Linux NVIDIA Issues 2021-03

README.md

Issues with Nvidia drivers/cards in Linux

• 2021-03-16
• have Ubuntu 20.04 with Nvidia RTX 3080

Issue: Freezes after some minutes uptime

Description

• after boot, screen randomly freezes after some minutes
• can move cursor with mouse, but not select/click anything
• keyboard doesn't have effect, but can ctrl+alt+F1 to tty1
• have to hard reset or shutdown in tty
• seems to happen when idle for a few minutes, not under load

Solution

• open nvidia-settings, or from menu: NVIDIA X Server Settings
  • NVIDIA X Server Settings --> GPU 0 --> PowerMizer --> PowerMizer Settings:
  • “Prefer Maximum Performance” or “Prefer Consistent Performance” instead of “Adaptive” or “Auto”
• that is a workaround, not a permanent solution, but it does work
• source: https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/ubuntu-18-04-completely-freezes-after-a-few-minutes-of-being-booted/81906/18

Issue: Nvidia driver doesn't seem to run

Description

• in terminal run nvidia-smi and get:

NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.

also run sudo modprobe nvidia and get:

modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'nvidia': Key was rejected by service

Solution

• run

sudo dkms remove nvidia/460.39 --all
sudo dkms install --force nvidia/460.39 -k $(uname -r)
sudo update-initramfs -u

• might have to replace desired driver version for other distro/future
• source: https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-smi-has-failed-because-it-couldn-t-communicate-with-the-nvidia-driver-after-updating-ubuntu-20-04/170985/7

Nvidia settings is empty window or gives error

Description

• 'NVIDIA X Server Settings' gives just empty window
• calling nvidia-settings gives following error

ERROR: Unable to load info from any available system


(nvidia-settings:2371): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 15:41:23.036: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
** Message: 15:41:23.039: PRIME: No offloading required. Abort
** Message: 15:41:23.039: PRIME: is it supported? no

Solution

• unknown, looks like a bug in the software...
• just now got update for nvidia packages, it works now! 2021-03-16_23:00UTC
• the terminal critical fail still exists but seems irrelevant

Issues with driver obtained from Nvidia website

Description

• any issues like no driver loaded and such when having installed driver from official Nvidia website

Solution

• try the community repo version intended for your system
  • they are often bundled optimized for OS and kernel version there
  • might need to add in YaST2 (fedora?)
• source: https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-driver-doesnt-load/171094/4