I have difficulties to figure out what is happening with my GPU driver

Hello,
Currently I use my Manjaro 21.1.6 with XFCE with Nvidia Quadro P2200 GPU. Currently i have the impression that i am running the Open Source driver that came with Manjaro, because what i booted, i selected the Open source driver for Live boot, the i installed Mangaro from that same boot, but during the days to setup my updates and apps to my taste and my liking, i upgraded the kernel from 5.13, to 5.2-2 and this is where i lost track of the Driver.

I believe i misconfigured something or clicked the wrong thing, while the initial setup of the system, and my Video card behaves differently, i cannot say exact differences, but i believe it is some how slower and hardware acceleration is also slower, compared to the moment before i upgrade the kernel.

I have difficulties to figure out what is happening with the driver, when i try to use the graphical front end of mhwd. Can you tell me how to figure out which driver is in use? How to recognize the native open source driver, how to recognize Nvidia’s poop-tastic proprietary driver? and respectively how to switch drivers from Nvidia poop-tastic Proprietary driver to manjaro’s native open source driver.

better change your kernel first as per latest stable update on here

And check out this too

Hi @Krisalex79,

Easiest would be to guide you thorough installation via CLI. So here goes:

  1. Open a terminal and run:
mhwd --list

To see a list of available drivers. Mine, for example:

$ mhwd --list
> 0000:01:00.0 (0300:10de:1401) Display controller nVidia Corporation:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
video-nvidia            2021.11.04               false            PCI
video-nvidia-470xx            2021.11.04               false            PCI
video-nvidia-390xx            2021.11.04               false            PCI
video-linux            2018.05.04                true            PCI
video-modesetting            2020.01.13                true            PCI
video-vesa            2017.03.12                true            PCI

As you can see, this list isn’t limited to what is installed. Instead, it shows all available drivers.

  1. In the same terminal, or a different one, doesn’t matter, I’m not your boss. run the following:
mhwd --listinstalled

This will, obviously, list all the drivers currently installed. Mine, for example:

$ mhwd --listinstalled
> Installed PCI configs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
video-nvidia            2021.11.04               false            PCI


Warning: No installed USB configs!

It shows that I have the video-nvidia driver currently installed.

As you know, there are two types of drivers:

  • Proprietary; and
  • Open-source.

And in the output of mhwd --list you will see them both available:

  • video-linux as the Open source (IIRC); and
  • all divers marked with nvidia are the proprietary.

Installing one or the other.

To install either one you also use mhwd:

  • To install the open source drivers:
mhwd --install pci video-linux
  • To install the proprietary drivers:
mhwd --install pci video-nvidia

For the latest driver, or

mhwd --install pci video-nvidia-390xx

For the 390xx series driver, or

mhwd --install pci video-nvidia-470xx

for the 470xxx series driver. If they are available.

Replacing one with the other

This is as easy as removing the unwantedd drriver, installing the wished driver, and rebooting.

I gave instructions on installing eaarlier, so I’ll just quickly cover rremmoving it.

It’s as easy as running:

mhwd --remove pci <driverToRemove>

Where <driverToRemove> is the driver you wish to remove.

2 Likes

i knew it. i knew something was not ok

sudo mhwd --listinstalled shows proprietary :
Installed PCI configs:

              NAME               VERSION          FREEDRIVER           TYPE

      video-nvidia            2021.11.04               false            PCI

i will try to replace the driver. then i will report results :slight_smile:

[krisalex@Lenovo ~]$ sudo mhwd --install video-linux
[sudo] password for krisalex:
Error: invalid use of option: -i/–install

Usage: mhwd [OPTIONS] <config(s)>

–pci list only pci devices and driver configs
–usb list only usb devices and driver configs
-h/–help show help
-v/–version show version of mhwd
-f/–force force reinstallation
-d/–detail show detailed info for -l/-li/-lh
-l/–list list available configs for devices
-la/–listall list all driver configs
-li/–listinstalled list installed driver configs
-lh/–listhardware list hardware information
-i/–install <usb/pci> <config(s)> install driver config(s)
-ic/–installcustom <usb/pci> install custom config(s)
-r/–remove <usb/pci> <config(s)> remove driver config(s)
-a/–auto <usb/pci> <free/nonfree> auto install configs for classid
–pmcachedir set package manager cache path
–pmconfig set package manager config
–pmroot set package manager root

this is the output. i will try to figure put what i am missing :slight_smile:

My current kernel running is already updated. My current kernel is: * linux515 5.15.2
thanks for your advice anyway.

Humblest apologies. I missed part of the command. I updated it just now.

no issues, about the misspelled commands :slight_smile:

The proper order to do things is:

  1. install the free driver
  2. reboot
  3. uninstall proprietary driver

is this correct? :slight_smile:

No. It’s

  1. Install.
  2. Remove.
  3. Reboot.
1 Like

gotcha, i am going as you said :slight_smile :slight_smile:

@Mirdarthos i did as you advised. it worked like a charm.
System is responsive again, acceleration is adequate.
CPU and RAM usage came to normal.

Thank you :slight_smile:

cheers, you have a beer from me! :beers:

I am happy, Issue is resolved and system is adequate

1 Like

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