After installing NVIDIA driver get message NVIDIA driver not found, reverting to nouveau

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Fedora 38 with fresh install.

new laptop with NVIDIA RTX A2000 gpu

Using the instructions from RPM Fusion

sudo dnf update -y # and reboot if you are not on the latest kernel
sudo dnf install akmod-nvidia # rhel/centos users can use kmod-nvidia instead
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda #optional for cuda/nvdec/nvenc support

The installation appears to go without any errors, However after rebooting before the login prompt I get the message NVIDIA driver not found, reverting to nouveau

in the messages log

messages:May 22 12:55:18 fedora (udev-worker)[762]: ctx=0x55a733264e30 path=/lib/modules/6.2.15-300.fc38.x86_64/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia-modeset.ko error=No such file or directory
messages:May 22 12:55:18 fedora (udev-worker)[762]: ctx=0x55a733264e30 path=/lib/modules/6.2.15-300.fc38.x86_64/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko error=No such file or directory
messages:May 22 12:55:18 fedora (udev-worker)[762]: ctx=0x55a733264e30 path=/lib/modules/6.2.15-300.fc38.x86_64/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko error=No such file or directory
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora systemd[1]: Starting nvidia-powerd.service - nvidia-powerd service…
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora /usr/bin/nvidia-powerd[1060]: nvidia-powerd version:1.0(build 1)
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora /usr/bin/nvidia-powerd[1060]: Allocate client failed 38
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora /usr/bin/nvidia-powerd[1060]: Failed to initialize RM Client
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora systemd[1]: nvidia-powerd.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora systemd[1]: nvidia-powerd.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start nvidia-powerd.service - nvidia-powerd service.
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora audit[1]: SERVICE_START pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg=‘unit=nvidia-powerd comm=“systemd” exe=“/usr/lib/systemd/systemd” hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=failed’
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora akmods[1027]: Checking kmods exist for 6.2.15-300.fc38.x86_64Warning: Could not determine what package owns /lib/modules/6.2.15-300.fc38.x86_64/extra/nvidia/ [ OK ]
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora systemd[1]: Starting nvidia-fallback.service - Fallback to nouveau as nvidia did not load…
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora systemd[1]: Finished nvidia-fallback.service - Fallback to nouveau as nvidia did not load.
messages:May 22 12:55:19 fedora audit[1]: SERVICE_START pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 msg=‘unit=nvidia-fallback comm=“systemd” exe=“/usr/lib/systemd/systemd” hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success’
messages:May 22 12:55:40 fedora systemd[2190]: Started app-gnome-nvidia\x2dsettings\x2duser-2986.scope - Application launched by gnome-session-binary.
messages:May 22 12:55:40 fedora nvidia-settings-user.desktop[2986]: ERROR: NVIDIA driver is not loaded

I can’t find the driver and modinfo -F version nvidia returns

modinfo: ERROR: could not get modinfo from ‘nvidia’: No such file or directory

the dnf log seems to indicate it installed the driver?

nf.log:2023-05-22T12:51:53-0700 DDEBUG Command: dnf install akmod-nvidia
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:51:53-0700 DDEBUG Extra commands: [‘install’, ‘akmod-nvidia’]
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:51:53-0700 DEBUG repo: using cache for: rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:51:53-0700 DEBUG rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver: using metadata from Sat 08 Apr 2023 11:30:02 AM PDT.
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:51:54-0700 DEBUG —> Package akmod-nvidia.x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 will be installed
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:51:54-0700 DEBUG —> Package nvidia-settings.x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 will be installed
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:51:54-0700 DEBUG —> Package xorg-x11-drv-nvidia.x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 will be installed
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:51:54-0700 DEBUG —> Package xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda-libs.x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 will be installed
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:51:54-0700 DEBUG —> Package xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-kmodsrc.x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 will be installed
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:51:54-0700 DEBUG —> Package xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs.x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 will be installed
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:51:54-0700 DEBUG —> Package xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-power.x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 will be installed
dnf.log: akmod-nvidia x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
dnf.log: nvidia-settings x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
dnf.log: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
dnf.log: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-kmodsrc x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
dnf.log: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
dnf.log: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda-libs x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
dnf.log: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-power x86_64 3:530.41.03-1.fc38 rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:53:05-0700 DEBUG Installed: akmod-nvidia-3:530.41.03-1.fc38.x86_64
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:53:05-0700 DEBUG Installed: nvidia-settings-3:530.41.03-1.fc38.x86_64
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:53:05-0700 DEBUG Installed: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-3:530.41.03-1.fc38.x86_64
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:53:05-0700 DEBUG Installed: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda-libs-3:530.41.03-1.fc38.x86_64
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:53:05-0700 DEBUG Installed: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-kmodsrc-3:530.41.03-1.fc38.x86_64
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:53:05-0700 DEBUG Installed: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs-3:530.41.03-1.fc38.x86_64
dnf.log:2023-05-22T12:53:05-0700 DEBUG Installed: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-power-3:530.41.03-1.fc38.x86_64

I’ve removed and reinstalled the driver and get the same results?

I’m at a loss as to what is going on.

1 Like
2

When posting text from your screen please use the preformatted text tags available with the </> button on the toolbar so it retains the same formatting as seen on your screen.

Is your bios set with secureboot enabled or disabled?
You can check that with mokutil --sb-state. If it says enabled the nvidia drivers cannot be loaded and to fix that you must boot into the bios setup menu and disable secure boot before the nvidia drivers can be loaded.

Please post the output of dnf list installed '*nvidia*' so we can see exactly what nvidia packages are currently installed & active.

If possible also post the output of cat /proc/cmdline

3

Jeff,

thanks for the response.

when posting text from your screen please use the preformatted text tags available with the |</>| button on the toolbar so it retains the same formatting as seen on your screen.

good tip, I didn’t see the </> button so used the “”

Is your bios set with secureboot enabled or disabled?
You can check that with |mokutil --sb-state|. If it says |enabled| the nvidia drivers cannot be loaded and to fix that you must boot into the bios setup menu and disable secure boot before the nvidia drivers can be loaded.

yes SB is disabled, did that to install fedora on new dell laptopn

Please post the output of |dnf list installed ‘nvidia’| so we can see exactly what nvidia packages are currently installed & active.

nvidia-gpu-firmware.noarch, nvidia-settings.x86_64|

So after reinstalling the nvidia stuff multiple times, building the driver from source, nothing worked. The building form source did cause the machine to hang on boot. I reinstalled fedora and used the Software app to install the nvidia driver.
what a surprise but it worked! Ran the nvidia server settings app and it showed my gpu card! Still looks a bit off to what it looks like on the machine I’m replacing. I run multiple monitors and it has a view for setting those up. My new machine
doesn’t show that, but I don’t have the second monitor hooked up yet?

If possible also post the output of |cat /proc/cmdline|

scott@fedora ~$ cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=(hd0,gpt6)/vmlinuz-6.2.9-300.fc38.x86_64 root=UUID=394e3855-cf80-400d-b126-80823b08a38a ro rootflags=subvol=root rhgb quiet rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau modprobe.blacklist=nouveau

Scott

4

How did you install the nvidia drivers? The output you show does not reveal any nvidia driver packages as expected, so it does not appear they are installed at present (or if so were not installed from the rpmfusion repo).

Before installing the nvidia drivers it usually is a good idea to upgrade the system to the latest. Your kernel command line shows you are booted with the 6.2.9 kernel which is the base kernel with a clean install. Fedora 38 now has the 6.2.15 kernel in use.

Installing the nvidia drivers is as simple as enabling the 3rd party repos in the gnome software tool then from the command line in a terminal using dnf install akmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda which should install all the required packages to enable the nvidia drivers for your machine.

Once installed, after a short wait ( up to 5 minutes) to allow the system to automatically compile the drivers, then a reboot should load the drivers for you.

To confirm the drivers are loaded, lsmod | grep nvidia should give 4 or 5 lines showing the nvidia modules loaded.

Your response with dnf list installed '*nvidia*' also shows no nvidia packages installed.

Lastly, it seems installing the nvidia drivers now may omit a required option in the kernel command line. Before doing the system upgrade mentioned above I suggest you edit /etc/default/grub and add nvidia-drm-modeset=1 to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line. After doing so, when the kernel is updated that will be added to the kernel command line with the next boot.