Edit: “Updating to the legacy 580xx drivers doesn’t show me a desktop anymore”, just in case someone else can stumble upon this by searching something similar.
Thanks to @[email protected] and @[email protected] I did try fixing it out of curiosity. I had forgotten to install linux-headers. Hopefully someone who actually has the same problem as me, and needs to fix it, can use the tips given in the comments. On my end, I just had to install linux-headers and one reboot later it worked.
Always check if you have all needed packages and don’t just “remember” that you had them installed.
Hey Look, it’s me! I am on nobara against my fucking will. I spent all saturday screaming.
I’m going to refer the shit out of this thread in my news battle to get my goddamn debian OS back. DNF is scary and I can’t use signal.
Here’s my notes (WARNING: THESE NOTES LEAD TO FAILURE) :
- get verson info for KDE and NVIDIA drivers https://metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/changelogs//non-free-firmware/n/nvidia-graphics-drivers/nvidia-graphics-drivers_550.163.01-2_changelog https://packages.debian.org/trixie/nvidia-driver https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=nvidia&searchon=names&suite=trixie§ion=all https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17999695/debian-package-dependencies-installing-specific-version-not-the-latest added changes to /etc/apt/sources.list https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers?action=show&redirect=NVIDIA#Debian-13_notes 2 - 16 5 - 18 8-17 16 deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie main contrib non-free non-free-firmware 17 deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ trixie-security contrib non-free main non-free-firmware 18 deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie-updates non-free-firmware non-free contrib main 2 deb http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie main (contrib) non-free-firmware 5 deb http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie-updates main non-free-firmware (non-free contrib) 8 deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ trixie-security (contrib) main non-free-firmware added git to /etc ran git config --global --add safe.directory /etc because I was geting thsi eror : fatal: detected dubious ownership in repository at '/etc' To add an exception for this directory, call: installing drivers https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers?action=show&redirect=NVIDIA#Debian-13_notes apt install nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-driver WARNING: No kernel headers were found, skipping module build. To get the headers for the running kernel (6.12.57+deb13-amd64) please install the linux-headers-6.12.57+deb13-amd64 package. ran apt install linux-headers-generic to resolve I DID ACTUALL RUN THE FOLLOWING _____ Post-installation steps for Trixie Optionally verify the result of the DKMS module compilation: # dkms status If you plan to use wayland (which is a default for both the Gnome and KDE Plasma desktops since Debian 12 "Bookworm") make sure to follow the Wayland Modesetting notes below. If gnome starts with X11, you may enable wayland support by enabling NVreg_PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations=1 as mentioned below. If you plan to use suspend/hibernate functionality under KDE desktop environment, you may want to add another option to avoid graphics "glitches" after wakeup/restore: Warning: skip this step if you have Optimus hybrid graphics # echo "options nvidia NVreg_PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations=1" >> /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-options.conf In most cases a restart of the system is recommended to fully load the new driver. For wayland, check again if modeset is properly set, as described above. _____https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers?action=show&redirect=NVIDIA#Wayland_configuration and this wayland shit too _____You need a couple things:
- The kernel driver (dkms)
- Userspace component
- Kernel headers (for dkms)
First get your kernel headers, this is easy enough, but varies based on which kernel you have installed. The format of the package name is
{kernel}-headers. If you have thelinuxkernel, getlinux-headers. If you havelinux-lts, getlinux-lts-headers. If you’re not sure on this, the commandpacman -Q | grep linuxsearches for installed packages containinglinuxin the name. If you have multiple kernels installed, get the headers for all of them.Then install (from AUR) at least
nvidia-580xx-dkms(display out) andnvidia-580xx-utils(Acceleration, like 3D and video decoding). If you have Steam or play Windows games under Wine, be sure to getlib32-nvidia-580xx-utilstoo.Also of note is the order in which you install things. Having the kernel headers installed is important for the DKMS modules to install succesfully. If you already have
nvidia-580xx-dkmsbut were missing your kernel headers, you should reinstall it after installing your kernel headers.I keep hitting my face on the fact that DKMS modules somehow don’t depend on the kernel headers and these have to be installed manually. This happened to me both in Arch and in Debian.
Why does everyone seem to think that this makes sense?
Thank you very much. I could’ve sworn I had linux-headers installed. Frankly, I might’ve had them on a different device for some other reason. This is why you check your packages kids.
RIP. Time to pull out the backup, amiright?
right… the backup…
The backup specifically created for recovery…
The recovery backup…
Designed to backup the recovery…:
That backup?
It turned into a Llama 8 billion parameter didn’t it?
Recovery’s backup

Blessed be CachyOS for setting that shit up for me automatically.
While I agree snapper (what CachyOS uses) I very useful, it is important to draw a distinction between snapshots (snapper) and a proper backup tool (borg or restic). Snapshots are usually stored on the same drive, so in the event of a drive failure/corruption you are still very fucked. Proper backup programs also have other important features, like the ability to select remote locations, setup encryption, etc. DO NOT rely on snapper to (always) save your ass.
That being said, I fucking love snapper and it was the main feature I was missing from openSUSE.
Snapper can save you from OS destruction, not disk destruction.
Distro hopped recently. Loving it.
Now I get to say “I use Arch, btw” while still having nfi what I’m doing.
I like diving into the deep end and drown a few times too.
Have you heard of .pacnew files yet?
AMDs AMDingly
I just went over to NVK. I shouldn’t really waste my time playing the graphic intensive games anyway. The indies are better.
I tried dkms but it took so long to install I gave up.
OP has a pascal GPU, the Nouveau kernel drivers for pascal (which you need for nvk) aren’t really suitable because they can’t change the clock at runtime, you are stuck at boot clock (which you can configure)
Yep. I have a 1050 myself. Can’t really play anything 3D.
I’m safe, my ThinkPad doesn’t have an iGPU, and there’s no instructions on how to solder one onto an L440 motherboard.
You have btrfs and snapper, and just roll back to a working version in the grub menu, and install the legacy drivers before it all goes wrong
I have ext4 and efistub, and the attention span of a squirrel.
I have never before felt so much kinship from a single comment.
I started to read your comment, but there’s a car 100 metres up the road…
How do you roll back in the grub menu? Is that a feature of grub?
When I update the kernel it replaces both options in systemd-boot so rolling back snapper is a scary endeavor due to kernel - system mismatchs
grub-btrfs (But you have to use grub)
It seems it requires you don’t mount the EFI system partition over /boot so it’s included in snapshots, and systemd-boot doesn’t support booting from arbitrary partitions
Sell nvidia and buy amd.
Already bought intel. I am quite fond of the B580.
Good, as long as you checked the driver situation beforehand right… Right?
I did and I am quite happy with the state of them. Also Linus himself is using a B580 so it can’t be that bad (he doesn’t game on it)
Good to hear
how is it? I heard it’s a good hardware but terrible drivers, at least on windows. I don’t know the state of intel GPU drivers on Linux.
It’s quite an upgrade from my previous setup so I cannot tell you if it is good since my comparison is a 1050ti… But they’ve also made improvements to the drivers, even on windows as far as I remember.
Omg I remember running into something like this about 12 years ago. TTY did help but did need a reboot. I had to arch-chroot off the live usb so many times that night, my first ever Linux installation and I fucked up the bootloader and initial packages so hard so many times. I felt so cool when I was able to switch to another tty without needing yet another usb boot. Thanks for that memory.
Oh man, I remember fondly the days of booting to no gui. Typing out error codes to another computer to Google.
I don’t think I miss it. Linux has been super stable for me for a decade maybe, and I’ve been trying to game on it, so I used to have to fight with “faster” drivers all the time
Using arch is the first mistake.
Why?
I don’t think its an Arch issue. But on a system that has snapshots or generations or whatever Silverblue term is then the 30s remedy is reboot to an old snapshot
This can actually be done with any fs that supports cheap snapshots
Is nouveau open source driver for nvidia actually good for such old gpus?
Not for quite a few games. Some lighter titles might get away with it, but not a lot.
Modern schoolkids don’t read, so Arch should consider making 20-minute videos for every update. And a song like some of the *BSD.
What is the difference between arch drivers and say pop_os (my current daily)?
The difference is how often they’re updated.
Boot into a live boot install of some distro on a USB drive.
I did try that as well. The legacy drivers did install from the tty, still the system doesn’t see them, for lack of a better word. It is not a big issue though. I had already planned on upgrading since my current setup is very old.
Half of the new components have already arrived. The current PC will become a little home server running either Ubuntu or Debian most likely.
I just thought the situation was funny.
Did you also uninstall all of the components of the new driver as per the arch site?
Otherwise it’s investigate from the tty as to what driver, if any is in use for the gpu pci device.
Yessir. I did remove everything that was from the 590 driver before I installed everything from the legacy 580xx. I might have to load a kernel module somewhere, maybe. But the effort is not worth the payout. My data on the machine itself is not unrecoverable thankfully.
I have a 3080, so 590 is fine for me. But, I’m sure the legacy one is a dkms. But the process of installing that should be done as part of the install. E.g. you install, reboot
What does
lspci -kshow for the card in terms of Kernel driver in use, and kernel modules? Also what doesdkms statussay?If the module is installed and showing in dkms status and showing as used in lspci -k, it should be available for desktop environments.
I do agree in terms of effort when things go wrong though. I remember when I was a lot younger and I had no problems just sitting in front of my keyboard finding whatever the latest problem is. Now, I want to be doing things with my PC.
But, a bit of debugging might be worthwhile before doing a new installation.
I have never used Arch. And it may not be worthwhile for OP. But I am pretty confident that I could get that thing working again.
Booting into a rescue live-boot distro on USB, mount the Arch root somewhere, bind-mounting /sys, /proc, and /dev from the host onto the Arch root, and then chrooting to a bash on the Arch root and you’re basically in the child Arch environment and should be able to do package management, have DKMS work, etc.
But, they shouldn’t need rescue. The issue is no nvidia driver, but you can still login from the text terminals. Ctrl + Alt + F3, F4 etc etc. In fact when the window environment fails to load it should drop back to terminal.
Yeah, that’s what I did. But it didn’t drop to terminal because it was stuck on
/dev/sda2: clean. At first I thought it hadn’t booted at all. Frankly I think that was simply the last thing my monitor got from the GPU before it simply gave up. So i had to switch to TTY manually. That is my best guess.
Just for the record, Arch USB ISO has
arch-chrootcommand that does everything needed. So it’s quite easy to troubleshoot, when needed. Just mount what you need andarch-chrootthere.
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