How to properly remove/install nvidia drivers?

I’ve messed up a bit my nvidia drivers installation and was wondering, if I’m doing everything right to restore the order. Here’s a short timeline of what happened:

  1. After 2 or 3 days after 515 driver release, I’ve received a message on update, that said something like: “nvidia-dkms and linux517-nvidia are in conflict, remove linux517-nvidia? y/N”. I’ve decided to remove it, so pressed “y” and continued to update system. I didn’t know about the need for installation of linux-headers packages, so after a few days with nvidia-dkms I’ve noticed, that I can’t run games on my nvidia card and nvidia-settings tool doesn’t show enough information about graphic card.
  2. Timeshifted to the day of removal of linux517-nvidia and removed nvidia-dkms with yay -R nvidia-dkms. Everything seemed to return to normal, but a I’ve noticed I can’t rebuild the libplacebo-git package anymore because of failure in it’s vulkan tests. After trying previous commits – that were built correctly before (though I’m not sure if it was before R515 installation or after) – and seeing them fails to pass vulkan test, I ended up with thoughts, that I’ve removed driver poorly.
  3. Removed the driver once more with sudo mhwd --remove pci video-hybrid-amd-nvidia-prime and installed the nvidia-dkms with yay -S nvidia-dkms linux517-headers linux515-headers lib32-nvidia-utils nvidia-prime, rebooted and run the nvidia-xconfig as suggested in arch wiki. nvidia-settings now shows correct information, but the library still doesn’t build.

So, now I’m confused: am I still removing/installing driver the wrong way and something in my installation is still broken, or is this an nvidia upstream error? And, continuing the main question of this post, when I’ll decide to switch from nvidia-dkms to nvidia-open-dkms (when it’ll be ready to use in manjaro repos), what should I do?

And of course sorry for creating another thread on this topic, I didn’t have time to check everything out last time and previous one was automatically closed, but this theme just keeps bothering me.

provide output from:
inxi -Fazy
mhwd -l && mhwd -li

After installing DKMS modules, one must run:

sudo mkinitcpio -P

EDIT: Forgot to mention you can either have nvidia-dkms or linuxXXX-nvidia installed, but not both as they both provide the same thing. The latter is the precompiled kernel module.

3 Likes

inxi -Fazy:

System:
  Kernel: 5.18.0-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.1.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-5.18-x86_64
    root=UUID=9561de22-96e5-46aa-9810-bb027c4815e9 rw rootflags=subvol=@ quiet
    apparmor=1 security=apparmor
    resume=UUID=095652b9-970d-4821-b278-407d8bcae184 udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.24.5 tk: Qt v: 5.15.4 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM
    Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Nitro AN515-45 v: V1.08
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: CZ model: Scala_CAS v: V1.08 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: Insyde v: 1.08 date: 07/21/2021
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 54.9 Wh (100.0%) condition: 54.9/57.5 Wh (95.6%)
    volts: 17.4 min: 15.4 model: LGC AP18E8M type: Li-ion serial: <filter>
    status: N/A
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600H with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Zen 3 family: 0x19 (25) model-id: 0x50 (80) stepping: 0
    microcode: 0xA50000C
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 6 tpc: 2 threads: 12 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 384 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 3 MiB desc: 6x512 KiB
    L3: 16 MiB desc: 1x16 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3405 high: 3911 min/max: 400/4280 boost: enabled
    scaling: driver: amd-pstate governor: schedutil cores: 1: 3279 2: 3283
    3: 3640 4: 3482 5: 3094 6: 3235 7: 3291 8: 3245 9: 3831 10: 3911 11: 3291
    12: 3282 bogomips: 79085
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass
    mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1
    mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW,
    STIBP: always-on, RSB filling
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA106M [GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile / Max-Q]
    vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: nvidia v: 515.43.04
    alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 515.xx+
    status: current (as of 2022-05) arch: Ampere pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 8 link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:2520 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: AMD Cezanne vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: amdgpu
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s ports: active: eDP-1 empty: none bus-ID: 06:00.0
    chip-ID: 1002:1638 class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: Quanta HD User Facing type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 3-3:2
    chip-ID: 0408:a061 class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.3 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.1
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu,nvidia
    unloaded: modesetting,nouveau alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa gpu: amdgpu
    display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22")
    s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 mapped: eDP model: ChiMei InnoLux 0x1521 built: 2020
    res: 1920x1080 hz: 144 dpi: 142 gamma: 1.2 size: 344x193mm (13.54x7.6")
    diag: 394mm (15.5") ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 640x480
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RENOIR (LLVM 13.0.1 DRM 3.46 5.18.0-1-MANJARO)
    v: 4.6 Mesa 22.0.4 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8 link-max: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228e class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor
    vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: N/A alternate: snd_pci_acp3x,
    snd_rn_pci_acp3x, snd_pci_acp5x, snd_sof_amd_renoir
    pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    bus-ID: 06:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
    link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s bus-ID: 06:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3
    class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.18.0-1-MANJARO running: yes
  Sound Server-2: sndio v: N/A running: no
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.51 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 2000 bus-ID: 04:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:2600 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp4s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: MEDIATEK MT7921 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: Lite-On driver: mt7921e v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:7961 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp5s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Lite-On Wireless_Device type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 1-4:3 chip-ID: 04ca:3802 class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: down
    bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes
    address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.38 TiB used: 556.35 GiB (39.5%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:4 vendor: Kingston model: OM8PDP3512B-AA1
    size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: EDFK0S03 temp: 51.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Western Digital
    model: WDS100T1X0E-00AFY0 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter>
    rev: 614600WD temp: 72.8 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 922.42 GiB size: 922.42 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 249.7 GiB (27.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme1n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 572 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme1n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 922.42 GiB size: 922.42 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 249.7 GiB (27.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme1n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 922.42 GiB size: 922.42 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 249.7 GiB (27.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme1n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 1.54 GiB (17.5%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme1n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 57.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 59.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 326 Uptime: 1m wakeups: 1 Memory: 15.05 GiB
  used: 3.53 GiB (23.4%) Init: systemd v: 251 tool: systemctl Compilers:
  gcc: 12.1.0 clang: 13.0.1 Packages: apt: 0 pacman: 1855 lib: 550 flatpak: 0
  Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 default: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.16

mhwd -l && mhwd -li:

> 0000:01:00.0 (0300:10de:2520) Display controller nVidia Corporation:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
video-hybrid-amd-nvidia-prime            2021.12.18               false            PCI
video-hybrid-amd-nvidia-470xx-prime            2021.12.18               false            PCI
          video-nvidia            2021.12.18               false            PCI
    video-nvidia-470xx            2021.12.18               false            PCI
           video-linux            2018.05.04                true            PCI
     video-modesetting            2020.01.13                true            PCI
            video-vesa            2017.03.12                true            PCI


> 0000:06:00.0 (0300:1002:1638) Display controller ATI Technologies Inc:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
video-hybrid-amd-nvidia-prime            2021.12.18               false            PCI
video-hybrid-amd-nvidia-470xx-prime            2021.12.18               false            PCI
           video-linux            2018.05.04                true            PCI
     video-modesetting            2020.01.13                true            PCI
            video-vesa            2017.03.12                true            PCI


> Installed PCI configs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
           video-linux            2018.05.04                true            PCI


Warning: No installed USB configs!

so you have only installed linux drivers, no nvidia drivers… but you mention that you have installed dkms drivers from aur… so uninstall those dkms drivers, then reboot, then run this command:
sudo mhwd -a pci nonfree 0300
then reboot and check with mhwd -li