Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

lunakittyyy · 2024-03-18 04:57:14

I was previously using the last NVIDIA 535 driver version as to fix some black flickering issues that NVIDIA has not fixed for months on my setup.
Now, when I boot Arch with the 535 drivers, it just stalls on a vendor logo. Turning DRM modesetting off lets me boot, but doing so also makes KDE Plasma run under software rendering which is less than ideal.
Upgrading drivers to 550 fixes the booting, but it also reintroduces the screen flicker on (I think) any application running through XWayland.

What happened? Was there a kernel update that broke the 535 NVIDIA drivers & what can I do to either fix the flickering in 550 or fix the booting in 535 while keeping DRM modesetting?

Last edited by lunakittyyy (2024-03-18 10:17:47)

seth · 2024-03-18 08:31:51

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA … de_setting - do you use the "nvidia_drm.modeset=1" kernel parameter or just a modprobe.d config and do you configure fbdev in any capacity?

lunakittyyy · 2024-03-18 10:09:31

Hello! I use the kernel parameter to enable DRM modesetting. I set it in my GRUB config.
I haven't done anything to fbdev. Most things on my system are as archinstall has configured it.

foob · 2024-03-18 13:39:26

Hello, I am encountering the same problem.

The latest driver that didn't cause black flickering with Xwayland was "nvidia-dkms-535.98-1" to my knowledge, and it worked with kernels up to "linux-6.7.9.arch1-1" until updating to "linux 6.8.1.arch1-1" today.

Upon reboot nvtop reported "No GPU to monitor." and lsmod didn't list any nvidia modules. Grep-ing nvidia in journalctl returned "systemd-modules-load[421]: Failed to find module 'nvidia-uvm'".
Updating from "nvidia-dkms-535.98-1" to "nvidia-dkms-550.54.14-5" fixed these problems and the system booted correctly, but the black flickering returned.
Before and after updating "nvidia_drm.modeset=1" was set by grub as kernel parameter.

Furthermore, adding "nvidia_drm.fbdev=1" to grub with the new nvidia package does not prevent the flickering.

Last edited by foob (2024-03-18 13:47:14)

seth · 2024-03-18 14:11:19

nvidia-dkms will fail for older versions (pre 550xx) on 6.8, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 3#p2157903
There's been a (so far isolated, I think) anecdote of an explicit "nvidia_drm.fbdev=0" bein beneficial, but I'd not hold my breath.

Is there a thread (here or on forums.developer.nvidia.com) for context reg. the "black flicker"?

nachopro · 2024-03-18 19:01:02

Hi, I have a similar issue. I fixed nvidia to version 535.98 because runs fine with suspend and hibernation on my System. Today my kernels went to 6.8 and with it the nvidia driver :'(

seth · 2024-03-18 19:03:23

Follow the link above your post, there're patches for the older drivers, that you can/will have to apply to your DKMS sources.
Or use the LTS kernel.

foob · 2024-03-18 22:23:15

For the time being I downgraded both the kernel and nvidia packages again.
Thank you for your help.

lunakittyyy · 2024-03-20 00:52:43

seth wrote:

Follow the link above your post, there're patches for the older drivers, that you can/will have to apply to your DKMS sources.

What's the best way to go about doing that?
I haven't messed with DKMS much.

nachopro · 2024-03-20 03:32:12

I don't know how to patch the old drivers
In my case just installed the nvidia-dkms 545.98 from ALA and linux-lts to "do the trick"

seth · 2024-03-20 07:23:58

The bestmostcorrect way is to add the patch to the PKGBUILD from the repo git but as that requires you to get that from the ASP, select the proper commit etcetc. all in order to have it install some pre-patched source files, I'd personally just look the other way, install the old dkms package and patch the sources in /usr/src/nvidia* before building the dkms module (you might also want to inert the alpm hook and inject a friendly "exit 0" to the top of /usr/share/libalpm/scripts/dkms)

You'd probably need https://launchpadlibrarian.net/71308223 … u5.debdiff (minus the changes to dkms_nvidia.conf)
Or you just do what nachopro did until nvidia fixed this.

lunakittyyy · 2024-03-21 14:40:08

For now, I've just downgraded both the kernel and the driver.
I might go to LTS instead.
Hopefully NVIDIA fixes this or something is done to XWayland to accommodate it. This has been an issue for months on multiple different distros, I hope a real fix comes out soon.

Arch Linux

#1 2024-03-18 04:57:14

Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

#2 2024-03-18 08:31:51

Re: Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

#3 2024-03-18 10:09:31

Re: Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

#4 2024-03-18 13:39:26

Re: Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

#5 2024-03-18 14:11:19

Re: Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

#6 2024-03-18 19:01:02

Re: Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

#7 2024-03-18 19:03:23

Re: Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

#8 2024-03-18 22:23:15

Re: Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

#9 2024-03-20 00:52:43

Re: Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

#10 2024-03-20 03:32:12

Re: Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

#11 2024-03-20 07:23:58

Re: Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

#12 2024-03-21 14:40:08

Re: Booting issues with downgraded NVIDIA drivers

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