Arch Linux

hjk321

Member

Registered: 2025-02-21

Posts: 10

[SOLVED] Can't get rid of nouveau no matter what I try

TLDR: trying to replace nouveau with nvidia-open on my computer, but I can't even run vkcube anymore.

Output of vkcube

[hiram@hiram-pc ~]$ vkcube
Selected WSI platform: xcb
vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices reported zero accessible devices.

Do you have a compatible Vulkan installable client driver (ICD) installed?
Please look at the Getting Started guide for additional information.

Output of vulkaninfo

[hiram@hiram-pc ~]$ vulkaninfo
ERROR: [Loader Message] Code 0 : setup_loader_term_phys_devs:  Failed to detect any valid GPUs in the current config
ERROR at /usr/src/debug/vulkan-tools/Vulkan-Tools-1.4.303/vulkaninfo/./vulkaninfo.h:247:vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices failed with ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

Output of lspci -k -d ::03xx

[hiram@hiram-pc ~]$ lspci -k -d ::03xx
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] (rev 0c)
        DeviceName: Onboard - Video
        Subsystem: Dell Device 0b27
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915, xe
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GA103M [GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU] (rev a1)
        Subsystem: Dell Device 0b27
        Kernel modules: nouveau

As you can see, the gpu still has nouveau as its kernel module even though I uninstalled it! The package is completely nuked off of my machine, and the lib32 version as well.
Yes, I have run "sudo mkinitcpio -p linux" and "sudo mkinitcpio -p linux-zen" multiple times, and yes, I added "blacklist nouveau" to "/etc/modprobe.d/nouveau.conf" (file is otherwise empty). What do I do here?

Laptop running base arch with linux-zen, a supported kernel afaik. Arch install is less than a week old. DE is KDE, but I doubt that matters for this issue.

Last edited by hjk321 (2025-02-25 05:13:21)

mackin_cheese

Member

Registered: 2025-01-07

Posts: 477

Re: [SOLVED] Can't get rid of nouveau no matter what I try

post your /etc/mkinitcpio.conf don't forget to use code inputs

hjk321

Member

Registered: 2025-02-21

Posts: 10

Re: [SOLVED] Can't get rid of nouveau no matter what I try

[hiram@hiram-pc ~]$ cat /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
# vim:set ft=sh
# MODULES
# The following modules are loaded before any boot hooks are
# run.  Advanced users may wish to specify all system modules
# in this array.  For instance:
#     MODULES=(usbhid xhci_hcd)
MODULES=()

# BINARIES
# This setting includes any additional binaries a given user may
# wish into the CPIO image.  This is run last, so it may be used to
# override the actual binaries included by a given hook
# BINARIES are dependency parsed, so you may safely ignore libraries
BINARIES=()

# FILES
# This setting is similar to BINARIES above, however, files are added
# as-is and are not parsed in any way.  This is useful for config files.
FILES=()

# HOOKS
# This is the most important setting in this file.  The HOOKS control the
# modules and scripts added to the image, and what happens at boot time.
# Order is important, and it is recommended that you do not change the
# order in which HOOKS are added.  Run 'mkinitcpio -H <hook name>' for
# help on a given hook.
# 'base' is _required_ unless you know precisely what you are doing.
# 'udev' is _required_ in order to automatically load modules
# 'filesystems' is _required_ unless you specify your fs modules in MODULES
# Examples:
##   This setup specifies all modules in the MODULES setting above.
##   No RAID, lvm2, or encrypted root is needed.
#    HOOKS=(base)
#
##   This setup will autodetect all modules for your system and should
##   work as a sane default
#    HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems fsck)
#
##   This setup will generate a 'full' image which supports most systems.
##   No autodetection is done.
#    HOOKS=(base udev modconf block filesystems fsck)
#
##   This setup assembles a mdadm array with an encrypted root file system.
##   Note: See 'mkinitcpio -H mdadm_udev' for more information on RAID devices.
#    HOOKS=(base udev modconf keyboard keymap consolefont block mdadm_udev encrypt filesystems fsck)
#
##   This setup loads an lvm2 volume group.
#    HOOKS=(base udev modconf block lvm2 filesystems fsck)
#
##   This will create a systemd based initramfs which loads an encrypted root filesystem.
#    HOOKS=(base systemd autodetect modconf kms keyboard sd-vconsole sd-encrypt block filesystems fsck)
#
##   NOTE: If you have /usr on a separate partition, you MUST include the
#    usr and fsck hooks.
HOOKS=(base udev autodetect microcode modconf kms keyboard keymap consolefont block filesystems fsck)

# COMPRESSION
# Use this to compress the initramfs image. By default, zstd compression
# is used for Linux ≥ 5.9 and gzip compression is used for Linux < 5.9.
# Use 'cat' to create an uncompressed image.
#COMPRESSION="zstd"
#COMPRESSION="gzip"
#COMPRESSION="bzip2"
#COMPRESSION="lzma"
#COMPRESSION="xz"
#COMPRESSION="lzop"
#COMPRESSION="lz4"

# COMPRESSION_OPTIONS
# Additional options for the compressor
#COMPRESSION_OPTIONS=()

# MODULES_DECOMPRESS
# Decompress loadable kernel modules and their firmware during initramfs
# creation. Switch (yes/no).
# Enable to allow further decreasing image size when using high compression
# (e.g. xz -9e or zstd --long --ultra -22) at the expense of increased RAM usage
# at early boot.
# Note that any compressed files will be placed in the uncompressed early CPIO
# to avoid double compression.
#MODULES_DECOMPRESS="no"

mackin_cheese

Member

Registered: 2025-01-07

Posts: 477

Re: [SOLVED] Can't get rid of nouveau no matter what I try

This is why you should be reading the manual. The wiki for nvidia states you should be removing "kms" from your mkinitcpio hooks. the hook is still present. remove the hook, do another mkinitcpio and then reboot and let us know any updates.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,142

Re: [SOLVED] Can't get rid of nouveau no matter what I try

Your more direct problem is that linux-zen requires linuz-zen-headers and nvidia-dkms since there's no prebuilt kernel module.

hjk321

Member

Registered: 2025-02-21

Posts: 10

Re: [SOLVED] Can't get rid of nouveau no matter what I try

A combination of both solutions seems to be doing the trick. I'll mark as solved for now.
I do read the manual, but sometimes I miss things. I probably should have ctrl+f for nouveau though. Thanks all.