Today after upgrading to the new kernel 5.10.9 via normal YaST/zypper dup process, my notebook can’t boot with X graphics. I had to reboot and select the previous kernel 5.10.7 at boot to get the normal graphic login. Then I downloaded new Nvidia driver NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-460.39.run and moved it to the root directory. After rebooting with text login, re-installed the Nvidia driver, did mkinitrd, then rebooted, now the notebook boots with normal graphics. Conclusion: with each new kernel upgrade, system with a Nvidia card has to re-install Nvidia driver for the new kernel.
Operating System: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20210126
KDE Plasma Version: 5.20.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.78.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2
Kernel Version: 5.10.9-1-default
OS Type: 64-bit
Processors: 16 × AMD Ryzen 7 4800H with Radeon Graphics
Memory: 62.2 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: GeForce RTX 2060/PCIe/SSE2
That’s not new… If you install Nvidia through the “hard” or manual way, Nvidia has to be re-installed every kernel update. If you use the Nvidia driver from the community repository, it’ll synchronize the driver and kernel versions and you don’t have to re-install anything. This however can hold back either the kernel and/or the driver.
The Nvidia updating via YaST/zypper repo never works for me, it always hangs on connection to the Nvidia repo. It’s much easier for me to download drivers directly from the Nvidia download site. The YaST/zypper updating would be easier for Nvidia drivers should it have mirror sites around the world for Nvidia drivers.
If that’s the experience, you might have the repository configured wrong. I am currently located in Switzerland and I do not have connection issues at all. Out of curiosity where are you located?
Typically the Nvidia drivers are distributed by Nvidia if you have the repo configured right (I have it set up with the driver+cuda package). If you don’t have issues downloading from Nvidia website but from the repo. Something may be set up wrong.
Otherwise if manual installation works, it works. It’ll just be painful for TW because kernel updates happen rather often.
It needn’t be if always using the latest kernel is not your own requirement. Simply set a lock on the kernel using a wildcard in the filename (e.g. kernel-defau*). Running zypper dup will skip the kernel. When you actually want a new kernel, do zypper in kernel-default, and answer the confirmation with 1. The current kernel will be installed, and the lock will remain in place. I’ve been doing this for too many years to remember. I’ve never been using hardware less than two years since its initial release.