Can't update drivers: An NVIDIA kernel module 'nvidia-drm' appears to already be loaded in your kernel

Hi, everyone. I tried updating my drivers manually (not from the command line) since one of my utilities was running slowly and recommended an update. When I used the command line, I couldn’t get the latest drivers, so I went to Nvidia’s website and attempted to install it for my Geforce GT 620 using a guide from linuxconfig (dot) org (slash) how-to-install-the-nvidia-drivers-on-manjaro-linux (can’t link for some reason) When I run sudo bash NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-390.154.run (that’s the exact version I want to install), I get this error message.

  ERROR: An NVIDIA kernel module 'nvidia-drm' appears to already be loaded in your kernel. 
         This may be because it is in use (for example, by an X server, a CUDA program, or 
         the NVIDIA Persistence Daemon), but this may also happen if your kernel was       
         configured without support for module unloading.  Please be sure to exit any      
         programs that may be using the GPU(s) before attempting to upgrade your driver.   
         If no GPU-based programs are running, you know that your kernel supports module   
         unloading, and you still receive this message, then an error may have occured     
         that has corrupted an NVIDIA kernel module's usage count, for which the simplest  
         remedy is to reboot your computer.

Here’s the output from the log:

nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Fri Oct 21 17:00:04 2022
installer version: 390.154

PATH: /home/saadh/gems/bin:/home/saadh/gems/bin:/home/saadh/gems/bin:/home/saadh/gems/bin:/home/saadh/gems/bin:/home/saadh/.local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/home/saadh/.dotnet/tools:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/default/bin:/usr/bin/site_perl:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl:/var/lib/snapd/snap/bin:/home/saadh/.spicetify:/home/saadh/.spicetify

nvidia-installer command line:
    ./nvidia-installer

Unable to load: nvidia-installer ncurses v6 user interface

Unable to load: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses v6 user interface (widechar)
-> Detected 8 CPUs online; setting concurrency level to 8.
ERROR: An NVIDIA kernel module 'nvidia-drm' appears to already be loaded in your kernel.  This may be because it is in use (for example, by an X server, a CUDA program, or the NVIDIA Persistence Daemon), but this may also happen if your kernel was configured without support for module unloading.  Please be sure to exit any programs that may be using the GPU(s) before attempting to upgrade your driver.  If no GPU-based programs are running, you know that your kernel supports module unloading, and you still receive this message, then an error may have occured that has corrupted an NVIDIA kernel module's usage count, for which the simplest remedy is to reboot your computer.
ERROR: Installation has failed.  Please see the file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details.  You may find suggestions on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

My current driver is NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-390.154.run nonfree PCI.

How do I unload nvidia-drm and install my new driver? I’d also like to have a backup of my graphics settings in case things go wrong. Thanks in advance. Kernel # and other sys info should be on my profile.

Welcome to the forum! :wave:

Which utility? What was the exact message?

You probably already had them installed to begin with. Your “utility” may have been referring to a newer driver series that your older card does not support.

Do not follow garbage tech blog “guides”. Do not use the driver from NVIDIA’s website. Remove it and install it properly. See Configure NVIDIA (non-free) settings and load them on Startup - Manjaro

you try to update nvidia driver by dkms

with manjaro drivers and command mhwd ,

  • all is compiled on every branch both linux AND EACH modules nvidias ( 5.20 , 4.70 , 3.90 series ) because drivers nvidias and kernels have to be matched on signed step ( that means compiled both for magic number required)

  • so why you want to try to compile the same version that is installed ?

see this

and these in repos manjaro

pacman -Ss nvidia-
extra/egl-wayland 2:1.1.11-2 [installé]
    EGLStream-based Wayland external platform
extra/linux419-nvidia 520.56.06-1 (linux419-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux419-nvidia-390xx 390.154-9 (linux419-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux

extra/linux419-nvidia-470xx 470.141.03-9 (linux419-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux510-nvidia 520.56.06-4 (linux510-extramodules) [installé]
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux510-nvidia-390xx 390.154-17 (linux510-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux510-nvidia-470xx 470.141.03-17 (linux510-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux515-nvidia 520.56.06-4 (linux515-extramodules)** [installé]
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux515-nvidia-390xx 390.154-19 (linux515-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux515-nvidia-470xx 470.141.03-19 (linux515-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
**extra/linux519-nvidia 520.56.06-4 (linux519-extramodules)** [installé]
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux519-nvidia-390xx 390.154-23 (linux519-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux519-nvidia-470xx 470.141.03-23 (linux519-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux54-nvidia 520.56.06-5 (linux54-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux54-nvidia-390xx 390.154-14 (linux54-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux54-nvidia-470xx 470.141.03-14 (linux54-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux60-nvidia 520.56.06-5 (linux60-extramodules)** [installé]
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux60-nvidia-390xx 390.154-2 (linux60-extramodules)**
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux60-nvidia-470xx 470.141.03-7 (linux60-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux61-nvidia 520.56.06-0.1 (linux61-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/linux61-nvidia-390xx 390.154-0.1 (linux61-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
extra/mhwd-nvidia-390xx 390.154-2 [installé]
    MHWD module-ids for nvidia 390.154
extra/mhwd-nvidia-470xx 470.141.03-3 [installé]
    MHWD module-ids for nvidia 470.141.03
extra/nvidia-390xx-dkms 390.154-2
    NVIDIA drivers - module sources
extra/nvidia-390xx-utils 390.154-2
    NVIDIA drivers utilities
extra/nvidia-470xx-dkms 470.141.03-3
    NVIDIA drivers - module sources
extra/nvidia-470xx-utils 470.141.03-3
    NVIDIA drivers utilities
extra/nvidia-dkms 520.56.06-2
    NVIDIA drivers - module sources
extra/nvidia-prime 1.0-4
    NVIDIA Prime Render Offload configuration and utilities
extra/nvidia-utils 520.56.06-2 [installé]
    NVIDIA drivers utilities
extra/opencl-nvidia-390xx 390.154-2
    OpenCL implemention for NVIDIA
extra/opencl-nvidia-470xx 470.141.03-3
    OpenCL implemention for NVIDIA
community/linux515-rt-nvidia 520.56.06-2 (linux515-rt-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
community/linux515-rt-nvidia-390xx 390.154-6 (linux515-rt-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
community/linux515-rt-nvidia-470xx 470.141.03-6 (linux515-rt-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
community/linux519-rt-nvidia 520.56.06-1 (linux519-rt-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
community/linux519-rt-nvidia-390xx 390.154-3 (linux519-rt-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
community/linux519-rt-nvidia-470xx 470.141.03-3 (linux519-rt-extramodules)
    NVIDIA drivers for linux
community/nemo-run-with-nvidia-prime-run 0.1.0-1
    Nemo action to run a program with prime-run
community/nvidia-cg-toolkit 3.1-6
    NVIDIA Cg libraries
multilib/lib32-nvidia-390xx-utils 390.154-1
    NVIDIA drivers utilities (32-bit)
multilib/lib32-nvidia-470xx-utils 470.141.03-1
    NVIDIA drivers utilities (32-bit)
multilib/lib32-nvidia-cg-toolkit 3.1-8
    NVIDIA Cg libraries
multilib/lib32-nvidia-utils 520.56.06-1 [installé]
    NVIDIA drivers utilities (32-bit)
multilib/lib32-opencl-nvidia-390xx 390.154-1
    OpenCL implemention for NVIDIA (32-bit)
multilib/lib32-opencl-nvidia-470xx 470.141.03-1
    OpenCL implemention for NVIDIA (32-bit)