Arch Linux

Astaoth

Member

Registered: 2026-03-06

Posts: 7

[SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

Hi,

I've a laptop with a Quadro M2000M (nv110 / Maxwell). With the new nvidia-590 I had to left the mainstream driver to stay on a legacy one. The issue I have is that with the nvidia-580 if I have more than one window, they flicker, making my UI barely usable. For a week the driver nvidia-575 was fine. But today it seems this driver doesn't load anymore, making my archlinux using llvmpipe (according to glxinfo -b) or vesa (according to my Xorg.0.log) instead. Also the nvidia-575 doesn't have nvidia settings or lib32 versions.

I've made an attempt with the nvidia-550, but with no luck either. How should I install a working driver for my GPU ?

Edit : the 2026-03-12 update solved the issue with the nvidia-580 driver.

Last edited by Astaoth (2026-03-15 09:35:46)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,699

Re: [SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA

Astaoth

Member

Registered: 2026-03-06

Posts: 7

Re: [SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

Already read, already installed the "appropriate" driver, got a very poor result as said in my op : "The issue I have is that with the nvidia-580, if I have more than one window, they flicker, making my UI barely usable.". The "solution" provided in the wiki is not compatible with a Maxwell GPU.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,699

Re: [SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

It is appropriate, I had to start with pointing to the wiki because all we got in the OP was paraphrasing. We have no idea what you actually installed or how you installed it. So you were using the nvidia-580xx-dkms package? Did the modules actually build when you installed this or was there an error from dkms?

Astaoth

Member

Registered: 2026-03-06

Posts: 7

Re: [SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

There were no error with the nvidia-580xx-dkms building and installation. But when launching XFCE (and xorg) with this driver installed and used, all I got are windows flickering as hell when there are more than one displayed, and input latency.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,699

Re: [SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

Post the xorg log.

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 74,450

Re: [SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

nvidia-575 was fine. But today it seems this driver doesn't load anymore […] Also the nvidia-575 doesn't have nvidia settings or lib32 versions

pacman -Qs 'nvidia|kernel'
dkms status

Try using the LTS kernel, apparently the older nvidia modules don't build w/ 6.19 and require downstream patches.

Edit: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=311055 - seems vblank related.

Last edited by seth (2026-03-06 18:53:45)

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TempusNemini

Member

From: Moon

Registered: 2023-07-16

Posts: 17

Re: [SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

Try using the LTS kernel, apparently the older nvidia modules don't build w/ 6.19 and require downstream patches.
Edit: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=311055 - seems vblank related.

That's what i did for now, 470xx also doesn't work with 6.19 :-(

Astaoth

Member

Registered: 2026-03-06

Posts: 7

Re: [SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

Try using the LTS kernel, apparently the older nvidia modules don't build w/ 6.19 and require downstream patches.

That also means that at the next LTS update, I'll have the same issue.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,699

Re: [SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

No, it doesn't. linux-lts will be at 6.18 until next year, but that has nothing to do with your issue. You shouldn't be on old, unsupported drivers like TempusNemini is.

xerxes_

Member

Registered: 2018-04-29

Posts: 1,047

Re: [SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

@Astaoth
Have you tried nouveau kms kernel builtin driver? How it worked for you? Is it not enough?

Astaoth

Member

Registered: 2026-03-06

Posts: 7

Re: [SOLVED] Driver for Nvidia Maxwell GPU

Yes I've tried it since I saw the update, and after few days I can say it works much better than the previous version ! I've no more flickering or glitches !