1

I want to use Ubuntu on a hp pavilion g7-1246ef, but I seem to have problems with the VGA when running Ubuntu on this computer - the cooler is very loud and the laptop is hot, and this doesn't happen when booting in Win7.

Running sudo lspci |more I see this line:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Process or Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)

But after pressing enter several times (for "more" info) I also see the line:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Seymour [Radeon HD 6400M/7400M Series]

Why are there two VGA?

  • 1
    You seems to have exactly the seem config of my Samsung -- it is an hybrid graphic. See http://askubuntu.com/a/390050/16395 and the other answers... – Rmano Feb 19 '14 at 00:40

1 Answers1

3

You see two because you have two. It's called ATI Dynamic Switchable Graphics.

  • One on-CPU Intel for energy-efficiency
  • One discrete card (an ATI/AMD Radeon HD 6470M in your case) for rendering.

This is a very similar setup to the Nvidia Optimus and it carries similar issues under Linux, only it seems there hasn't be as much effort go into fixing the situation as there might have been with Nvidia... There are some pretty hacky guides out there:

Looking at the Arch guide there, it looks like this is going to get better with the open drivers now they've landed power management but really, until then you're stuck hacking in the proprietary driver with the first guide.

You could just ignore this until things are "better" (14.04 should give you a better base) but until then your ATI card is going to be running at full power.

Oli
  • 293,335
  • I have quite good behavior (at least for normal graphic usage) with the open source drivers, see the answer I posted here: http://askubuntu.com/a/390050/16395. Got very low temperatures and a quite silent laptop. Not so bad really. – Rmano Feb 19 '14 at 03:32
  • 1
    But now that I see --- he has a 12.10. For my instruction to work, he'll need at least kernel 3.11 (In 13.10). – Rmano Feb 19 '14 at 03:39
  • @Rmano - i will upgrade if that would help, i was just about to try linux on this laptop and was wandering whether to keep it or not –  Feb 19 '14 at 09:33
  • My laptop went from 90 °C and fan on constantly to 60 °C and fan almost silent, 3.5 hours on battery. YMMV... Notice that I need to instfall with nomodeset and then add the parameters as explained there... – Rmano Feb 19 '14 at 13:51
  • Yeah it's almost certainly worth it (if only to get some power management for the discrete card) but it still looks like a fair amount of work. – Oli Feb 19 '14 at 14:24