[Solved]Nvidia driver 367.57 not loading kernel module

[Tallone55]

As a user if linux mint 18, I'm joining the throngs of people having issues with the Nvidia proprietary driver (version 367.57) after the most recent series of kernel/driver updates.

After a recent kernel update from 4.4.0-45-generic to 4.4.0-47-generic, my Nvidia driver ceased loading after the reboot. I've been using driver-manager for nearly a year now exclusively to automatically handle driver installation. When a kernel update shows up in mintupdate, I revert to Nouveau drivers, install the update, then reboot. When I get back into my desktop, I install the proprietary driver again and reboot. For over 9 months, this has worked well; I've had no issues with my drivers and life has been blissful.

This time, however, when I reinstalled the Nvidia drivers my system seemed normal until I tried to use applications which require 3D acceleration. Games would all run at substantially lower framerates, which told me I was using the nouveau drivers. Puzzled, I restarted, thinking I may have forgotten to restart after re-installing the Nvidia driver. I was paying attention to the output this time though, and noticed an error with the Nvidia driver not being loaded. I logged back into my desktop, tested and found that I was still using the nouveau drivers.

As it currently stands, I haven't been able to get my drivers working properly yet. After every restart I'm using the nouveau drivers. Cinnamon has *not* crashed as I've seen other people report, and everything seems to work normally other than the Nvidia drivers. When I use driver-manager to set the active driver to nvidia-367.57 It seems to work fine until I restart, when it will be again set to use nouveau drivers.

Running nvidia-settings from the terminal outputs:

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** Message: PRIME: No offloading required. Abort
** Message: PRIME: is it supported? no

ERROR: nvidia-settings could not find the registry key file. This file should
       have been installed along with this driver at
       /usr/share/nvidia/nvidia-application-profiles-key-documentation. The
       application profiles will continue to work, but values cannot be
       prepopulated or validated, and will not be listed in the help text.
       Please see the README for possible values and descriptions.

Relevant output of

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inxi -Fxz

is

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Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GM107 [GeForce GTX 750 Ti] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) FAILED: nouveau
           Resolution: 1280x1024@60.02hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NV117
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes

Relevant output of

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dkms status

is

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nvidia-367, 367.57, 4.4.0-47-generic, x86_64: installed

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ubuntu-drivers devices

is

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== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.0 ==
vendor   : NVIDIA Corporation
modalias : pci:v000010DEd00001380sv00003842sd00003753bc03sc00i00
model    : GM107 [GeForce GTX 750 Ti]
driver   : nvidia-367 - distro non-free recommended
driver   : xserver-xorg-video-nouveau - distro free builtin
driver   : nvidia-340 - distro non-free

== cpu-microcode.py ==
driver   : amd64-microcode - distro non-free

nvidia-related entries in /var/log/Xorg.0.log are

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[    45.390] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 0
[    45.390] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 2
[    45.390] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
[    45.391] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module nvidia
[    45.391] (II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
[    45.391] (II) Unloading nvidia
[    45.391] (EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)
[    45.452] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 0
[    45.452] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 2
[    45.452] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
[    45.452] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module nvidia
[    45.452] (II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
[    45.452] (II) Unloading nvidia
[    45.452] (EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)

Reading through the forums I've found that many people have similar issues, the closest being this:
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=179658

But the solution it suggests isn't something I'm willing to do, since it would just delay my problem (from experience)

[Atypical User]

Wild unqualified guess: The driver has to be recompiled against the specific kernel version. And even then it would require the registration to give it permission to work with the kernel in a "secure boot" scenario.

A way to test this: Use the grub menu to select the 4.4.0-45-generic kernel when booting, then repeat your checks. (This won't affect your later kernel, and that later kernel will still be the default on subsequent boots.)

A possible workaround is to use nomodeset on the grub command line to load your kernel image, but that is the only "straw" I managed to "grasp". If you make that change to test, don't forget to sudo update-grub2 (or sudo update-grub depending on your version of grub) before restarting. Do a search for references to that option in this forum; Pjotr has instructions at his "Easy Linux tips project" site which you can find in his signature.

[trytip]

run sudo nvidia-xconfig and reboot

[Tallone55]

@trytip nvidia-xconfig is not installed, nor is it available in any of my repositories.

From what I've read it should be included in my driver?

@Atypical User I reverted to 4.4.0-45, deleted 47 and then attempted to install the driver again (through driver-manager). I had the same issues as with 47, so I returned to using 47 to troubleshoot.

[roblm]

Use this command to check if the file nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf was created, which disables the nouveau driver:

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ls /etc/modprobe.d/

If it is listed, then sometimes the system is not updated after changing drivers, so use this command:

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sudo update-initramfs -u

If the file is not listed, then use this command to create it:

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gksudo xed /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf

In the opened empty file, add these two lines:

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blacklist nouveau
options nouveau modeset=0

Then update the system with sudo update-initramfs -u

Reboot. If that doesn't work, then use this command to check if the Nvidia kernel module, nvidia_367.ko, was created:

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ls /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/char/drm/

[Tallone55]

Blacklisting the Nouveau driver was sufficient to get Nvidia working, which is odd since I've never had to blacklist it in the past when installing through driver-manager.

I am now having issues with missing ttys and being unable to see anything until presented with a login screen, but I think I'll open another thread for that. Thank you everyone.

[roblm]

I am now having issues with missing ttys and being unable to see anything until presented with a login screen.

Check the info in these two topics:
viewtopic.php?t=168108
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=79566&p=462365