Unable to locate nvidia drivers

[Rock Ingersol]

I am trying to install the latest Nvidia drivers but I get the warning message that it is "Unable to locate package nvidia-driver-396".

I used these terminal commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton ... .md#nvidia

I am using Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon 64bit. Everything points to this page and these terminal commands as the ones to use but they don't work? Not sure what to do or if I need to clean things up now that those terminal commands didn't work?

[JoeFootball]

Not sure what to do or if I need to clean things up now that those terminal commands didn't work?

After you added the PPA, did you refresh your cache so it reflects newly added sources?

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update

Joe

[Rock Ingersol]

Not sure what to do or if I need to clean things up now that those terminal commands didn't work?

After you added the PPA, did you refresh your cache so it reflects newly added sources?

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update

Joe

No I just used these two commands that it shows to use:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

I noticed the update command on another page. So now I am confused as to the order in which the terminal commands should be used. Should I do this in the terminal?

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

Or maybe I should do this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update

and then this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

The instructions on that site are not very clear or at least not to me. Once I figure it out I can write down my own notes on the steps to use in case I ever have to update them again. I heard somewhere that updating the kernel means I will have to go through this process again. Also do I need to use any terminal commands to clean things up on my failed attempt at installing these drivers? I remember I had to do that once before because I used a command twice and it created a duplicate or something and things wouldn't install after that.

[JoeFootball]

I remember I had to do that once before because I used a command twice and it created a duplicate or something and things wouldn't install after that.

Yes, I think you can cause duplicate issues by adding a PPA twice or something like that. So, let's take a look at these commands and get an understanding of what they mean, and the order you want to execute them.

1. sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa This adds the PPA to your system, so that LM knows where to look for the software you're trying to install. You only need to do this one time, and from what I can assess, that worked, so just take note that's what it does.

2. sudo apt-get update This updates your cache, so it can take into account the newly added PPA sources. This is the step I think you were missing, where the PPA was added, but your cache was not reflecting it. This is also what Refresh does in the Update Manager, if you wanted to do it from there instead. Nothing wrong with running this multiple times, but the novelty wears off pretty quick.

3. sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396 This installs the driver which the newly added PPA is hosting. If you tried to execute this more that ones, your system would just tell you it's already installed (or update it if there were an update to be had in the future). You can also do this via Update Manager.

Make sense?

Joe

[Rock Ingersol]

So if I understand correctly then all I have to do is:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

Yes that makes sense and I wish your instructions were on that link. If they had been I probably wouldn't have had this problem.

Now that I know how to install the drivers properly I am still curious as to whether or not I need to use any terminal commands to clean things up before I use those commands in the terminal again.

In the terminal I did this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

After I got the message that it couldn't locate the nvidia drivers I used the terminal command "sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396" one more time to see what would happen and if it would give the same warning message. So did I mess anything up and are there any terminal commands I should use to clean things up? I could also use Timeshift and go back to a recent snapshot if that would be easier.

Edit:

Since I have used these commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

I am guessing if I were to use the correct method by doing this in the terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

I will be adding the PPA to my system twice so maybe now all I need to use in the terminal is:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

In other words I only need to use two of those three terminal commands this time since I already added the PPA once and still have the terminal window open. Sorry but this is confusing and now that I know how to properly do it I am still not exactly clear on the method to use after the mistake I made.

[JoeFootball]

So if I understand correctly then all I have to do is:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

That's what you should have done originally, but not now. You've already added the PPA (first command), so no need to do that again.

You still need to refresh your cache (second command), or just do this via the Update Manager. This is the step I think you missed, which caused the next step to fail.

Lastly, you need to install the driver (third command), or just do so via the Update Manager.

So did I mess anything up ...

Nope.

... and are there any terminal commands I should use to clean things up? I could also use Timeshift and go back to a recent snapshot if that would be easier.

Having a Timeshift snapshot ready beforehand is a great idea.

Joe

[Rock Ingersol]

I did:

sudo apt-get update

and that looks like it worked correctly but then I did:

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

and got this message:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
nvidia-driver-396 : Depends: nvidia-dkms-396 (= 396.54-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: nvidia-utils-396 (= 396.54-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libnvidia-fbc1-396 (= 396.54-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: libnvidia-fbc1-396:i386 (= 396.54-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1)
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

[Rock Ingersol]

My update manager just updated and now I noticed it is showing these options:

nvidia-graphics-driver-390 (which is the 390.87 driver)

nvidia settings (396.54)

vulkan-loader (1.1.82)

Looks like it is suggesting I update to the 390.87 drivers but I am trying to update to the 396 dirvers.

Edit:

Would these problems have anything to do with the vulkan-loader? Is that something I needed to install first or do I already have it installed and that is just an update?

[JoeFootball]

Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.

Looks like it is suggesting I update to the 390.87 drivers but I am trying to update to the 396 dirvers.

Now you question becomes out of scope of being able to refresh a PPA cache and locate a driver. To which, I must defer to others, as I know little about Nvidia drivers.

As you have technically located the driver in question, I recommend that you post a new topic in Board index > Main Edition Support > Hardware Support > Graphics Cards & Monitors where it may get more educated eyes on it.

I think a good first question would be, what Nvidia driver should I install for my system? They would probably want to see the output of inxi -Fxz for that as well.

Good luck!

Joe

[Rock Ingersol]

I think I am going to stay as far away as possible from the terminal in the future. I've looked at the links for updating to the latest nvidia drivers and watched videos on it as well but I am guessing that they seem to leave out critical steps that need to be done. I hope updating drivers on Linux gets easier in the future because I am in way over my head right now.

Thank you for the help and I do appreciate it but I am going to do a rollback and not bother with updating drivers ever again unless they are offered in the update manager.

[JoeFootball]

Thank you for the help and I do appreciate it

You're quite welcome.

... not bother with updating drivers ever again unless they are offered in the update manager.

That is definitely an option.

Joe

[Rock Ingersol]

Using Timeshift to go back probably took less than 10 seconds and then about 15 seconds to reboot so it was rather painless. The quick start instructions at:

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton ... PREREQS.md

say that is all you have to do and then you are done but I can not see how that can be true for every distro of Linux. Seems like there are other steps that are involved depending on the distro that is being used. I thought it might have something to do with the dependency settings in Synaptic Package Manager because I saw a tutorial on that showing how to enable it and I checked again and I already have it enabled.

I am not worried about it and have a better understanding of it now but am done messing around with things for now. It is still in beta and I am going to wait awhile and see what changes before attempting it again. Thanks again for the help.

[JoeFootball]

... I can not see how that can be true for every distro of Linux

I can't speak to this specific article, but you are correct that many "solutions" you may find on the Internet are distribution-specific, and may not indicate that fact as well.

Thanks again for the help.

You're welcome, and good luck!

Joe