0.1 from the git).
With the latest version from the git and the installation instructions from here it works for me (well, more or less since nouveau is MIA again but bumblebee works).

[Erunur]

Yes it is the old version. I have discovered the link you gave to install bumblebee but I'm confused a little. What's the difference between using that method over using the method to use the proprietary drivers in the link they provide in the second paragraph of the description?

I have booted into the older kernel and I have make that my default for now but now that I realize I'm using a somewhat outdated version of bumblebee it would be nice to be using the newer version. The issue is though I'm not the best when it comes to manually installing bumblebee. I tried doing it before from here once but I didn't do it successfully probably because this is all new to me.

[malkavian]

I'm afraid, you're completely wrong talking about the old version. 1.0-1 version is the version of the package, that adds bumblebee repo to your /etc/yum.repo.d

I'm using the same repo, and

yum info bumblebee

gives me

Installed Packages
Name        : bumblebee
Arch        : x86_64
Version     : 3.0.1
Release     : 1.fc17
Size        : 104 k
Repo        : installed
From repo   : bumblebee
Summary     : Daemon managing Optimus hybrid graphics chip sets
URL         : http://bumblebee-project.org/
License     : GPLv3+

The latest one!

I confirm, that bumblebee-nvidia is broken since 3.6.1 kernel version, but you still can use bumblebee package, that uses nouveau. It work fine for me. Or, as you've said above, just use an old kernel version for a while, till support of 3.6.1 'll be added.

[Erunur]

Sorry about that. I actually realized the version I had was up to date last night and meant to post about it this morning. But I'm still confused as to what the difference is for using bumblebee for just nouveau? The reason I ask is because I use Blender on my computer and I use CUDA to render images. Would I still be able to do that?

Also I found this to be very interesting news. Seems like Nvidia might finally be bringing optimus to Linux after all.

[malkavian]

As far as I know, open source nVidia driver does not provide CUDA, so you still need official driver. Nouveau bumblebee is enough, if you just trying to save some watts.

I've spent some time today to understand, what has happened, and it looks like nVidia driver from ncsu's repository couldn't be built with 3.6.1 kernel, when 3.x.x series are built without any troubles.

I see two options for guys like we are, who faced with the problem. The first one is to write about the problem to bumblebee-nvidia maintainer. The second one is try to rebuild bumblebee-nvidia package by ourselves.

[gsgatlin]

Hey folks,

I'm the guy who made the bumblebee repo and all the packages at NCSU. Sorry about the kernel issues. (I'm using centOS 6 so I didn't notice fast enough, doh) I will try to build a new nvidia-bumblebee tonight with a newer version of the drivers. This will be for f16, f17, and RHEL 6.

Looks like NVidia has version 304.51 up there so I'll try that one. That should hopefully fix it.

Thanks,

---------- Post added at 05:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:05 PM ----------

Ok, new version is set up in the repo. This is for version 304.51. Try doing a yum update and then reboot. Let me know if its fixed?

Thanks,

[Erunur]

YES!!! I'm using the new kernel and Bumblebee is working so far Thanks man

[malkavian]

Works for me as well. Thank you!