T420s Linux and the DVI+VGA port

Question

Hi,
I currently have some problems with my graphic ports of my new ThinkPad T420s (4173-W1J). My problem is a bit complicate (I think) but I will do my best to explain it very detailed. Sorry in advance for any stupid mistakes I made with my configuration.
Problem 1:
I have ordered the notebook with the Intel graphic card, not the NVIDIA one. What I do not understand - If I look in the BIOS of the notebook, I find something with "OPTIMUS", what indicates to me that there is the NVIDIA card inside. Also, if I call "lspci" using my Linux (Kubuntu 11.04) system, I get the following TWO graphic cards:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Device 1056 (rev a1)
running "lsmod", I get the following output (only relevant video modules, as I identify them to be relevant):
uvcvideo 72195 0
videodev 82052 1 uvcvideo
nvidia 10709116 0
nvram 14419 1 thinkpad_acpi
i915 515121 2 video 19438 1 i915
So I thought - "hey, maybe they made a mistake during configuration and send me the more expensive NVIDIA card included", so I tried to install the nvidia drivers "apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-settings", but after this my KDE (x-server) does not boot up anymore. After removing the nvidia packages, X-Server booted up again without any problems. How can I find out either of the NVIDIA card is REALLY included, or only the Intel HD? If the NVIDIA is included, what do I have to take care about to enable the correct nvidia drivers?
Problem 2: The main reason why I came to problem 1 was, that I did not get the DVI port of my attached docking station to work. On the one hand, the VGA port works fine, on the other hand every time I attach the notebook to the docking station, I always have to reconfigure the screen resolution and position manually. Even if I say "save as default", he somehow forgets this configuration every time. Also, sometimes the VGA screen does not work, even if I use the same configuration like ever -- I then have to "exchange" the "left of, right of, clone, ..." a few times and it starts working.
For sure, no cable, monitor or whatever is broken - since e.g., I am using the internal and external monitor at the same time right now (in 2-monitor-mode).
So I wanted to solve this issue by using the DVI port - but this port does not work at all (at least I do not know how to enable it!). Using google I found out, that if the NVIDIA card is inside, and the "OPTIMUS"-"feature" is used, than one needs to use the NVIDIA card, otherwise the DVI port does not work. Sadly, as discribed in problem 1, I am neither sure if I have the NVIDIA card inside, nor know how to enable the DVI port at all.
Any help would be very appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Hi,
after I've forced the BIOS to use only the discrete graphic, I now have additional problems.
First, my system hangs every 2nd time before I even see the grub menu (which runs in graphic mode, thus the screen is blue). If it freezes, I only see a blue screen. If not, I see the blue screen with the normal grub menu. This seems to happen every 2nd boot-up.
A similar issue I had before, since I use full-disc-encryption and grub was unable to load the fonts from my hard-disc, so I copies all grub fonts to the boot partition (what is of course not encrypted).
Second problem, I've installed the NVIDIA drivers you suggested, worked without any problem. After restart, KDE showed the nvidia-logo correctly. But after the login, KDE initialises the user-settings, and there he again freezes my system completely (at about 2/3 of the user-settings-initialisation).
To be honest, I do not know how to proceed. :-(