Nvidia discrete graphic card not working

Ask Fedora
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1

Hi to all,
I’ve been using Fedora for several years, and I’ve never been interested so much in discrete graphic cards. Now I got a Lenovo Thinkpad P53s, that comes with an Nvidia Quadro P520 and I’m trying to get it working.
I installed the driver from Rpm-Fusion as described. Also I noticed some problem on Kernel or driver upgrade. I read that is related to system suspension, so I masked the nvidia-powerd.service.
Unfortunately, It seems not to work.
As far as I know, Nvidia driver works on Wayland but in a dedicated session you have to choose from GDM. I don’t have this option available. I can see an option “launch with discrete graphics card” right-clicking on program icons, but nothing seems to happen.
Here the questions:

  1. What is the state of art of nvdia graphic card? I mean could I use the “launch with discrete graphics…” option under Wayland? It would be my preferred behavior since I don’t use dGPU so much.
  2. What have I to do in order to get at least the GDM session active?

Some specs:
Lenovo Thinkpad P53s - Nvdia Quadro P520

$ modinfo -F version nvidia
535.54.03

$ uname -r
6.3.8-200.fc38.x86_64

I hope you can understand my English since it’s not my mother language.
Any advice would be appreciated. Many thank in advance.
Paolo

2

Any hint on how to get the dGPU working? What should be the expected behavior?
Thanks

3

A couple things that you can provide for us to assist.
Please post the output of
dnf list installed '*nvidia*'
dnf repolist
lsmod | grep -E 'nouveau|nvidia'
inxi -Fzxx
mokutil --sb-state

With that info we should be able to identify most problems and provide suggestions.

I also suggest (if not recently done) that you do a full upgrade sudo dnf upgrade --refresh

4

Many thanks for your help @computersavvy. Here the output of the commands you required.

$ dnf list installed '*nvidia*'
Pacchetti installati
akmod-nvidia.x86_64         3:535.54.03-1.fc38  @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia.x86_64  3:535.54.03-2.fc38  @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver

$  dnf repolist
id repo                                        nome repo
copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:phracek:PyCharm Copr repo for PyCharm owned by phracek
fedora                                         Fedora 38 - x86_64
fedora-cisco-openh264                          Fedora 38 openh264 (From Cisco) - x86_64
fedora-modular                                 Fedora Modular 38 - x86_64
google-chrome                                  google-chrome
insync                                         insync repo
rpmfusion-free                                 RPM Fusion for Fedora 38 - Free
rpmfusion-free-updates                         RPM Fusion for Fedora 38 - Free - Updates
rpmfusion-nonfree                              RPM Fusion for Fedora 38 - Nonfree
rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver                RPM Fusion for Fedora 38 - Nonfree - NVIDIA Driver
rpmfusion-nonfree-steam                        RPM Fusion for Fedora 38 - Nonfree - Steam
rpmfusion-nonfree-updates                      RPM Fusion for Fedora 38 - Nonfree - Updates
updates                                        Fedora 38 - x86_64 - Updates
updates-modular                                Fedora Modular 38 - x86_64 - Updates

$  lsmod | grep -E 'nouveau|nvidia'
nvidia_drm             94208  1
nvidia_modeset       1556480  2 nvidia_drm
nvidia_uvm           3485696  0
nvidia              62513152  115 nvidia_uvm,nvidia_modeset
video                  73728  3 thinkpad_acpi,i915,nvidia_modeset

$ inxi -Fzxx
System:
  Kernel: 6.4.4-200.fc38.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 2.39-9.fc38 Desktop: GNOME v: 44.3 tk: GTK v: 3.24.38 wm: gnome-shell
    dm: GDM Distro: Fedora release 38 (Thirty Eight)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20N6001JUK v: ThinkPad P53s
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 20N6001JUK v: SDK0J40697 WIN
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO v: N2IETA1W (1.79 )
    date: 01/16/2023
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 8.7 Wh (17.4%) condition: 50.1/57.0 Wh (87.8%)
    volts: 10.8 min: 11.5 model: SMP 02DL012 serial: <filter>
    status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-8665U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Comet/Whiskey Lake note: check rev: C cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB
    L3: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 400/4800 cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800
    5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 bogomips: 33599
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel WhiskeyLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics 620] vendor: Lenovo
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,
    DP-2, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3ea0
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP108GLM [Quadro P520] vendor: Lenovo driver: nvidia
    v: 535.54.03 arch: Pascal pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 4 bus-ID: 3c:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:1d34
  Device-3: Chicony ThinkPad T490 Webcam driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-8:3 chip-ID: 04f2:b681
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.20.14 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.9
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: gpu: i915 display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: Lenovo 0x40ba res: 1920x1080 dpi: 142
    diag: 395mm (15.5")
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 23.1.4 renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (WHL
    GT2) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9dc8
  API: ALSA v: k6.4.4-200.fc38.x86_64 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.75 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:9df0
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Ethernet I219-LM vendor: Lenovo driver: e1000e v: kernel
    port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15bd
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) driver: btusb
    v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-10:5
    chip-ID: 8087:0aaa
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 38.06 GiB (8.0%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Western Digital model: PC SN720
    SDAQNTW-512G-1001 size: 476.94 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4
    serial: <filter> temp: 44.9 C
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 291.97 GiB used: 37.73 GiB (12.9%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
  ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 294 MiB (30.2%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 996 MiB used: 46.5 MiB (4.7%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
  ID-4: /home size: 291.97 GiB used: 37.73 GiB (12.9%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 43.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 717 Uptime: 5m Memory: available: 30.96 GiB used: 3.7 GiB (11.9%)
  Init: systemd v: 253 target: graphical (5) default: graphical Compilers:
  gcc: 13.1.1 Packages: pm: rpm pkgs: N/A note: see --rpm pm: flatpak pkgs: 18
  Shell: Bash v: 5.2.15 running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.27

$ mokutil --sb-state
SecureBoot enabled

In the previous post I forgot to add that I generated and imported the signature key for using nvidia drivers with secure boot enabled, as explained in rpmfusion’s guide.

5

The strange thing about that listing is the output of the listing of nvidia packages installed.

One thing clearly missing is the nvidia-gpu-firmware package which is required to support nvidia cards.
Also several of the additional packages that are installed as dependencies for installing akmod-nvidia are missing.
I would have expected that to show something like this.

akmod-nvidia.x86_64                                          3:535.54.03-1.fc38                     @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
kmod-nvidia-6.3.12-200.fc38.x86_64.x86_64                    3:535.54.03-1.fc38                     @@commandline                   
kmod-nvidia-6.4.4-200.fc38.x86_64.x86_64                     3:535.54.03-1.fc38                     @@commandline                   
nvidia-gpu-firmware.noarch                                   20230625-151.fc38                      @updates                        
nvidia-persistenced.x86_64                                   3:535.54.03-1.fc38                     @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
nvidia-settings.x86_64                                       3:535.54.03-1.fc38                     @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia.x86_64                                   3:535.54.03-2.fc38                     @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda.x86_64                              3:535.54.03-2.fc38                     @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda-libs.x86_64                         3:535.54.03-2.fc38                     @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-kmodsrc.x86_64                           3:535.54.03-2.fc38                     @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs.x86_64                              3:535.54.03-2.fc38                     @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-power.x86_64                             3:535.54.03-2.fc38                     @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver

At this point I would suggest you do a removal of the nvidia packages using
sudo dnf remove '*nvidia*' --noautoremove
followed by a reinstall with
sudo dnf install akmod-nvidia nvidia-gpu-firmware xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda

Wait at least 5 minutes after the install has completed and verify the modules are properly built with dnf list installed kmod-nvidia-$(uname -r) before rebooting. If that does not show the package as installed then wait a bit longer to reboot. That package is built and installed by the akmod-nvidia package after it is installed.

6

I followed the steps you suggested.
Waited for

$ dnf list installed kmod-nvidia-$(uname -r)
Pacchetti installati
kmod-nvidia-6.4.4-200.fc38.x86_64.x86_64                                                           3:535.54.03-1.fc38                                                            @@commandline

then rebooted. The list command now shows this result:

$  dnf list installed '*nvidia*'
Pacchetti installati
akmod-nvidia.x86_64                                                                       3:535.54.03-1.fc38                                                  @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
kmod-nvidia-6.4.4-200.fc38.x86_64.x86_64                                                  3:535.54.03-1.fc38                                                  @@commandline                   
nvidia-gpu-firmware.noarch                                                                20230625-151.fc38                                                   @updates                        
nvidia-persistenced.x86_64                                                                3:535.54.03-1.fc38                                                  @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
nvidia-settings.x86_64                                                                    3:535.54.03-1.fc38                                                  @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia.x86_64                                                                3:535.54.03-2.fc38                                                  @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda.x86_64                                                           3:535.54.03-2.fc38                                                  @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda-libs.x86_64                                                      3:535.54.03-2.fc38                                                  @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-kmodsrc.x86_64                                                        3:535.54.03-2.fc38                                                  @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs.x86_64                                                           3:535.54.03-2.fc38                                                  @rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-power.x86_64

but nvidia-smi returns

nvidia-smi 
Thu Jul 27 18:03:05 2023       
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 535.54.03              Driver Version: 535.54.03    CUDA Version: 12.2     |
|-----------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                      |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+======================+======================|
|   0  Quadro P520                    Off | 00000000:3C:00.0 Off |                  N/A |
| N/A   41C    P8              N/A / ERR! |      1MiB /  2048MiB |      0%      Default |
|                                         |                      |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
                                                                                         
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                            |
|  GPU   GI   CI        PID   Type   Process name                            GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                             Usage      |
|=======================================================================================|
|    0   N/A  N/A      4971      G   /usr/bin/gnome-shell                          0MiB |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

I don’t want you to spend too much time on this :slight_smile:

7

Now what happens if one switches to xorg for the DE instead of wayland? Nvidia-smi is not the only tool to use for verifying the GPU is in use. In fact a dGPU is normally not used by default but must be selected specifically when an app is opened using a right click on the icon for the launcher.

8

My bad. My previous message was incomplete. I get the nvidia-smi output above also launching some programs (e.g. Gimp) right-clicking and selecting dGPU. Same on Xorg.