Disable the nVidia Optimus card from BIOS: is it possible?

[Vincintosh]

Hello, I have an HP OMEN 15-AX000NL laptop with the nVidia 965M graphics chip that supports the optimus technology. This in linux is just a big pain to handle. While bumblebee has an excelent support for the optimus technology, I find I'm not using it that much and it isn't easy to configure on every distro. I have multiple linux distributions installed for testing purposes and I would like to completely disable the nVidia card from the BIOS (and enable it only when needed in windows) in order to save battery and ignore the bumblebee configuration everytime I install a new system. Most laptops with the Omen technology have this option in the BIOS: mine doesn't. Is there any modified BIOS I can install that has that option or are there some BIOS advanced menus I can access I'm not aware of?

Thank you for your support.

[The_Nair_Boy]

Hi @Vincintosh, Thank for posting at HP Forum.

According to the information you provided, if there is no option for disabling the Nvidia Card from the BIOS, chances are the Omen you have is a mux-less system and the Nvidia card has no direct access to the display. In such cases, options like Bumblebee or Nvidia Prime can be used in Linux distros.

As far as I could see, the option to change the card in BIOS is more of a hardware feature, so I believe there would be no modified BIOS as such that can be used, atleast from HP's end. Also, changing BIOS to unstable ones can seriously affect the computer.

Hope this helped. Cheers!

[Vincintosh]

Yes this helped: at least I know better how my machine is made and I can stop searching for a solution and just accept it as it is. Thanks

[The_Nair_Boy · Accepted solution]

You're welcome.

I would also suggest you take a look into forums for the Linux distros you are using, you may find other methods to disable the Nvidia card that is safer than changing or modifying the BIOS.

Also, if you are satisfied with the solution, you can click on 'Accepted Solution' and help out others with the same question.

[Vincintosh]

Thank you. I'm aware of the possibilities offered by linux. Manjaro is my main OS at the moment and it handles optimus very well. I was just wondering if I could disable it so that i don't have to deal with any configuration when I install sme new distro temporarly.

[Vincintosh]

Sorry I'm on my phone and I misclicked "Accept as solution" to my post instead of yours. How do i change the solution?