Disappearing Nvidia Drivers

[burntex]

see: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=341289

[tseliot]

This should be fixed by https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-drivers-common/+bug/1904583

[burntex]

Thanks for the response Alberto .. posted it on the Linux Mint forum. On Monday, February 1, 2021, 4:50:42 AM CST, tseliot <[email protected]> wrote: This should be fixed by https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-drivers-common/+bug/1904583 — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

[burntex]

Still does not fix the problem of the mint Prime applet not showing in the notification area because when it uses /usr/bin/prime-supported to check whether to run or not it gets a false response because when in Intel mode the file /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/requires_offloading does not exist. I am not sure if this is the applet problem or /usr/bin/prime-supported problem but from a semantics standpoint it would seem to be /usr/bin/prime-supported.

For further details check my post at the above referenced forum.
by burntex » Tue Feb 02, 2021 2:25 pm

[burntex]

OK I didn't realize there are 2 prime-supported files in Mint. One is in /usr/bin and the other is in /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/.
I think that you use the 'official' one in /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/ but the one in /usr/bin is used by the Mint nvidia-prime-applet (https://github.com/linuxmint/nvidia-prime-applet). So I don't think this is your issue but belongs to the applet. I will try and work with them. Thx. will let you know how that goes.

[tseliot]

I don't think anything should use the prime-supported script (which is only meant to attach outputs in nvidia mode). The "prime-select query" command is the way to go to check which profile is in use.

…

On Wed, 3 Feb 2021 at 16:30, burntex ***@***.***> wrote: OK I didn't realize there are 2 prime-supported files in Mint. One is in /usr/bin and the other is in /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/. I think that you use the 'official' one in /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/ but the one in /usr/bin is used by the Mint nvidia-prime-applet ( https://github.com/linuxmint/nvidia-prime-applet). So I don't think this is your issue but belongs to the applet. I will try and work with them. Thx. will let you know how that goes. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#17 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AACMLMLWDXDZMGXO2Q7GMMDS5FTXXANCNFSM4W2QOXGQ> .

-- Alberto Milone

[monsta]

@tseliot: a bit offtopic - but it looks like 08_add_prime_support.patch in nvidia-settings still uses prime-supported?

It might be the cause of empty nvidia-settings window, for example, like on the screenshot in linuxmint/nvidia-prime-applet#7 (comment).

[sheturnedmeintoanewt]

I worked on this for weeks, and then decided to start over. I bought a bigger ssd drive and set up a dual boot system. For Nvidia, on the linux mint side, I chose the older 390 driver. Even after the mint update, everything is fine. I still have the applet visible, and all of the nvidia settings, as well. My only guess is that using the older driver works for me.

[monsta]

Well, this is kind of weird because nvidia-settings should be still the latest version. I don't see any "legacy" nvidia-settings packages in the repo...

[tseliot]

nvidia-settings looks empty if the driver wasn't loaded correctly, or if it crashed. But, yes, 08_add_prime_support.patch needs updating.

…

On Thu, 3 Jun 2021 at 13:11, monsta ***@***.***> wrote: @tseliot <https://github.com/tseliot>: a bit offtopic - but it looks like 08_add_prime_support.patch in nvidia-settings still uses prime-supported? It might be the cause of empty nvidia-settings window, for example, like on the screenshot in linuxmint/nvidia-prime-applet#7 (comment) <linuxmint/nvidia-prime-applet#7 (comment)> . — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#17 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AACMLMOA5SEMMP5OYOZO2Z3TQ5PMTANCNFSM4W2QOXGQ> .

-- Alberto Milone

[monsta]

It seems like a possible cause of empty nvidia-settings window in Mint is the unexpected placement of dkms modules. They're placed in kernel/drivers/char/drm subdir instead of updates/dkms one.

It should be changed to updates/dkms by dkms based on the info from /etc/lsb-release file. This works if DISTRIB_ID there is "Debian" or "Ubuntu", but doesn't work when it's "LinuxMint".

It looks like gpu-manager should create /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/requires_offloading file when nvidia driver is loaded, or when it's not loaded but dkms modules are available. In the latter case it can't find the modules in Mint, so the file isn't created, and prime-supported doesn't work as intended.

            /* NVIDIA Optimus */
            else if ((intel_loaded || amdgpu_loaded) && !nouveau_loaded &&
                                 (nvidia_loaded || nvidia_kmod_available)) {
                fprintf(log_handle, "NVIDIA hybrid system\n");

[tseliot]

I didn't know Mint packaged their own drivers. Wouldn't it be easier for them if they simply switched to updates/dkms ?

[monsta]

No, the drivers are the same - from Ubuntu repos. It's just that dkms doesn't recognize it's running in Ubuntu-based distro, so it doesn't override the path for modules to updates/dkms. The path from nvidia's dkms.conf is used instead.

Examples from my system (Mint 20.3, based on Ubuntu 20.04):

$ grep DEST_MODULE_LOCATION /usr/src/nvidia-390.144/dkms.conf
DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[0]="/kernel/drivers/char/drm"
DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[1]="/kernel/drivers/char/drm"
DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[2]="/kernel/drivers/char/drm"
    DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[3]="/kernel/drivers/char/drm"

$ LC_ALL=C ls -l /lib/modules/5.4.0-100-generic/kernel/drivers/char/drm/
total 24468
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    75352 Feb 17 23:36 nvidia-drm.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1400800 Feb 17 23:36 nvidia-modeset.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1407696 Feb 17 23:36 nvidia-uvm.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22164984 Feb 17 23:36 nvidia.ko