Boot Failure with NVIDIA RTX Cards

Fedora 31/32

Since I have an NVIDIA RTX card, I can only install distro’s that have NVIDIA proprietary drivers on the iso (Ubuntu 19.10, POPOS, etc.). I’m wanting to switch back to Fedora, but I just tried F31 and F32 BETA and see that this is still not possible. Is there any version of Fedora ISO or OS based on Fedora that has the NVIDIA drivers on the ISO?

   Hi.  What about to to buy an XYZ-box console for gaming, and use the more libre-friendly hardware on your machine?
  Aren’t @twohot’s advice about nomodeset helps to install Fedora at least somehow, then add RPM-Fusion non-free repos?

1 Like

That’s a terrible solution to my question.

I was finally able to complete the installation using the basic/fail-safe graphics installation. Once at the desktop, I installed RPM fusion and the proprietary NVIDIA drivers. Apparently Noveau drivers do not support RTX cards. Hopefully ISO’s in the future will contain an option to use these proprietary drivers from the start.

I would not count on the nvidia drivers being in a distro release.
The drivers are proprietary and since fedora does NOT include non-free non-open-source software in the distro it remains an add on for after the install is complete. Note that fedora is a development distro and they plainly state their policy to avoid any potential legal issues that might arise from using non-FOSS software.
The approach suggested and that you followed is simple and easy even though having to use the extra steps involved in adding the drivers later might be frustrating.

I suspect your RTX card was your issue because I have an nvidia card in my desktop and I was able to do a clean install of F31 on that machine without problems from nouveau drivers. The system booted cleanly with no problems during and after the install and when I installed the nvidia drivers the system cleanly switched to the proprietary drivers without a hitch.

The bright side is that now you have the system installed and the proper drivers working you can do future updates without requiring a new-clean install but instead just update in place.

1 Like

I agree with you as someone with an Nvidia card. I do want to get an AMD GPU when I upgrade, but to claim that I should just throw out hardware I’ve already paid for is absurd. This proposed “solution” is very unproductive, especially if you bought the hardware to use with Windows or another, less strict Linux distribution.

Don’t feel too bad about your hardware and just make a more “libre” choice in the future. You aren’t using Windows or Mac anyway, which puts you leagues ahead of other users.

On a lighter note, Nouveau will be able to boot with your card in Fedora 32. Of course, Nvidia is still proprietary and you’ll have to use their drivers, but you will have a GUI at the very least. This is all coming from someone who has an RTX 2070. Again, if you are upgrading your GPU then I wholeheartedly suggest AMD on principle alone, though I don’t have an AMD card, but don’t feel bad about a decision you made a while ago.

1 Like

This is very unproductive when it comes to technical support and disregards factors like lack of experience as a new user and just deciding to switch to Linux with unlucky hardware.

I’ve been using Fedora for many years and have never used anything but Nvidia cards.Fedora is abit different from some of the other distros and takes abit of learning.Rpmfusion to me has the easiest way of setting up Nvidia.I’m glad to see you got it working.

1 Like