"NVIDIA kernel module not found. Falling back to nouveau." on boot

I have been using linux for a while and recently decided to give fedora a try. I love it, aside from the difficulties I have experienced getting NVIDIA drivers installed. After the installation of all the correct packages, I try to boot and get the output: “NVIDIA kernel module not found. Falling back to nouveau.” I have scrolled through several other discussions and have confirmed that: 1. The OS recognizes my card. and 2. that I do have the correct drivers installed.

akmods and dracut output this:

josiahrabe@fedora:~$ sudo akmods --force && sudo dracut --force
[sudo] password for josiahrabe: 
Checking kmods exist for 6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64             [  OK  ]
Files needed for building modules against kernel
6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64 could not be found as the following
directories are missing:
/usr/src/kernels/6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64/
/lib/modules/6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64/build/Is the correct kernel-devel package installed?                                               [FAILED]
Checking kmods exist for 6.10.3-200.fc40.x86_64            [  OK  ]

I see the two missing directories, and I’m fairly certian that’s all that need to be addressed.

However, I have no clue how to resolve that.

Thanks!

Which kernel version are you booting? Is it the 6.8.5 that is reporting issues?

Yes, both 6.8.5 and 6.10.something.

Does 6.10 work? That seems to have a driver built for it.

I assume that you are sticking to 6.8.5 as you are waiting on a bug fix for something?

precicely. I’ll try 6.10.

No, 6.10.5 returned the same error.

If you disable the nvidia fallback service you can then manually modprobe nvidia and see the exact error message. (I am not in front of a fedora system to give you exact commands. Let me know if need them and I will provide tomorrow.)

yeah, i would probably need those, thanks!

You seem to be installing kernels that are newer than the released version. (6.10.4)
Which often is an issue since frequently not all the packages to support the test kernels and build the akmods modules are available.

Please show the output of uname -a and dnf list installed kernel* as well as dnf repolist

Alright. 1. I mistyped, I only have 6.10.3 installed. 2. here’s the output of those three commands:

josiahrabe@fedora:~$ uname -a
Linux fedora 6.8.5-301.fc40.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Apr 11 20:00:10 UTC 2024 x86_64 GNU/Linux
josiahrabe@fedora:~$ dnf list installed kernel*
Installed Packages
kernel.x86_64                            6.8.5-301.fc40                @anaconda
kernel-core.x86_64                       6.8.5-301.fc40                @anaconda
kernel-core.x86_64                       6.10.3-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-devel.x86_64                      6.10.3-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-devel-matched.x86_64              6.10.3-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-headers.x86_64                    6.8.3-300.fc40                @anaconda
kernel-modules.x86_64                    6.8.5-301.fc40                @anaconda
kernel-modules-core.x86_64               6.8.5-301.fc40                @anaconda
kernel-modules-core.x86_64               6.10.3-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-modules-extra.x86_64              6.8.5-301.fc40                @anaconda
kernel-srpm-macros.noarch                1.0-23.fc40                   @fedora  
josiahrabe@fedora:~$ dnf repolist
repo id                                                                   repo name
copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:phracek:PyCharm                            Copr repo for PyCharm owned by phracek
copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:t0xic0der:nvidia-auto-installer-for-fedora Copr repo for nvidia-auto-installer-for-fedora owned by t0xic0der
cuda-fedora35-x86_64                                                      cuda-fedora35-x86_64
fedora                                                                    Fedora 40 - x86_64
fedora-cisco-openh264                                                     Fedora 40 openh264 (From Cisco) - x86_64
google-chrome                                                             google-chrome
rpmfusion-free                                                            RPM Fusion for Fedora 40 - Free
rpmfusion-free-updates                                                    RPM Fusion for Fedora 40 - Free - Updates
rpmfusion-nonfree                                                         RPM Fusion for Fedora 40 - Nonfree
rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver                                           RPM Fusion for Fedora 40 - Nonfree - NVIDIA Driver
rpmfusion-nonfree-steam                                                   RPM Fusion for Fedora 40 - Nonfree - Steam
rpmfusion-nonfree-updates                                                 RPM Fusion for Fedora 40 - Nonfree - Updates
updates                                                                                         Fedora 40 - x86_64 - Updates

Please remove or disable that obsolete repo since it does not apply to fedora 40 in any way. sudo dnf config-manager --disable cuda-fedora35-x86_64

The packages kernel-headers, kernel-modules and kernel-modules-extra are not installed for kernel 6.10.3 so that may be the reason for the drivers not being used (maybe not compiled properly). It certainly could explain the nouveau driver not being available for the 6.10.3 kernel.
I suggest that you run sudo dnf upgrade kernel* to get everything into sync (the kernel 6.10.4 is now available as well).

Hi,

have you seen this old Post: New install for Fedora 33 with Nvidia videocard - #12 by bachenberg

The biggest problem with NVidia are the many different solutions to the Problem, but you cant mix them.

Please remove every NVidia driver first: sudo dnf erase '*nvidia*'
and then only use the RPMFuision Repos and drivers.

sudo dnf install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

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
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Your suggestions seem very complete except for that command.
As written it will also remove the nvidia-gpu-firmware package which is required for many GPUs.
Changing that to sudo dnf remove \*nvidia\* --exclude nvidia-gpu-firmware will avoid that issue.
If already removed then reinstall it with sudo dnf install nvidia-gpu-firmware

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Alright, so after following your instructions, I have the drivers installed and working, but I have a slight issue. I power on, enter my encryption password, and the system boots. Gdm displays and I try to log in, but as soon as it tries to start gnome, my screen blacks out. I can access other tty’s when sitting in gdm on tty1, but not after gnome tries to start. Any ideas?

Now we need to know the status of both the kernel and the nvidia drivers.
Please post the output of dnf list installed kernel* and dnf list installed \*nvidia\* as well as inxi -Fzxx

Well, I let the system sit and I have access to GNOME now. Here’s the output of those commands:

josiahrabe@fedora:~$ dnf list installed kernel*
Installed Packages
kernel.x86_64                            6.8.5-301.fc40                @anaconda
kernel.x86_64                            6.10.4-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-core.x86_64                       6.8.5-301.fc40                @anaconda
kernel-core.x86_64                       6.10.4-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-devel.x86_64                      6.10.4-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-devel-matched.x86_64              6.10.4-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-headers.x86_64                    6.10.3-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-modules.x86_64                    6.8.5-301.fc40                @anaconda
kernel-modules.x86_64                    6.10.4-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-modules-core.x86_64               6.8.5-301.fc40                @anaconda
kernel-modules-core.x86_64               6.10.4-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-modules-extra.x86_64              6.8.5-301.fc40                @anaconda
kernel-modules-extra.x86_64              6.10.4-200.fc40               @updates 
kernel-srpm-macros.noarch                1.0-23.fc40                   @fedora  
josiahrabe@fedora:~$ dnf list installed \*nvidia\*
Installed Packages
akmod-nvidia-340xx.x86_64                       1:340.108-32.fc40 @rpmfusion-nonfree-updates
kmod-nvidia-340xx-6.10.4-200.fc40.x86_64.x86_64 1:340.108-32.fc40 @@commandline 
nvidia-gpu-firmware.noarch                      20240709-1.fc40   @updates      
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-340xx.x86_64                1:340.108-15.fc40 @rpmfusion-nonfree-updates
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-340xx-kmodsrc.x86_64        1:340.108-15.fc40 @rpmfusion-nonfree-updates
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-340xx-libs.x86_64           1:340.108-15.fc40 @rpmfusion-nonfree-updates
josiahrabe@fedora:~$ inxi -Fzxx
System:
  Kernel: 6.10.4-200.fc40.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 2.41-37.fc40
  Desktop: GNOME v: 46.4 tk: GTK v: 3.24.43 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM
    Distro: Fedora Linux 40 (Workstation Edition)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E6410 v: 0001
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 9 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0K42JR v: A03 serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Dell
    v: A17 date: 05/12/2017
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 35.9 Wh (100.0%) condition: 35.9/48.8 Wh (73.5%)
    volts: 12.3 min: 11.1 model: Samsung SDI DELL PT43699 serial: <filter>
    status: full
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Core i7 M 640 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Westmere
    rev: 5 cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 512 KiB L3: 4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1867 high: 2010 min/max: N/A cores: 1: 1725 2: 2010
    bogomips: 11172
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GT218M [NVS 3100M] vendor: Dell driver: nvidia v: 340.108
    arch: Tesla pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:0a6c
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.14 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.2
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: nvidia gpu: nvidia display-ID: :1
    screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1280x800 s-dpi: 96
  Monitor-1: DP-3 res: 1280x800 dpi: 107 diag: 357mm (14.06")
  API: OpenGL v: 3.3.0 vendor: nvidia v: 340.108 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: NVS 3100M/PCIe/SSE2
  API: EGL Message: EGL data requires eglinfo. Check --recommends.
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio
    vendor: Dell Latitude E6410 driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
    chip-ID: 8086:3b56
  Device-2: NVIDIA High Definition Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0be3
  API: ALSA v: k6.10.4-200.fc40.x86_64 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.0.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82577LM Gigabit Network vendor: Dell Latitude E6410
    driver: e1000e v: kernel port: 8040 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:10ea
  IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie:
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:088e
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Centrino Bluetooth Wireless Transceiver driver: btusb v: 0.8
    type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 2-1.5:3
    chip-ID: 8087:07da
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 4.0
    lmp-v: 6
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci
    v: 3.0 bus-ID: 00:1f.2 chip-ID: 8086:282a
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.94 TiB used: 43.18 GiB (2.2%)
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: SD128 size: 119.15 GiB type: Removable
    serial: <filter>
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: ST2000LM003 HN-M201RAD
    size: 1.82 TiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.82 TiB used: 7.14 GiB (0.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0
    mapped: luks-d02c7484-a234-4a03-a83c-5f7d88a96aab
  ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 359.2 MiB (36.9%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /home size: 1.82 TiB used: 7.14 GiB (0.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0
    mapped: luks-d02c7484-a234-4a03-a83c-5f7d88a96aab
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 7.74 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0 C mobo: N/A sodimm: SODIMM C gpu: nvidia
    temp: 79 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 3263
Info:
  Memory: total: 8 GiB available: 7.74 GiB used: 2.25 GiB (29.1%)
  Processes: 308 Power: uptime: 2h 23m wakeups: 1 Init: systemd v: 255
    target: graphical (5) default: graphical
  Packages: pm: flatpak pkgs: 9 Compilers: gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.26
    running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.34

Again, thanks to y’all!