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Which nvidia driver am I using

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  Which nvidia driver am I using Erwan David <erwan@rail.eu.org> - 2019-05-04 20:10 +0200
    Re: Which nvidia driver am I using Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2019-05-04 20:30 +0200
      Re: Which nvidia driver am I using Erwan David <erwan@rail.eu.org> - 2019-05-04 21:00 +0200
        Re: Which nvidia driver am I using Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2019-05-04 21:40 +0200
          Re: Which nvidia driver am I using Erwan David <erwan@rail.eu.org> - 2019-05-04 22:10 +0200
            Re: Which nvidia driver am I using Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2019-05-04 22:40 +0200
              Re: Which nvidia driver am I using Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2019-05-05 12:00 +0200
                Re: Which nvidia driver am I using Erwan David <erwan@rail.eu.org> - 2019-05-05 13:10 +0200
                Re: Which nvidia driver am I using Erwan David <erwan@rail.eu.org> - 2019-05-05 15:10 +0200
                  Re: Which nvidia driver am I using Erwan David <erwan@rail.eu.org> - 2019-05-05 20:50 +0200
                  Re: Which nvidia driver am I using Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2019-05-05 20:50 +0200

#208134 — Which nvidia driver am I using

I have some display problems, I thought I was using the
nvidia-legacy-39xx driver (the packages are installed) but I see the
nouveau module loaded.

How can I check wether I use the nouveau driver or not, and how can I
switch the used driver ?


Thank you

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#208139

Erwan David composed on 2019-05-04 20:06 (UTC+0200):

> I have some display problems, I thought I was using the
> nvidia-legacy-39xx driver (the packages are installed) but I see the
> nouveau module loaded.

> How can I check wether I use the nouveau driver or not, and how can I
> switch the used driver ?

There is no "the" nouveau driver. There is a nouveau kernel driver, and a nouveau
DDX (Xorg) driver.

	inxi -Gxx

will report the name of both kernel driver in use and the X driver in use. The DDX
is provided by the optional but usually installed package
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau. When neither it nor a proprietary NVidia driver are
installed, the default DDX is usually used, modesetting (provided by the server
package; not to be confused with the modesetting process provided by the kernel,
which it depends on).

Switching between nouveau DDX and modesetting DDX is /most easily/ accomplished by
simply adding or removing the nouveau DDX package. Switching between NVidia and
either of the others /depends on/ adding or removing the NVidia package precisely
according to its documentation.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is religion, not science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

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#208141

Le 04/05/2019 à 20:24, Felix Miata a écrit :
> Erwan David composed on 2019-05-04 20:06 (UTC+0200):
>
>> I have some display problems, I thought I was using the
>> nvidia-legacy-39xx driver (the packages are installed) but I see the
>> nouveau module loaded.
>> How can I check wether I use the nouveau driver or not, and how can I
>> switch the used driver ?
> There is no "the" nouveau driver. There is a nouveau kernel driver, and a nouveau
> DDX (Xorg) driver.
>
> 	inxi -Gxx
>
> will report the name of both kernel driver in use and the X driver in use. The DDX
> is provided by the optional but usually installed package
> xserver-xorg-video-nouveau. When neither it nor a proprietary NVidia driver are
> installed, the default DDX is usually used, modesetting (provided by the server
> package; not to be confused with the modesetting process provided by the kernel,
> which it depends on).
>
> Switching between nouveau DDX and modesetting DDX is /most easily/ accomplished by
> simply adding or removing the nouveau DDX package. Switching between NVidia and
> either of the others /depends on/ adding or removing the NVidia package precisely
> according to its documentation.


Ok, I did not know inxi.

Output is

Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA GF108M [NVS 5400M] vendor: Lenovo driver:
nouveau v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:0def
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.3 driver: modesetting
unloaded: fbdev,vesa compositor: kwin_x11 tty: N/A
           OpenGL: renderer: NVC1 v: 4.3 Mesa 18.3.4 direct render: Yes

So nouveau/modesetting is used.

The nvidia driver was used but when It stopped supporting my card (and I
had to install the nvidia-legacy-39xx driver) something was not done
correctly.

However I had not many choice at that time it was either install the
legacy packages or have a broken install including other packages.

What are my options now ? I do not know where to begin looking for
documentation on reparaing my install.

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#208148

Erwan David composed on 2019-05-04 20:52 (UTC+0200):

>>> I have some display problems
...
> Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA GF108M [NVS 5400M] vendor: Lenovo driver:
> nouveau v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:0def
>            Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.3 driver: modesetting
> unloaded: fbdev,vesa compositor: kwin_x11 tty: N/A
>            OpenGL: renderer: NVC1 v: 4.3 Mesa 18.3.4 direct render: Yes

> What are my options now ? I do not know where to begin looking for
> documentation on reparaing my install.
What are your "display problems"? How do you know the problem isn't Mesa or Kwin
or Plasma rather than a kernel or DDX driver? Have you tried disabling compositing
in systemsettings5? Does the trouble go away if you use a different WM? What was
the last thing you remember doing before "display problems" began? Does
/etc/X11/xorg.conf exist? If it does, try removing it. The nouveau DDX and
modesetting DDX almost never need it. Is there anything in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/?
If yes, what is in it? Upload your /var/log/Xorg.0.log where we can see it (man
pastebinit) and maybe someone can spot a problem. Inxi doesn't show the nouveau
DDX to be available. Maybe installing xserver-xorg-video-nouveau would improve
things. If it's already installed, an NVidia driver remnant might be blocking its use.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is religion, not science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

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#208154

Le 04/05/2019 à 21:33, Felix Miata a écrit :
> Erwan David composed on 2019-05-04 20:52 (UTC+0200):
>
>>>> I have some display problems
> ...
>> Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA GF108M [NVS 5400M] vendor: Lenovo driver:
>> nouveau v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:0def
>>            Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.3 driver: modesetting
>> unloaded: fbdev,vesa compositor: kwin_x11 tty: N/A
>>            OpenGL: renderer: NVC1 v: 4.3 Mesa 18.3.4 direct render: Yes
>> What are my options now ? I do not know where to begin looking for
>> documentation on reparaing my install.
> What are your "display problems"? 


Sometimes it locks, regularly only the upper half of the (visual) screen
is displayed in the lower half of the physical screen, etc.


> How do you know the problem isn't Mesa or Kwin
> or Plasma rather than a kernel or DDX driver?

I do not, I only know it worked whe I used nivdia drivers.


>  Have you tried disabling compositing
> in systemsettings5?


No, but has it an effect on the globall display ?


>  Does the trouble go away if you use a different WM? 


I have only KDE


> What was
> the last thing you remember doing before "display problems" began?

aptitude upgrade, message that nvidia-driver was not compatible anymore
with my card, do you want to continue ? -> No

Then all packages which where to be upgraded in half-installed state,
purging nvidia-driver* packages finishing the install of the other
packages, installing nvidia-legacy-390xx-* packages

>  Does
> /etc/X11/xorg.conf exist? 
No.
> If it does, try removing it. The nouveau DDX and
> modesetting DDX almost never need it. Is there anything in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/?

There is the configuration of my thinkpad trackpad

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier      "Trackpoint Wheel Emulation"
        MatchProduct    "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick|Synaptics
Inc. Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint|ThinkPad USB Keyboard with
TrackPoint|USB Trackpoint pointing device|Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Option          "EmulateWheel"          "true"
        Option          "EmulateWheelButton"    "2"
        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"       "false"
        Option          "XAxisMapping"          "6 7"
        Option          "YAxisMapping"          "4 5"
EndSection

> If yes, what is in it? Upload your /var/log/Xorg.0.log where we can see it (man
> pastebinit) and maybe someone can spot a problem. 
It is at https://paste.debian.net/1081484/ I did not find anything
suspect in it.
> Inxi doesn't show the nouveau
> DDX to be available. Maybe installing xserver-xorg-video-nouveau would improve
> things. If it's already installed, an NVidia driver remnant might be blocking its use.

it is installed, but obviously not used

Here are all the nvidia packages installed :

dpkg -l 'nvidia*'|grep -v '^un'
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                                        Version      Architecture Description
+++-===========================================-============-============-=========================================================================
ii  nvidia-alternative                          410.104-3    amd64        allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
ii  nvidia-detect                               410.104-3    amd64        NVIDIA GPU detection utility
ii  nvidia-egl-common                           410.104-3    amd64        NVIDIA binary EGL driver - common files
ii  nvidia-installer-cleanup                    20151021+9   amd64        cleanup after driver installation with the nvidia-installer
ii  nvidia-kernel-common                        20151021+9   amd64        NVIDIA binary kernel module support files
ii  nvidia-legacy-390xx-alternative             390.116-1    amd64        allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider (390xx legacy version)
ii  nvidia-legacy-390xx-driver                  390.116-1    amd64        NVIDIA metapackage (390xx legacy version)
ii  nvidia-legacy-390xx-driver-bin              390.116-1    amd64        NVIDIA driver support binaries (390xx legacy version)
ii  nvidia-legacy-390xx-driver-libs:amd64       390.116-1    amd64        NVIDIA metapackage (OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES libraries) (390xx legacy version)
ii  nvidia-legacy-390xx-egl-icd:amd64           390.116-1    amd64        NVIDIA EGL installable client driver (ICD)
ii  nvidia-legacy-390xx-kernel-dkms             390.116-1    amd64        NVIDIA binary kernel module DKMS source (390xx legacy version)
ii  nvidia-legacy-390xx-kernel-support          390.116-1    amd64        NVIDIA binary kernel module support files (390xx legacy version)
ii  nvidia-legacy-390xx-vdpau-driver:amd64      390.116-1    amd64        Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix - NVIDIA driver (390xx legacy)
ii  nvidia-legacy-check                         410.104-3    amd64        check for NVIDIA GPUs requiring a legacy driver
ii  nvidia-modprobe                             410.93-1     amd64        utility to load NVIDIA kernel modules and create device nodes
ii  nvidia-persistenced                         410.104-1    amd64        daemon to maintain persistent software state in the NVIDIA driver
ii  nvidia-settings                             410.104-2    amd64        tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii  nvidia-settings-legacy-390xx                390.116-1    amd64        tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver (390xx legacy version)
ii  nvidia-support                              20151021+9   amd64        NVIDIA binary graphics driver support files

And from my past experiences, to get a smooth use (eg whe I put laptop
on dock it automatically uses the second screen) I would have prefered
to continue use the nvidia driver.

However I I must completely reinstall the nvidia driver for this, I'll
firts purge all those packages, hoping it will be sufficient to get a
working nouveau installation.


Thanks for looking at my problem

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#208160

Erwan David composed on 2019-05-04 22:06 (UTC+0200):

>>  Have you tried disabling compositing in systemsettings5?

> No, but has it an effect on the globall display ?

It can reduce overhead and make problems go away. It can serve as a
troubleshooting step, as simple to engage as disengage.

>>  Does the trouble go away if you use a different WM?

> I have only KDE

That's easy to fix at minimal cost:

	apt install icewm

It takes little space and makes it simple to discern whether the trouble is in
KDE/Plasma or not. Once installed, select it from the SDDM login greeter.

Does the trouble begin in SDDM, or only after logging into Plasma? Are you
graphical booting with Plymouth? If so, it might be worth disabling or purging. It
can be a problem for NVidia users.

> However I I must completely reinstall the nvidia driver for this, I'll
> firts purge all those packages, hoping it will be sufficient to get a
> working nouveau installation. 

Any time NVidia has been installed, to get any other DDX to work requires perfect
purging of the proprietary software, which may have included blacklisting and/or
library changes. With as many nvidia-legacy packages as you still have installed,
I'm surprised the modesetting DDX is even trying to work. Once you've purged the
old NVidia packages, modesetting and/or nouveau should work better, but even if
not, that becomes the point at which to try installing whatever NVidia package is
supported.

Since Buster hasn't been released yet, it might be that your trouble is worth a
bug report.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is religion, not science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

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#208186

> will renaming my .kde directory to something else be sufficient for a test 
Highly unlikely. KDE rudely mixes most of its settings with other apps in
~/.config/. I don't think ~/.kde/ is used at all any more. Better to create a new
user for testing to see if the problem survives there. If the problem disappears
in the new user, then you can try eliminating identifiable KDE settings files and
directories from ~/.config/.
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is religion, not science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

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#208198

Le 05/05/2019 à 12:58, Ivan Ivanov a écrit :
> AMD has a really great opensource graphic drivers, so maybe just
> change your GPU ? To solve this kind of problems once and forever...
>
It is a laptop, so not possible. (and I had bad experience with fglrx
drivers, but it may have changed)

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#208205

Le 05/05/2019 à 11:52, Felix Miata a écrit :
>> will renaming my .kde directory to something else be sufficient for a test 
> Highly unlikely. KDE rudely mixes most of its settings with other apps in
> ~/.config/. I don't think ~/.kde/ is used at all any more. Better to create a new
> user for testing to see if the problem survives there. If the problem disappears
> in the new user, then you can try eliminating identifiable KDE settings files and
> directories from ~/.config/.


Thanks. I have a hint : reducing refresh rate to 50Hz instead of
"automatic" seems to give a more stable graphical session.

I also had the following message on the text console after my graphical
screen got messed :

[ 7009.004936] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: disp: outp 04:0006:0344: link rate
unsupported by sink
[ 7009.005030] nouveau 0000:01:00.0: disp: outp 04:0006:0344: training
failed

Which makes me think that a setting (of plasma) working with the nvidia
driver does not work (at least with the modesetting DDX).

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#208228

Le 05/05/2019 à 20:43, Felix Miata a écrit :
> Erwan David composed on 2019-05-05 15:01 (UTC+0200):
>
>> ...the nvidia driver does not work (at least with the modesetting DDX). 
> The featured component of an NVidia "driver" installation is its DDX. If you're
> using NVidia's proprietary "driver", you're not using the modesetting DDX or the
> nouveau DDX.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_Dependent_X


At time I sent my first email I was using (as said by inxi) the nouveau
kernel module and the modesetting DDX. I now have a stable configuration
with nouveau kernel module and nouveau DDX (just had to add a section
Section "Device"
  Identifier "Video Card"
  Driver "nouveau"
EndSection
)

Thanks to all people who gave me hints, I have now a working config.

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#208229

Erwan David composed on 2019-05-05 15:01 (UTC+0200):

> ...the nvidia driver does not work (at least with the modesetting DDX). 

The featured component of an NVidia "driver" installation is its DDX. If you're
using NVidia's proprietary "driver", you're not using the modesetting DDX or the
nouveau DDX.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_Dependent_X
-- 
Evolution as taught in public schools is religion, not science.

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

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