Arch Linux

kmeow

Member

Registered: 2026-10-02

Posts: 1

Nvidia drivers (nvidia-580xx-dkms) not running and no video

Hi! I'm very new to this, as I installed Arch Linux just yesterday! I come from several years of Mint, so I have a fairly basic understanding of working with my OS. My install is very much fresh aside from some basic graphical programs (compositor, file explorer, terminal emulator, etc.) and a bit of theming.

Last night, I installed nvidia-580xx-dkms via yay, because it's the driver recommended for my GTX 750, and I followed this wiki page, but on reboot, I'm getting no video. I get a black screen that wakes up my monitor while my display manager (Ly) is running, but Grub and Sway both give me no signal at all. Prior to installing this driver, the TTY would give a blank signal (though Sway worked fine), so I did most of my previous work with only the integrated GPU. For the moment, I've uninstalled my dedicated GPU and am back to the integrated GPU, but I'd like to be able to use the dedicated GPU.

Right now, the Nvidia drivers are not running. 'lsmod | grep nvidia' returns nothing. 'dkms status' lists an Nvidia kernel as installed. I'm not sure what information to share because I don't understand the issue very well, so please ask for any logs or command output you may need to help >w<

I've also tried removing the Nvidia packages and reinstalling, but that hasn't changed anything.

Thank you all in advance! I love what I've seen of this community so far! ^w^

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,107

Re: Nvidia drivers (nvidia-580xx-dkms) not running and no video

dkms status
pacman -Qs kernel | grep '/linux'
lspci -knnd ::3xx

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Fanfare1329

Member

Registered: 2023-01-20

Posts: 2

Re: Nvidia drivers (nvidia-580xx-dkms) not running and no video

I have the same issue:

# System:

* Arch Linux x86_64
* KDE Plasma 6.7.4 / Wayland
* Hybrid Intel UHD 630 + NVIDIA GTX 1050 Max-Q
* nvidia-580xx-dkms / nvidia-580xx-utils 580.178.04
* Affected with both linux and linux-lts

# Symptoms:

* Boot reaches a black screen with a fixed cursor instead of the SDDM greeter.
* sddm.service is running.
* NVIDIA driver is loaded correctly (nvidia-smi works).
* nvidia_drm modeset and fbdev are enabled.
* Both internal eDP and HDMI displays are detected.

# Key finding:

* The initial Xorg instance started by SDDM crashes and generates a core dump.
* Restarting SDDM from a TTY immediately starts a new Xorg instance successfully.
* The SDDM greeter then appears and the Plasma Wayland session works normally.

# Workaround:
Open tty and enter: sudo systemctl restart sddm

This strongly suggests a startup-related Xorg/NVIDIA/PRIME regression or race condition rather than a permanently broken configuration.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,107

Re: Nvidia drivers (nvidia-580xx-dkms) not running and no video

# Workaround:
Open tty and enter: sudo systemctl restart sddm

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 6#p2310406

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Fanfare1329

Member

Registered: 2023-01-20

Posts: 2

Re: Nvidia drivers (nvidia-580xx-dkms) not running and no video

Thank you seth.

In a nutshell:
1. sudo systemctl edit sddm.service
2. Add :
[Service]
ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/sleep 3
(3s is enough for me)

3. Save and check with "systemctl cat sddm.service". I have the /etc/systemd/system/sddm.service.d/override.conf file with my "sleep".
4. sudo systemctl daemon-reload