Output to 2nd monitor via HDMI port is not working

Hardware Support
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I am currently attempting to resurrect my old laptop which contains a GT 425M with Nvidia Optimus. I connected my 2nd monitor to my laptop's HDMI port, but it isn't being detected at all.
My 2nd monitor keeps displaying 'No Signal', and

Output of sudo lshw -c video:

  *-display UNCLAIMED       
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: GF108M [GeForce GT 425M]
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: a1
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:d2000000-d2ffffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:d0000000-d1ffffff ioport:d000(size=128) memory:d3000000-d307ffff
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 18
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:32 memory:d3400000-d37fffff memory:b0000000-bfffffff ioport:e080(size=8) memory:c0000-dffff

My Displays setting does not show the 2nd monitor at all.
tt1

Nvidia X Server Settings is empty as well. The currently loaded driver is below:

nvidia swup
nvidia swup909×380 32.2 KB

My BIOS does not have 'Secure Boot' option. Couldn't find it in the BIOS..

Any help in the right direction is appreciated, thanks!

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Try opening the nvidia server. If it is blank, and I'm almost 100% positive it's this, then you need to install a driver. You can try the late 400 series drivers or the 510.

In software and update settings, click the other tab and let it load. I would go with a lower number 500 series or the high number 400 series driver.

I'm not sure what driver that card is supported to. You can research that in the nvidia support page.

2 Likes
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You might try

sudo apt remove --purge nvidia*

sudo ubuntu-drivers install

in addition to @337harvey suggestions

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Thanks @337harvey & @Aravisian .

I used sudo apt remove --purge nvidia* to remove the modern Nvidia drivers which I mistakenly installed at boot. I just read that the modern drivers support cards from 2013.

Afterwards, I tried installing 340 but it ran into some errors, so it automatically installed bounced to the 3rd option, the open source drivers.

I rebooted and my laptop is currently showing,
Oh no! Something has gone wrong. A problem has occurred and the system cannot recover. Please contact a system adminstrator.

Dang.. does it mean I have reinstall everything from scratch again?

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This means that packages need to be configured- but you must access the desktop in order to do so and cannot access the desktop until it's done... heh...
Here is a Guide on how to fix that issue:

In case you need:

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Is there a command to manually install the 390 Nvidia drivers via CLI?

I tried sudo apt --fix-broken install and it tried to fix the faulty 340 install, but it failed in doing so.

image
image1280×916 167 KB

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That should be

sudo apt install nvidia-390

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sudo apt install nvidia-390 didn't work, I tried sudo apt install nvidia-utils-390 and it was installed.

After rebooting, it got pass the Zorin logo, but the login screen didn't show up. It is a greyish looking screen throughout, it is not entirely pitch black.
There was some ACPI Error & ACPI BIOS Error messages which flashed very fast upon initial boot, not sure if it helps in troubleshooting.

Update: 2nd monitor displays now after running sudo apt install nvidia-driver-390. Thanks to all :slight_smile:

Now to search for recommended alternative MS Office (Testing OnlyOffice) & PDF viewers..

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My second mistake in posting today. I am on a roll. Sorry about that.

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I know you should really start a separate thread but I cannot recommend SoftMaker Office highly enough. My workflow increased tremendously from lockdown to retirement working from Home and was the only Office Suite compatible with MS Office 365/2019 used by Work colleagues. In terms of pdf viewers you already have it I believe in the form of Okular - but it is so much more than just a viewer. If you don't want to fork out for SoftMaker Office, they do a free one, Free Office which you have to provide an email to register it. I was lucky with SoftMaker Office giving me an offer I could not refuse in 2019 - 5 machine licence for SoftMaker Office 2018 for just £23.99 - they do versions for Windows, Mac and Linux. 5 machines could be 2 Windows, 2 Linux, 1 Mac or any combination or 5 Linux Machines!

SoftMaker Office is trying to get users to move to NX which is a monthly subscription which I won't move to - hope they are not going to ditch the one off payment versions!

SoftMaker Office:

FreeOffice:

All you need to know about Okular:

I still needed LibreOffice though in order to compress images in documents which SoftMaker Office does not currently have. Also for font spacing it uses percentages instead of pts (points) so if I was modifying text for a low-vision student who need fonts spaced 2 pts apart I would create a simple sentence in LibreOffice with said setting, save as a .docx file then open in TextMaker 2018/2021 and view the percentage setting so I knew what percentage setting for font spacing needed when future work requests came in.

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