HP Pavilion Gaming 16-a0023ns (Optimus GTX1050): Xorg fails with "no screens found" when internal eDP display is physically disconnected

[Ricardo-MT]

Batocera build version

43.1 (2026/05/29)

Your architecture

x86_64

Your Graphic Processor Unit(s) (GPU)

NVIDIA GTX 1050 Max-Q (GP107)

Issue description

Batocera version

43.1 (2026/05/29)

Architecture

x86_64

Hardware

• HP Pavilion Gaming 16-a0023ns
• Intel Core i5-10300H
• Intel UHD Graphics
• NVIDIA GTX 1050 Max-Q (GP107)
• NVIDIA legacy580 driver (580.126.09)

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Additional information

This appears to be an Optimus/Xorg screen ownership issue. Xorg attempts to build Screen 0 around the Intel GPU even though the eDP panel is no longer present. Explicitly assigning the NVIDIA GPU as Screen 0 resolves the issue.

Detailed reproduction steps

Issue

When the laptop's internal LCD panel (eDP) is physically disconnected (for use inside an arcade cabinet), Batocera fails to boot Xorg whenever an external monitor is connected through either:

• motherboard HDMI
• USB-C → HDMI adapter

The boot stops with:

Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
Fatal server error:
no screens found

The NVIDIA driver correctly detects the external monitor but Xorg never creates a usable screen.

Relevant Xorg messages:

Acer R221Q (DFP-0.1): connected

Validated MetaModes:
"NULL"

Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

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Expected behaviour

Batocera should boot normally using the external monitor when the internal LCD has been removed.

Details of any attempts to fix this yourself

Workaround

Creating:

/userdata/system/99-nvidia.conf

with:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "layout"
    Screen 0 "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "nvidia"
    Driver "nvidia"
    BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
    Option "PrimaryGPU" "True"
    Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "True"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "nvidia"
    Device "nvidia"
EndSection

completely fixes the problem.

After adding this file:

• HDMI works
• USB-C → HDMI works
• Internal LCD remains disconnected
• EmulationStation starts correctly
• No graphical glitches
• NVIDIA is used as the primary display

Details of any modifications you have made to Batocera.

Batocera OS system was not modified in any way. I just created the following file with the previously stated content:

/userdata/system/99-nvidia.conf

Logs and data

Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
Fatal server error:
no screens found

NVIDIA(GPU-0): Acer R221Q (DFP-0.1): connected

NVIDIA(G0): Validated MetaModes:
"NULL"

Cannot find size of first mode for Acer R221Q (DFP-0.1)
Cannot compute DPI from Acer R221Q (DFP-0.1)'s EDID

Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
Fatal server error:
no screens found

modeset(0): No outputs definitely connected
modeset(0): No modes