[SOLVED] Boot to black screen after installing nvidia drivers

[FinalNeuron]

SOLVED: My solution was to use the 520 driver instead of the 520-open driver. Thanks again to SMG.

My main problem is that after installing a new nvidia GPU and the latest driver for it from Driver Manager (520-open), my machine reboots to a black screen.

Process was something like this. Installed new GPU. Plugged monitor into GPU's HDMI socket. Rebooted. Got the warning window mentioning "Your system is currently running without video hardware acceleration". Went to Driver Manager. It showed the nouveau driver currently active. Installed the 520-open driver as recommended in Driver Manager. Rebooted. Got the BIOS splash. I can get the GRUB menu. No Mint splash after this, just a black screen with a white cursor blinking intermittently in the top-left corner. System responds to the hardware power button and powers down. Rebooting into recovery mode on that kernel produces the same result; no Mint splash, black screen, blinking cursor.

I had GRUB disabled so my first workaround was to power off, uninstall the GPU, plug into the mobo's onboard HDMI socket, boot, and run:

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sudo apt purge nvidia*

Then power down, reinstall the GPU, plug back into it, and boot again. Back to the original scenario then, with the warning window and Driver Manager showing the nouveau driver active.

Enabled GRUB to display at boot after that.

Now to get more complicated. I installed the driver 520-open and booted an older kernel (see version below). It booted into Cinnamon, with a reduced resolution of 1024x768 and the warning of lacking hardware acceleration. This situation is probably the most useful, because I can actually get to a prompt to pull info.

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inxi -Fxxxrz

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System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-132-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.4.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7 wm: muffin 5.2.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: Z170-E v: Rev 1.xx serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: American Megatrends v: 3801 date: 03/14/2018 
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M510 
  serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes 
  status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i3-6320 bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Skylake-S rev: 3 L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 31199 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/3900 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 
  3: 802 4: 801 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: N/A bus ID: 01:00.0 
  chip ID: 10de:1f83 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: fbdev,nouveau 
  unloaded: modesetting,vesa resolution: 1024x768~76Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 12.0.0 256 bits) v: 4.5 Mesa 21.2.6 
  compat-v: 3.1 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:a170 
  Device-2: NVIDIA vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10de:10fa 
  Device-3: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 type: USB 
  driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus ID: 1-6:3 chip ID: 046d:082d 
  serial: <filter> 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-132-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k 
  port: f000 bus ID: 00:1f.6 chip ID: 8086:15b8 
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: TP-Link RTL8812AU Archer T4U 802.11ac type: USB 
  driver: rtl8812au bus ID: 1-5:2 chip ID: 2357:0101 serial: <filter> 
  IF: wlxec086b0c3206 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.14 TiB used: 493.89 GiB (42.4%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 250GB size: 232.89 GiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 2B6Q scheme: GPT 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-21WN4A0 
  size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> 
  rev: 1A01 scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 223.82 GiB used: 25.07 GiB (11.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
  ID-2: /home size: 711.16 GiB used: 468.81 GiB (65.9%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sdb1 
  ID-3: swap-1 size: 3.92 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list 
  1: deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jre-phoenix-ppa-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jre-phoenix/ppa/ubuntu xenial main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/jre-phoenix/ppa/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lutris-team-lutris-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/lutris-team/lutris/ubuntu focal main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/lutris-team/lutris/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/me-davidsansome-clementine-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/me-davidsansome/clementine/ubuntu xenial main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/me-davidsansome/clementine/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mmk2410-intellij-idea-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mmk2410/intellij-idea/ubuntu xenial main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/mmk2410/intellij-idea/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/obsproject-obs-studio-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/obsproject/obs-studio/ubuntu focal main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/obsproject/obs-studio/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/obsproject-obs-studio-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/obsproject/obs-studio/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com una main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openrazer-stable-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openrazer/stable/ubuntu xenial main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/openrazer/stable/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playonlinux.list 
  1: deb http://deb.playonlinux.com/ xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list 
  1: deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/steam.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64,i386] https://repo.steampowered.com/steam/ stable steam
  2: deb-src [arch=amd64,i386] https://repo.steampowered.com/steam/ stable steam
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-indicator-kdeconnect-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/indicator-kdeconnect/ubuntu xenial main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/indicator-kdeconnect/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-y-ppa-manager-bionic.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/y-ppa-manager/ubuntu bionic main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-y-ppa-manager-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/y-ppa-manager/ubuntu focal main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/y-ppa-manager/ubuntu focal main
Info:
  Processes: 238 Uptime: 3m Memory: 23.43 GiB used: 1.25 GiB (5.3%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38

Garbage I haven't mentioned yet:
Secure Boot is disabled. Haven't found a place in my BIOS to change settings for the GPU or to select one. BIOS firmware is at latest.

I don't mind running the older kernel if that's part of the solution. I was on 5.4 until I upgraded to try to troubleshoot this. I just wanna my GPU.

GPU is nvidia gtx 1630. nvidia specifically mentions their downloadable version of the 520 driver is compatible with this GPU, though I haven't tried their version, only the open one. They also advertise support for both kernels I tried.
http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... chips.html

Hail @SMG. You seem to have worked on every other issue like this I found on the board.

[SMG]

My main problem is that after installing a new nvidia GPU and the latest driver for it from Driver Manager (520-open), my machine reboots to a black screen.

Welcome to the forum, FinalNeuron.

Please do not use the "open" drivers. Yes, I know it is listed as recommended. Ignore that. Install the Nvidia-520 proprietary (no open in the name) which is probably at the bottom of the list in Driver Manager.

If you can not get to Driver Manager to install it, let us know and we'll do another option to get it installed.

Note: Xenial was Ubuntu 16.04. Focal was Ubuntu 18.04. You are currently using LM20.3 which is an Ubuntu 20.04 Focal base. Not a good idea to mix versions.

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Repos:
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list 
  1: deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jre-phoenix-ppa-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jre-phoenix/ppa/ubuntu xenial main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/jre-phoenix/ppa/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/me-davidsansome-clementine-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/me-davidsansome/clementine/ubuntu xenial main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/me-davidsansome/clementine/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mmk2410-intellij-idea-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mmk2410/intellij-idea/ubuntu xenial main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/mmk2410/intellij-idea/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/obsproject-obs-studio-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/obsproject/obs-studio/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openrazer-stable-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openrazer/stable/ubuntu xenial main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/openrazer/stable/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playonlinux.list 
  1: deb http://deb.playonlinux.com/ xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-indicator-kdeconnect-xenial.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/indicator-kdeconnect/ubuntu xenial main
  2: deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/indicator-kdeconnect/ubuntu xenial main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-y-ppa-manager-bionic.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/y-ppa-manager/ubuntu bionic main

[FinalNeuron]

Note: Xenial was Ubuntu 16.04. Focal was Ubuntu 18.04. You are currently using LM20.3 which is an Ubuntu 20.04 Focal base. Not a good idea to mix versions.

Sigh. I didn't even notice that. This is a good rule for me to follow. I'm probably wrong about what kernel I had immediately before this, then. I've upgraded between major versions over the years and have accumulated a few kernel versions.

@SMG you are a goddess, thank you. Installed 520, not 520-open, and booted into latest kernel just fine. Full resolution, no warning about hardware acceleration, and just to be sure I did:

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inxi -G

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Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA driver: nvidia v: 520.56.06 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: nvidia 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630/PCIe/SSE2 
  v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 520.56.06 

And because I think you'll appreciate it, let me say you've ended a couple of days of stressful troubleshooting. New Hardware Day is great until it doesn't work. So you've made my day and week. Thanks again.

Marking as solved...

[SMG]

@SMG you are a goddess, thank you. Installed 520, not 520-open, and booted into latest kernel just fine.

You're welcome. All looks good.

I think it's time I updated the Tips for Troubleshooting Graphics Issues (including external monitors not working) and explicitly mentioned to not use the "open" drivers. Maybe that will help.

[Kefren]

I just had the same problem. Installed teh recommended open driver, bricked my PC. It would only boot to a flashing cursor. Ctrl-Alt-F did nothing but flash text for a fraction of a second.

I booted into a terminal to install or remove drivers but it had no WiFi so it failed. I booted to a recovery USB but it couldn't find my hard drives. Nightmare.

Not sure how I fixed it. I think I tried grub menu advanced options, tried out things from a screen with buggy graphics, found a way to apparently boot into an older version of the OS (I really didn't know what I was doing) and with luck got to a desktop an hour or so after I started. I installed the non-open version of the drive,r rebooted, it all seems fine now. The open driver seems to be broken on some PCs. I have no idea what I'd have done if this hadn't worked - I pity any new users who go through this!

[SMG]

I just had the same problem. Installed teh recommended open driver, bricked my PC.

A bricked PC will not boot, so, no, your PC was not bricked.

I have no idea what I'd have done if this hadn't worked

You could have posted for help here like everyone else who has a problem does.

Or you could have restored to a Timeshift snapshot. Or you could have re-installed. There are numerous things you could have done.

Please do not make the exact same post on multiple topics. Your post does not offer a solution for those seeking help so there is no reason to post it more than once.

[Kefren]

You could have posted for help here like everyone else who has a problem does.

I couldn't get into my PC - my logins are stored on my hard drive and in my browser.

Or you could have restored to a Timeshift snapshot. Or you could have re-installed. There are numerous things you could have done.

I don't know how that works. Can you do it even if you can't get to the desktop? I did look into it once but it raised all sorts of issues and the system seemed too confusing to me as a new user. In this case, I couldn't even get to my hard drives where the backup would presumably have been stored. A message flashed up on boot about not being able to mount them or something like that (it was there for a fracetion of a second so I couldn't read it properly).

Please do not make the exact same post on multiple topics. Your post does not offer a solution for those seeking help so there is no reason to post it more than once.

Apologies, and noted. I think I was still in a kind of panic at what had just occurred (and that I had somehow found a way out of it). So I probably just wanted to flag it up as a possibly serious issue for new users.

[SMG]

Or you could have restored to a Timeshift snapshot. Or you could have re-installed. There are numerous things you could have done.

I don't know how that works. Can you do it even if you can't get to the desktop?

If you have your install usb/dvd, you can boot to it and, using Timeshift on the live session from your install usb/dvd, you can access snapshots stored on your hard drive. That is one reason we recommend to keep an install usb handy. You do not even have to have the same version of Linux Mint on the install usb as your installed session. However, you would need to have made snapshots of your system when it was working.

Timeshift can also be run manually and saved to an external drive. Here is the method I use How to Use Timeshift to Backup and Restore Linux Mint 19 Systems from USB Drive. (It works the same for LM20 and LM21.)

I recommend making sure you have a backup/recovery plan for when you run into issues. Even if you never have another issue, the peace of mind it gives knowing you have a plan in place is worth the time it takes to create and implement the plan.

[Kefren]

If you have your install usb/dvd, you can boot to it and, using Timeshift on the live session from your install usb/dvd, you can access snapshots stored on your hard drive. That is one reason we recommend to keep an install usb handy. You do not even have to have the same version of Linux Mint on the install usb as your installed session. However, you would need to have made snapshots of your system when it was working.

Timeshift can also be run manually and saved to an external drive. Here is the method I use How to Use Timeshift to Backup and Restore Linux Mint 19 Systems from USB Drive. (It works the same for LM20 and LM21.)

I recommend making sure you have a backup/recovery plan for when you run into issues. Even if you never have another issue, the peace of mind it gives knowing you have a plan in place is worth the time it takes to create and implement the plan.

Thanks, I'll have another look at Timeshift. It may be that I decided against it because I do have a backup/recovery plan, just different. I store my desktop and all personal files on an SSD, and use Freefilesync to back it all up to an external HDD I keep off site (an alternating pair). The advantage of that over timeshift was that if I have a failure I can still access my personal files from another PC if required (whereas a timeshift backup would just be a single unusable file if I accessed it from my girlfriend's PC I think). I guess it seems to be a choice between backing up personal files as personal files, or backing up everything including OS and personal files (Timeshift). There are pros and cons to both - what I like about my method is that I can reinstall or change my OS, and every file I care about can then just be copied straight onto the new one. But I am learning all the time. Last week I was super impressed to learn some reboot and poweroff terminal commands, and how to transfer audio and video to the TV/hifi instead of my monitor and headphones, so I can play Linux games on the settee. Thanks for your help! Oh, and I do have a box of USBs that are purely OSs, and I use the two Linux ones in emergency (one is my Mint install USB, the other is some form of Linux emergency OS). I love how they run from USB, whereas with Windows you are stuffed.

[SMG]

I guess it seems to be a choice between backing up personal files as personal files, or backing up everything including OS and personal files (Timeshift).

Timeshift's default settings do not back up personal files. Timeshift is meant as a back-up of only the operating system.

That means when I restore to an older snapshot, none of my personal files created since that snapshot were made are impacted.

[Kefren]

Timeshift's default settings do not back up personal files. Timeshift is meant as a back-up of only the operating system.
That means when I restore to an older snapshot, none of my personal files created since that snapshot were made are impacted.

Ah, thank you for explaining that, I somehow missed it when I last looked! So it makes sense to do personal files via FFS or alternatives, but OS via Timeshift. Many thanks!

[Kefren]

Timeshift's default settings do not back up personal files. Timeshift is meant as a back-up of only the operating system.
That means when I restore to an older snapshot, none of my personal files created since that snapshot were made are impacted.

Thanks again for this. I've just repurposed a USB stick that I will leave in my PC for scheduled Timeshift OS backups, providing me with other options in future (and I'll continue with the FFS system for backing up my personal files). Hopefully if something like the Nvidia crash happens again I'll be able to counteract it more easily. Cheers!