(Fedora Server) Proper way to install the open source Nvidia driver (for a 5070 Ti) from RPMFusion?

Ask Fedora
, ,
1

What have I tried:

  1. Make a fresh Fedora Server 42 install (via virt-manager)
  2. Enable RPMFusion, perform dnf upgrade and reboot
  3. Run the following:
sudo dnf install akmod-nvidia
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda
sudo reboot

# After reboot
sudo sh -c 'echo "%_with_kmod_nvidia_open 1" > /etc/rpm/macros.nvidia-kmod'
sudo akmods --kernels $(uname -r) --rebuild
  1. nvidia-smi fails, but modinfo shows driver version:
> nvidia-smi
NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.

> modinfo -F version nvidia
570.144

Also, seems like installing the driver also install GUI things like pipewire and adawaita icons. The server is for running local LLM and is headless. Is it possible to skip installing the GUI related packages?

1 Like
2

I’ve also seen this, but after a reboot nvidia-smi was fine, so I didn’t really go deeper into it. Does it work after a reboot for you?

1 Like
3

Well, I just did a reinstall, and it works now.

What I did this time: After running dnf install akmod-nvidia and sudo akmods --kernels $(uname -r) --rebuild, wait until modinfo -F version nvidia returns the driver version, then reboot.

Not sure if this is the exact solution, but it works for me anyway.

1 Like
4

BTW, seems like the open source Nvidia driver cannot reset properly if used with a 5070 Ti.