Help with 2 gpus : MHWD drivers not working and using Nouveau driver without it being installed?

[will-banksy]

Using MHWD to auto-install proprietary drivers for my laptop with intel/nvidia gpus ends up with the nvidia driver not working properly (looks really laggy, also literally no config options in nvidia settings, I don't know if that's a major issue though)

So I tried to follow the nvidia drivers installation instructions on Arch Wiki, I installed the nvidia and nvidia-prime packages, and rebooted.
But according to inxi I'm using the nouveau driver? When I try to run something on the nvidia gpu using nouveau, (command: prime-run) I get: Error: GLX: Failed to create context: GLXBadFBConfig

I'm not sure but maybe MHWD works, but needs configuration of X11?
Nothing I've tried seems to work - also nvidia-xconfig just makes me unable to start X.

Here's inxi -Gx:

Graphics:  Device-1: Intel vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GP108M [GeForce MX230] vendor: Dell driver: nouveau v: kernel 
           bus ID: 01:00.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: modesetting resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (ICL GT1) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.0.7 direct render: Yes

My laptop is the Dell Inspiron 17 3793, I'm using Manjaro KDE.
I play games and not being able to have my more powerful gpu working is a real annoyance, so if you can help that'd be great

[bogdancovaciu]

This is what i suggest to follow

Guide: Install and configure optimus-manager for hybrid GPU setups (Intel/NVIDIA)

For hybrid GPU laptops with Intel and Nvidia the best solution usually is to have switchable graphics: Intel for normal, everyday usage (uses less power and saves battery) and NVIDIA for games or more graphic intense programs (uses more battery). Optimus manager is a port of Ubuntu’s nvidia-prime solution to Arch Linux where a user can easily choose which GPU can be used at this session, so a user can still can save energy and be mobile on a daily basis but have all power and benefits of NVIDIA …

[michaldybczak]

@will-banksy

So I tried to follow the nvidia drivers installation instructions on Arch Wiki, I installed the nvidia and nvidia-prime packages, and rebooted.

Arch wiki is great but when it comes to drivers, it's not suitable for Manjaro, since drivers are managed with MHWD here and the distro works a bit different (driver package names are different). I would suggest to use MHWD (check Manjaro wiki).
MHWD will probably complain about some conflicting packages or files, this mean, you have to figure out what you need to uninstall first. Once this is done and MHWD will install video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-440xx-prime configuration, you can follow my tutorial about optimus-manager that @bogdancovaciu, linked.

Basically, any manual tampering with drivers on Manjaro is a very bad thing and usually ends up with problems. MHWD is the best way to ensure things will work.

[will-banksy]

Yep, that works, can't believe I didn't find your tutorial sooner, thanks!