Nvidia G04 not working on kernel newer than 6.11.3

[YuriTheHenrique]

Hello to everyone!

I never really had any problems before with my old card, always waiting for the kernel to work, watching the kmp version of nvidia driver, when not working in newer kernels, I try to rollback and keep older kernels in locked state so I can use my computer again… Always being careful.

But, this time is a bit different, since kernel 6.11.3, newer kernel are not working with nvidia G04, in kernel 6.14.1 I could startx with sudo, but not as a regular user, in one of these newer kernels, I could start plasma with xinit, giving me xterm, and then I started plasma_session, but it was not working properly, I could not resize applications, move them nor close, only open and use it normally, and windows decorations were generic white without animations nor transparency in the whole session.

Could this be related to my drivers or incompatibility with newer kernels? I mean, with sudo startx the session behaves as it should, but I don’t like the idea of using sudo for my session.
And as you can see, using an old GTX550ti does not help that much with using wayland nor noveau.

Thank you for taking the time to read, and if you could help me with some possible solutions I would be very happy, I don’t mind using this not so older kernel, but the idea of never getting an upgrade makes me worried.

[hui]

The G04 (v390) is a legacy driver which did recieve the last update in Nov 2022. The GTX 550 Ti was released 2011 and also reached support end. You need to switch to the Nouveau driver if you want to use newer kernels. This is strictly recommended if you want to have an up to date and secure operating system. The GTX 550 Ti is well supported by the Nouveau driver.

I switched my GTX 550 Ti to the Nouveau drivers ages ago when the G04 drivers stopped working on modern kernels (this was already with kernel-6.6.x)

[YuriTheHenrique]

Right, I have come to think about this issue, but as nouveau is not even 75% close to nvidia in terms of 3d acceleration, it is still an issue for me, at least until I get a new computer, which will probably not happen for the next year.

Seeing as with sudo, the session works as intended, maybe is there any way to make the user-session work too?
The Nvidia drivers I use are from the repository. I was suggested creating a new user to try it with newly generated configurations, but it did not work too, is there a way to “reset” xorg configuration system-wide?

[malcolmlewis]

@YuriTheHenrique The nvidia-gfxG04-kmp-default-390.157_k6.15.2_1-61.9.x86_64.rpm is in the repository, so should be working. When was the last time your ran zypper dup?

[YuriTheHenrique]

It was yesterday, June 21, the system is fully updated, I also tried uninstalling nvidia drivers and installing again after a reboot.

[malcolmlewis]

@YuriTheHenrique can you show the output from inxi -GSaz and zypper lr -d

[YuriTheHenrique]

Of course;
inxi -GSaz:

System:
  Kernel: 6.11.3-1-default arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.11.3-1-default
    root=UUID=83c4ec60-9015-45f5-b2c4-73ebded75c09 splash=silent quiet
    security=apparmor nosimplefb=1 mitigations=auto
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.3.5 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.14.0
    wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: SDDM Distro: openSUSE Tumbleweed-Slowroll 20250601
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GF116 [GeForce GTX 550 Ti] driver: nvidia v: 390.157
    alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: series: 390.xx+
    status: legacy (EOL~2022-11-22) last: release: 390.157 kernel: 6.0
    xorg: 1.21 arch: Fermi code: GF1xx process: 40/28nm built: 2010-2016 pcie:
    gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1244
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.15 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.7
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting,vesa
    alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1600x900 s-dpi: 90 s-size: 452x251mm (17.80x9.88")
    s-diag: 517mm (20.35")
  Monitor-1: DVI-I-0 res: mode: 1600x900 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 92
    size: 443x249mm (17.44x9.8") diag: 508mm (20.01") modes: N/A
  API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: gbm: drv: kms_swrast
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 compat-v: 4.6.0 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 390.157
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: GeForce GTX 550 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
    memory: 1000 MiB
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.313 layers: 2 device: 0 type: cpu name: llvmpipe (LLVM
    20.1.6 256 bits) driver: N/A device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: N/A
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
    wl: wayland-info x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr

zypper lr -d:

# | Alias                    | Name            | Enabled | GPG Check | Refresh | Keep | Priority | Type   | URI                                                     | Service
--+--------------------------+-----------------+---------+-----------+---------+------+----------+--------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------
1 | NVIDIA:repo-non-free     | repo-non-free   | Sim     | (r ) Sim  | Sim     | -    |   99     | rpm-md | https://download.nvidia.com/opensuse/tumbleweed         | NVIDIA
2 | openSUSE:repo-non-oss    | repo-non-oss    | Sim     | (r ) Sim  | Sim     | -    |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/slowroll/repo/non-oss      | openSUSE
3 | openSUSE:repo-openh264   | repo-openh264   | Sim     | (r ) Sim  | Sim     | -    |   99     | rpm-md | http://codecs.opensuse.org/openh264/openSUSE_Tumbleweed | openSUSE
4 | openSUSE:repo-oss        | repo-oss        | Sim     | (r ) Sim  | Sim     | -    |   99     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/slowroll/repo/oss          | openSUSE
5 | openSUSE:repo-oss-debug  | repo-oss-debug  | Não     | ----      | ----    | -    |   99     | N/A    | http://download.opensuse.org/debug/slowroll/repo/oss    | openSUSE
6 | openSUSE:repo-oss-source | repo-oss-source | Não     | ----      | ----    | -    |   99     | N/A    | http://download.opensuse.org/source/slowroll/repo/oss   | openSUSE
7 | openSUSE:update-slowroll | update-slowroll | Sim     | (r ) Sim  | Sim     | -    |   80     | rpm-md | http://download.opensuse.org/update/slowroll/repo/oss   | openSUSE

[malcolmlewis]

@YuriTheHenrique So you need to get to the latest kernel AND force the re-install of nvidia-gfxG04-kmp-default-390.157.

So, I would set to boot to multi-user.target via systemctl set-default multi-user.target then zypper dup and when rebooting select the current kernel to boot from which is 6.15.2. Then force the kmp install, all going well you can then switch back to the graphical target via systemctl set-default graphical.target and reboot…

Holding back doesn’t help if it’s not working with the nvidia driver with the current snapshot.

[YuriTheHenrique]

Ok, I rebooted the system, started with kernel 6.15.2 and got no graphical interface, just tty, I did sudo zypper dup finding nothing to update/upgrade;

Forced installation of nvidia with sudo zypper in -f nvidia-gfxG04-kmp-default;

Then systemctl set-default graphical.target and rebooted to kernel 6.15.2, no graphical interface again;

Logged with my user and tried plasma_session, resulting in error, sddm got me to a message of logind but never loading, ctrl+c to close sddm, and used xinit, xtermopen in left corner, plasma_session it loaded, but it is strange, the tittlebars are way bigger and visuals are a bit off, nvidia is working apparently, looking at qt apps, it feels like it is using gtk and not qt, maybe related to Xterm?

Thank you very much @malcolmlewis, new kernel and nvidia are working.
Still, now I have another issue to solve, the sddm not starting and plasma.

[malcolmlewis]

@YuriTheHenrique Perhaps try Wayland rather than Xorg. Likewise, best to start a new thread if this is not working.

[Svyatko]

@malcolmlewis

Perhaps try Wayland rather than Xorg.

https://community.kde.org/Plasma/Wayland/Nvidia

To use the Plasma Wayland session:

Ensure a reasonably new NVIDIA driver:

minimum supported by KWin is 495.44;
XWayland apps are usable with 555 and newer.

Please test before suggest.

[YuriTheHenrique]

Yes, can’t use wayland ;
Just for future reference, maybe someone needs it:

After updating the kernel, I couldn’t load xdm, lightdm nor sddm, and with xinit or startx got me to xterm, creating some issues to my plasma_session if initiated from there;

So I created the file .xinitrc in my home folder and inside this file startplasma-x11 start and used this topic from the forum to autologin from textmode.