Arch Linux

zddeis

Member

Registered: 2026-01-28

Posts: 2

NVIDIA kernel driver most of the time not starting properly

OS: Arch Linux x86_64
Kernel: Linux 6.18.5-arch1-1
CPU: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700H (20) @ 4.70 GHz
GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q / Mobile [Discrete]
GPU 2: Intel Iris Xe Graphics @ 1.40 GHz [Integrated]

Hyprland (Wayland)
Nvidia driver: nvidia-open

lspci -k | grep -A 2 -E "(VGA|3D)"
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] (rev 0c)
        Subsystem: CLEVO/KAPOK Computer Device a552
        Kernel driver in use: i915
--
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation AD107M [GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q / Mobile] (rev a1)
        Subsystem: CLEVO/KAPOK Computer Device a552
        Kernel driver in use: nvidia

i use systemd so i added "nvidia_drm.modeset=1" at "/boot/loader/entries/2025-10-01_17-41-49_linux.conf"

ive added this to "/etc/modules-load.d/nvidia.conf" so it tells me "..starting process at Load Kernel Modules" whenever it doesnt load, so i know when to reboot faster instead of running nvidia-smi after boot to see if it responds or not

nvidia
nvidia_modeset
nvidia_uvm
nvidia_drm

ive added this to "/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf" hoping that by blacklisting nouveau, nvidia will start properly

blacklist nouveau
options nvidia_drm modeset=1

ive been using this setup for a couple months now. and everytime i boot the system, the nvidia either works properly or i reboot it until it does (sometimes it takes no reboots, other times im forcing the reboot for more than 10 minutes until it finally works).

One thing that i noticed is whenever i have an external monitor connected, it usually always boots correctly, so it only is a problem when im using my laptop anywhere else but my home.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,528

Re: NVIDIA kernel driver most of the time not starting properly

We will need to see the journal from one of the boots when it didn't work.

zddeis

Member

Registered: 2026-01-28

Posts: 2

Re: NVIDIA kernel driver most of the time not starting properly

ive removed the lines from "modules-load.d" and  i've been comparing a journal from boot with driver kernel starting correctly, incorrectly and one that starts incorrectly but i kept the "modules-load.d" lines.

the one that i kept the lines and was incorrect stopped without any anomalies before it stopped, it stopped just after these lines:

Jan 28 13:33:39 arch kernel: nvidia: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel.
Jan 28 13:33:39 arch kernel: nvidia: module verification failed: signature and/or required key missing - tainting kernel
Jan 28 13:33:39 arch systemd[1]: Starting Flush Journal to Persistent Storage...
Jan 28 13:33:39 arch systemd-journald[425]: Time spent on flushing to /var/log/journal/d873cbf7cfde45a6b8b23f2f777522ce is 15.598ms for 972 entries.

the one that was loaded incorrectly but it still booted (cause i removed the modules-load.d lines) has these lines:

Jan 28 15:44:02 arch systemd[1]: Started Session 3 of User zddeis.
Jan 28 15:44:02 arch login[1426]: LOGIN ON tty3 BY zddeis
Jan 28 15:44:13 arch systemd[1]: Started Getty on tty2.
Jan 28 15:44:20 arch systemd-udevd[475]: 0000:01:00.0: Worker [494] processing SEQNUM=4197 is taking a long time.
Jan 28 15:44:22 arch login[1747]: pam_unix(login:session): session opened for user zddeis(uid=1000) by zddeis(uid=0)
Jan 28 15:44:22 arch systemd-logind[679]: New session '4' of user 'zddeis' with class 'user' and type 'tty'.
Jan 28 15:44:22 arch systemd[1]: Started Session 4 of User zddeis.
Jan 28 15:44:22 arch login[1747]: LOGIN ON tty2 BY zddeis
Jan 28 15:44:29 arch sudo[1902]:   zddeis : TTY=tty2 ; PWD=/home/zddeis ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/journalctl -b 0
Jan 28 15:44:29 arch sudo[1902]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by zddeis(uid=1000)
Jan 28 15:44:30 arch sudo[1902]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root
Jan 28 15:44:51 arch systemd[1]: nvidia-persistenced.service: start operation timed out. Terminating.
Jan 28 15:44:51 arch nvidia-persistenced[675]: Shutdown (680)
Jan 28 15:44:52 arch sudo[2568]:   zddeis : TTY=tty2 ; PWD=/home/zddeis ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/journalctl -b 0
Jan 28 15:44:52 arch sudo[2568]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by zddeis(uid=1000)
Jan 28 15:44:52 arch sudo[2568]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root
Jan 28 15:45:12 arch systemd-logind[679]: Power key pressed short.
Jan 28 15:45:12 arch systemd-logind[679]: Powering off...
Jan 28 15:45:12 arch systemd-logind[679]: System is powering down.

in between those lines there is this one:

Jan 28 15:44:51 arch systemd[1]: nvidia-persistenced.service: start operation timed out. Terminating.
Jan 28 15:44:51 arch nvidia-persistenced[675]: Shutdown (680)

it took too long to start, but never said the reason to take so long

edit: it really seems like part of the system recognizes that it loaded correctly, but when it comes to use the dGPU, it doesnt work and crashes programs.
For example when i use the nvidia-smi or hyprland, it doesnt work.
but when i run this command "lspci -k | grep -A 2 -E "(VGA|3D)"" it says the kernel driver in use is "nvidia"

Last edited by zddeis (2026-01-28 16:45:46)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,528

Re: NVIDIA kernel driver most of the time not starting properly

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57855

Not just the journal, but how things are crashing.

Last edited by Scimmia (2026-01-28 17:38:05)