I had the same issue today. I was testing if my system issues would be resolved by switch to the nouveau drivers.
If you don’t get a better solution, this is what I got from Deepseek so take it for what it is :
Since you have multiple Nvidia-related packages installed, we need to carefully remove them before switching to the open-source Nouveau drivers. Here’s how to proceed:
Step 1: Remove All Nvidia Packages
We’ll remove all Nvidia-related packages to avoid conflicts.
List all installed Nvidia packages:
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pacman -Qs nvidia
(You already did this, so we’ll work with your output.)
Remove the main Nvidia driver and dependencies:
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sudo pacman -R linux612-nvidia nvidia-utils lib32-nvidia-utils nvidia-settings nvidia-prime
Remove additional Nvidia helper packages:
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sudo pacman -R gwe nvidia-driver-assistant mhwd-nvidia libxnvctrl
Force remove any remaining dependencies:
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sudo pacman -R $(pacman -Qdtq) # Removes orphaned dependencies
Step 2: Remove the MHWD Nvidia Driver Config
Now, remove the hybrid driver that was causing issues earlier:
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sudo mhwd -r pci video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime
Step 3: Install Nouveau (Open-Source) Drivers
Install the free driver (video-linux includes Nouveau):
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sudo mhwd -a pci free 0300
Regenerate initramfs:
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sudo mkinitcpio -P
Reboot:
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reboot
Step 4: Verify Nouveau is Active
After rebooting, check:
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lsmod | grep nouveau
If Nouveau is loaded, you’ll see output like:
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nouveau 1234567 0
Check the active GPU driver:
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glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer"
(Should show "Nouveau" instead of "NVIDIA.")
Troubleshooting
If Xorg fails to start, try:
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sudo mhwd -a pci free 0300 video-modesetting
If you need to revert to Nvidia proprietary drivers later, run:
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sudo mhwd -a pci nonfree 0300 video-nvidia
Final Notes
Nouveau has limited performance (no Vulkan, poor gaming support).
Power management may be worse (higher temps, worse battery life).
If you need Optimus (hybrid Intel + Nvidia), consider reinstalling video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime later.
You should obviously take a snapshot of your system before this.
It worked for me, although I did a cascade remove so I did not have any orphans.
This did not resolve my issue, so I rolled back to the previous snapshot which is running the proprietary 550 driver.
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