Disappearing Nvidia drivers

[burntex]

see: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=341289

from above link I also posted the issue at https://github.com/tseliot/nvidia-prime/issues

[burntex]

still a problem after upgrading ubuntu-drivers-common from 1:0.8.40.20.04.2 to 1:0.8.6.40.20.04.1.
see above topics/links for latest status

[burntex]

OK I didn't realize there are 2 prime-supported files in Mint. One is in /usr/bin and the other is in /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/.
The applet uses the file in /usr/bin and nvidia-prime (select) uses the one in /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common
I would suggest a modification to the one in /usr/bin/ to address the problem when the applet checks to see if prime is supported.
Change

if [ -e "/var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/requires_offloading" ]; then
    echo "Requires offloading" >> $LOG 2>&1
    echo "yes"
else
    echo "No offloading required. Abort" >> $LOG 2>&1

To
if [ -e "/var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/prime-supported" ]; then
echo "Prime supported" >> $LOG 2>&1
echo "yes"
else
echo "Prime not supported. Abort" >> $LOG 2>&1

If you agree or sugggest something different let me know and you or I can update the issue in
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=341289

To avoid confusion in the future maybe rename /usr/bin/prime-supported to prime-supported-applet ?

Thx

[pnsantos]

I just noticed this on Linux Mint 20.1 - I looks like it either ubuntu-drivers-common or nvidia-prime changed which broke the way the applet would detect if PRIME was supported or not.

The current output of /usr/lib/nvidia-prime-applet/nvidia-prime is:

❯ /usr/lib/nvidia-prime-applet/nvidia-prime
Aborting: prime not supported - is this a prime laptop and do you have nvidia drivers installed?

At startup /usr/lib/nvidia-prime-applet/nvidia-prime does this:

    output = get_output(["prime-supported"])
    if output != "yes":
        print("Aborting: prime not supported - is this a prime laptop and do you have nvidia drivers installed?")
        sys.exit(0)

and if one looks in prime-supported (which comes from nvidia-prime package):

if [ -e "/var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/requires_offloading" ]; then
    echo "Requires offloading" >> $LOG 2>&1
    echo "yes"
else
    echo "No offloading required. Abort" >> $LOG 2>&1
    exit 0
fi

however if I look in /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/ (which comes from ubuntu-drivers-common package) all there is is this:

❯ ll /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/
total 12K
drwxr-xr-x  2 root 4.0K Jan 25 19:27 .
drwxr-xr-x 72 root 4.0K Nov  5 15:38 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root   50 Feb  8 15:06 last_gfx_boot

If I comment the nvidia-prime-applet if check the applet started fine (only the X server settings fail to be displayed - see below)

Running sudo prime-select query shows:

❯ sudo prime-select query         
intel

which is correct (I'm running in powersave mode).

Running sudo /usr/bin/prime-supported gives

❯ sudo /usr/bin/prime-supported
❯ cat /var/log/prime-supported.log
No offloading required. Abort

Not sure if this was like this before of if it changed though...

Technically speaking the drivers and card is working fine, I believe the issue here is just the way the applet is starting which seems to have been broken by either nvidia-prime or ubuntu-drivers-common packages in a recent update (not sure when exactly but it was working fine a few weeks ago).

Whatever changed in those packages also seems to break Nvidia X Server Settings now you get this:

and in syslog this:

Feb  8 17:15:07 Y03602 nvidia-settings[18364]: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Feb  8 17:15:07 Y03602 nvidia-settings[18364]: PRIME: No offloading required. Abort
Feb  8 17:15:07 Y03602 nvidia-settings[18364]: PRIME: is it supported? no

I did a search on lauchpad and this might be related:

• https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-settings/+bug/1895327

[firewiremb]

I have exactly the same problem since updating to Mint 20.1 with my Laptop https://termbin.com/z7ewh

Running sudo prime-select nvidia switches the active graphics card to nvidia. After that the prime applet shows up and Nvidia X Server Settings ist working again. But after switching back to intel and rebooting the Problem occurs again.

[sanjayakarunasena]

I also have the same problem. I think the issue is in the prime-supported script since in Intel (Power Saving) mode once the Laptop is restarted, the /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/requires_offloading file goes away. There should be a more reliable mechanism to check whether Prime is supported or not. I modified the prime-supported script to check whether /etc/prime-discrete is available or not and it works (including NVIDIA Settings).

if [ -e "/etc/prime-discrete" ]; then
    echo "Prime supported" >> $LOG 2>&1
    echo "yes"
else
    echo "Prime not supported. Abort" >> $LOG 2>&1
    exit 0
fi

[mdindoffer]

I also observe the applet is missing after upgrade to 20.1. Although it may have been caused by the new nvidia 460.39 drivers, not sure.

[genbushi]

Same behavior here on 20.1. The modification mentioned by @sanjayakarunasena did resolve the issue for me as well for both allowing the applet to run, and allowing nvidia-settings to run again.

[bentaye]

@sanjayakarunasena ' s fix worked for me too. Linux Mint 20.1, kernel 5.4.0-67

[sheturnedmeintoanewt]

I'm completely new to Linux Mint... running Lenovo Legion Y720 with 20.1 just installed, and I don't even know what this means but I see others reference it: Kernel: 5.4.0-73-generic
I've tried @sanjayakarunasena ' s fix, and I get the applet but not the nvidia-settings. I can change Prime profiles, but I have no access to the settings.
I assumed that:

if [ -e "/etc/prime-discrete" ]; then
echo "Prime supported" >> $LOG 2>&1
echo "yes"
else
echo "Prime not supported. Abort" >> $LOG 2>&1
exit 0
fi

is supposed to replace:

if [ -e "/var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/requires_offloading" ]; then
echo "Requires offloading" >> $LOG 2>&1
echo "yes"
else
echo "No offloading required. Abort" >> $LOG 2>&1
exit 0
fi

Oh, and I've tried both of these drivers: 460.73.01-0ubuntu0.20.04.2 and 465.27-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
Suggestions?

[sheturnedmeintoanewt]

I'm not sure if this is helpful or significant, but... my prime-supported script ends like this:

LOG=/var/log/prime-supported.log

if [ -n "$1" ]; then
LOG="$1"
fi

Remove any previous logs

as long as the log is an actual

file. In some cases we may pass

it /dev/stdout which is a link

if [ -f $LOG ]; then
rm -f $LOG
fi

if [ -e "/etc/prime-discrete" ]; then
echo "Prime supported" >> $LOG 2>&1
echo "yes"
else
echo "Prime not supported. Abort" >> $LOG 2>&1
exit 0
fi

When I do nvidia-settings in terminal, I get this output:

scott@scott-Lenovo-Y720-15IKB:~$ nvidia-settings

ERROR: NVIDIA driver is not loaded

ERROR: Unable to load info from any available system

(nvidia-settings:2390): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 17:02:28.570: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
** Message: 17:02:28.572: PRIME: Prime supported
** Message: 17:02:28.572: PRIME: is it supported? yes
** Message: 17:02:28.598: PRIME: Usage: /usr/bin/prime-select nvidia|intel|on-demand|query
** Message: 17:02:28.598: PRIME: on-demand mode: "1"
** Message: 17:02:28.598: PRIME: is "on-demand" mode supported? yes

While the tray icon says that I'm in nvidia performance mode.

[sheturnedmeintoanewt]

[clefebvre]

/etc/prime-discrete exists even on non-prime GPU.

A better way to identify a hybrid system is by looking in /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/last_gfx_boot. This file should contain two ID, one for Intel and one for NVIDIA.

[clefebvre]

I'll troubleshoot this tomorrow, identify who's maintaining what and where the regression comes from.

[sheturnedmeintoanewt]

Looking forward to any help on this. At this point, I've stopped trying.
Driver manager says that I have the 460 driver installed.
There is no applet in the system tray.
The Nvidia settings available through the main menu only shows prime profiles, but no settings.
"nvidia-settings" through the terminal spits out these:

So... I don't know what driver I'm actually using... or what's going on.

[sheturnedmeintoanewt]

I looked in /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/last_gfx_boot and see the following:

8086:591b;0000:00:02:0;1
10de:1c20;0000:01:00:0;0