Home / ubuntu / Questions / 1153023
In Process
user869841
Asked: 2019-06-22 14:52:45 +0800 CST

ERROR: NVIDIA driver is not loaded

  • 772

(I'm aware there are several questions with a similar title but they either don't have answers, are very old or don't apply to my situation.)

I'm using Ubuntu 18.04.2, my GPU is a GeForce 840M and the driver version is nvidia-driver-430 (installed from the Softwares and updates panel)

So I can't seem to use the nvidia gpu anymore. I have no idea what caused this. 

sudo nvidia-settings

gives the following output:

ERROR: NVIDIA driver is not loaded ERROR: Unable to load info from any available system

It does open an Nvidia panel but without the usual settings and just the two PRIME profiles (Nvidia performance mode and intel power saving mode ).

sudo nvidia-smi

gives the following error :

NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.

I've tried a few things like purging and reinstalling the driver or using an older one , with no luck. I've also tried downloading and running the .run driver from the nvidia website but it failed to install.

I'm looking for advice on what to try next to have it working again. Thanks for your help :)

EDIT:

 uname -r

4.15.0-52-generic

 dkms status

nvidia, 430.26, 4.15.0-52-generic, x86_64: installed

 apt-cache policy nvidia-driver-430

nvidia-driver-430:
  Installed : 430.26-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1
  Candidate : 430.26-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1
 Version table :
 *** 430.26-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1 500
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/graphics-drivers/ppa/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
drivers nvidia graphics nvidia-geforce nvidia-settings

10 Answers

  1. After checking:

    • BIOS
    • prime-select nvidia
    • nvidia-driver-XXXX package installed
    • uname -r header packages installed

    and it was not working.

    So the driver wasn't compiled for my kernel version. So I just did a

    $ dpkg-reconfigure nvidia-dkms-4XX

    and rebooted.

    • 8

  2. Please try a simply reinstall sudo apt install --reinstall nvidia-driver-430 If you boot in uefi-mode deactivate secure-boot if it is set, before.

    • 5

  3. Been recently running into this problem, so it may be related to a recent update.

    Give this a try:

    sudo prime-select nvidia

    sudo rm /lib/modprobe.d/blacklist-nvidia.conf /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nvidia.conf

    sudo update-initramfs -u

    Reference here

    I'm able to boot with dual-monitors, indicating that the GPU ( GTX 970 in my case) is being utilized. However, running into other bugs.

    • 4

  4. Upgrading from kernel 5.0 to 5.3 the driver nvidia 390 work not properly. Upgrade to nvidia 430 driver is not possible for dependencies not satisfied.

    From terminal I use the command:

     sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall

    and the shell lists all dependencies not satisfied. I take the first not satisfied dependence and use the command

     sudo apt-get install <first dependence>

    (maybe that shell lists another dependencies not satisfied, so i take the first and repeat the command)

    The shell now install the dependence 430 and uninstall the packages of 390. After installation I repeat the command 

     sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall

    and the shell provides to install all packages of 430 drivers.

    Finally I reboot the system and the new drivers 430 works properly.

    Probably until at least one 430 driver package is installed, the system is not able to start installation of new driver.

    • 2

  5. I had this exact problem, tried every fix I could find but nothing worked. I tried turning off Secure Boot to configure something and it worked. Just turn off Secure Boot and see if that fixes it.

    • 2

  6. I experienced this error when trying to reduce the load on my Nvidia card by selecting my internal graphics within nvidia-settings -> PRIME Profiles -> Select GPU -> Intel (not NVIDIA). This did not have the desired effect as it's not possible to use CUDA on the NVIDIA card without the NVIDIA profile enabled.

    It's not immediately obvious how to switch it back to the nvidia profile.

    To ensure the NVIDIA profile is enabled:

    sudo prime-select nvidia

    nvidia-settings should now work

    • 0

  7. Had same problem. Run the following commands:

    sudo prime-select intel
sudo reboot

sudo prime-select nvidia
sudo reboot
    • 0

  8. same problem as here it appears the headers for kernel 4.15.0-112-generic did not install/update. To fix this just run command:

    sudo apt install linux-image-4.15.0-112-generic linux-headers-4.15.0-112-generic
    And reboot

    • 0

  9. I too had this problem, nvidia driver was working until it wasn't for no apparent reason, and nvidia-settings gave the ERROR: NVIDIA driver is not loaded.

    I tried to install a new driver manually, downloaded from nvidia website, and their installer gave me a valuable error: unable to find the kernel source tree.

    running apt install linux-headers-xxx where xx is your kernel version, such as in my case apt install linux-headers-5.4.0-42-lowlatency, fixed the problem for me.

    Same solution is suggested here: 20.04 Focal - Nvidia driver no longer loading with kernel 5.4.0-42

    • 0

  10. Same with me, another solution for those who already tried answers above:

    sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-20.04

    Work for me, I think the problem is the compatibility between linux header and nvidia driver. For more detail, plz refer to:

    https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/2nd-monitor-blank-x-cursor-ubuntu-20-04/156103

    • 0