Arch Linux

Falcata

Member

From: Michiana

Registered: 2008-01-23

Posts: 501

Website

!!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

There is currently a serious bug in the 196 nVidia driver for Linux/Unix, where the GPU's cooling fan will run slowly or not at all.  This will result in poor performance or, even worse, permanent damage to the GPU core.  Some of the affected fan speed controller code is in the 195 driver that Arch currently uses.  Both the 196 and 195 drivers for Linux/Unix have been pulled from nVidia's FTP download page as a result.  If you are noticing any unusual fan speed behavior at all, then I strongly urge you to revert to the old packages.  I'd suggest reverting even if you are not noticing any problems, as a precaution.  I've provided links for the old package downloads from the schlunix mirror, which retains outdated packages.  I've also contacted the nVidia package maintainer and asked that he revert the official arch packages.

32-bit Packages
nvidia
nvidia-utils

64-bit Packages
nvidia
nvidia-utils
lib32-nvidia-utils

More information here: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/announcement.php?f=27

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Lord of Maelstrom

wonder

Developer

From: Bucharest, Romania

Registered: 2006-07-05

Posts: 5,941

Website

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/18580

vote for it, submit comments

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wantilles

Member

From: Athens - Greece

Registered: 2007-03-29

Posts: 327

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

196.xx Linux driver never existed.

Only 195.xx.

You are not well-informed.

lolilolicon

Member

Registered: 2009-03-05

Posts: 1,722

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

Just did it from up-to-date repos.

upgraded nvidia (195.36.08-1 -> 190.53-1)

Last edited by lolilolicon (2010-03-06 18:39:08)

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This silver ladybug at line 28...

litemotiv

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2008-08-01

Posts: 5,026

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

my 9400m is 50C idling with 195.36.08, so i'm not really panicking yet..

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Falcata

Member

From: Michiana

Registered: 2008-01-23

Posts: 501

Website

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

litemotiv: 50C when Idle?  I'd panic, but that's because I'm in a small room (7'6" square).  My computer actually acts as a heating source for my room.  Enough that I have to sometimes run the air conditioner during winter!

wantilles: Maybe so, but the affected fan-speed controller code is present in the 195 series drivers.

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Lord of Maelstrom

Procyon

Member

Registered: 2008-05-07

Posts: 1,819

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

Mine goes to 100C when active, but it's been doing that for years -- and still works fine.

drelyn86

Member

From: Indianapolis, IN

Registered: 2009-04-10

Posts: 80

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

196.xx Linux driver never existed.

Only 195.xx.

You are not well-informed.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=n … &px=ODA0MA

"It turns out this potentially fatal bug is also present in their newest 195.36.08 and 195.36.03 Linux drivers."

I hope your card fries

litemotiv

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2008-08-01

Posts: 5,026

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

litemotiv: 50C when Idle?  I'd panic, but that's because I'm in a small room (7'6" square).  My computer actually acts as a heating source for my room.  Enough that I have to sometimes run the air conditioner during winter!

50c is fairly normal for an nvidia gpu, thermal limits for video chips are a lot higher than for cpu's

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ammon

Member

Registered: 2008-12-11

Posts: 413

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

My is running around 60, as usual.

drelyn86

Member

From: Indianapolis, IN

Registered: 2009-04-10

Posts: 80

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

yeah mine wasn't anything unusual, but I still reverted back an earlier version as a precautionary measure

madeye

Member

From: Denmark

Registered: 2006-07-19

Posts: 331

Website

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

You know. If the card fries, you can use it as an excuse to get a new graphics card
"Sorry honey, my computer broke down, I'll need to buy this new card I've seen in the store..."

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MadEye | Registered Linux user #167944 since 2000-02-28 | Homepage

CountDuckula

Member

Registered: 2010-02-28

Posts: 151

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

hmm, i can smell smoke...

bgalakazam

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

From: California, USA

Registered: 2008-09-01

Posts: 76

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

My NVIDIA 7300 LE stayts at 70-72 C (listed as normal), but it doesn't have a fan, so I don't thnik this affects me.

cecilyen

Member

From: US Capital

Registered: 2009-10-18

Posts: 27

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

Same here. Temperature of the GPU is always around 60-70C for both drivers.
But, I do hope Nvidia fix the problem and bring back the 195 series. 195 series fix an annoying flickering problem for me.

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Arch Linux i686(kernel: 3.1.7-ck, xfce) running on Toshiba s100 (Pentium M 1.73GHz, 1.5GB RAM, 40GB HD, Nvidia 6600/6200 TE 64MB)

Skripka

Member

From: 2X1280X1024

Registered: 2009-02-19

Posts: 555

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

My GTX260 in my tower idles at around 40C, no problems with the newer drivers.

Last edited by Skripka (2010-03-07 18:32:30)

Falcata

Member

From: Michiana

Registered: 2008-01-23

Posts: 501

Website

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

I'm hoping they fix the lag bug with running multiple openGL windows.

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Lord of Maelstrom

rowdog

Member

From: East Texas

Registered: 2009-08-19

Posts: 118

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

I believe nvidia fried my gtx 8800, sigh. Like 2 days after 195.xxx showed up, I started getting screwed up characters on the console and then green lines and X just crashed out. Booting into Debian Squeeze (older, NV driver) still had the same issues after that. Then WinXP wouldn't even boot successfully. sigh.

piezoelectric

Member

Registered: 2009-09-08

Posts: 48

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

Is it possible that older drivers were affected too? I'll admit that my geforce go 5650 is a little old (6 years), but it picked an interesting time to crap out.

extra/nvidia-173xx 173.14.25-1 
extra/nvidia-173xx-utils 173.14.25-1

Last edited by piezoelectric (2010-03-07 23:05:03)

MiTis

Member

From: Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Registered: 2010-03-08

Posts: 5

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

My nvidia sits around 75-80 C and goes to 85 when i play and i had no problem (yet )

I'll be keeping 195 and tell you if i get anything interesting (though i doubt it)

Oh, and the scary temperatures are due to a bad fanless design from HP/Compaq

brendan

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2009-05-16

Posts: 130

Website

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

I haven't even noticed this on my acer revo (nvidia ION). Mind you it's so cold in my house at the moment my fanless ATI HD4850 sits ~65C while playing UT3.

It'll always amaze me that fan controllers seem so complicated to nvidia/ati.... I mean come on how hard is it!

Sander

Member

Registered: 2006-02-26

Posts: 138

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

F**K, I just realised this might very well be the reason why my graphics card is supposedly broken... I started getting artifacts last week a few days after -Syuing.

I even went out and bought a replacement, which turned out to be a huge hassle to get going (see http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=92335 , it's an ATI card...) so that's €55 wasted basically, I hope I can sell it off again for not much less.

Just now I put in an old MX440 I found at home.

Maybe this means my old card still works, I'm going to try it immediately. In the meantime I've opened the card up to inspect the insides and put it back together again fairly carelessly, cause I figured it was junk anyway. So if there wasn't any permanent damage due to the bug, there probably is now. Great, just great.

Last edited by Sander (2010-03-08 13:05:47)

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sausageandeggs

Member

Registered: 2009-12-05

Posts: 66

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

Same here. Temperature of the GPU is always around 60-70C for both drivers.
But, I do hope Nvidia fix the problem and bring back the 195 series. 195 series fix an annoying flickering problem for me.

Why not use the beta (195.30 from the AUR), it works perfectly and is safe, i've been using it for months
" we recommend that UNIX users revert to the 190.53 web release or the 195.30 public beta. "

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Sander

Member

Registered: 2006-02-26

Posts: 138

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

I downgraded to 190.53 and it seemed to be working fine for a few hours, but now I'm seeing artifacts again. I guess the damage is permanent

Last edited by Sander (2010-03-08 15:59:39)

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MiTis

Member

From: Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Registered: 2010-03-08

Posts: 5

Re: !!! WARNING: Fan-Speed controller bug nVidia Linux/Unix Driver!

195.36.15 has been posted yesterday on nvidia's site and they say they fixed the problem.

Any takers?