[SOLVED] NVIDIA: Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module

tramni1980 · 02-03-2018, 06:18 AM

Dear Slackers,
I am running Slackware64-current on ASUS ZENBOOK PRO I7-7700HQ/16GB/512GB SSD BLACK, Notebook with a Core™ i7 Processor, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, GeForce® GTX1050
with the 4.14.15 kernel. I installed the latest proprietary NVIDIA driver (NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-390.25) using the build script from slackbuilds.org.
The problem is that if I run the NVIDIA X Server Settings app, I get the message: "You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X Driver". Looking at /var/log/Xorg.0.log, I can see the lines:

Code:

[ 17204.327] (II) "glx" will be loaded. This was enabled by default and also specified in the config file.
[ 17204.327] (II) LoadModule: "glx"
[ 17204.327] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so
[ 17204.328] (II) Module glx: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 17204.328] 	compiled for 1.19.6, module version = 1.0.0
[ 17204.328] 	ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 10.0
[ 17204.328] (II) LoadModule: "xorg-libglx"
[ 17204.329] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/xorg-libglx.so
[ 17204.329] (EE) LoadModule: Module xorg-libglx does not have a xorg-libglxModuleData data object.
[ 17204.329] (II) UnloadModule: "xorg-libglx"
[ 17204.329] (II) Unloading xorg-libglx
[ 17204.329] (EE) Failed to load module "xorg-libglx" (invalid module, 0)
[ 17204.362] (EE) NVIDIA: Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module. Please see the
[ 17204.362] (EE) NVIDIA:     system's kernel log for additional error messages and
[ 17204.362] (EE) NVIDIA:     consult the NVIDIA README for details.

The complete Xorg.0.log file is attached.
Some relevant output of lspci is:

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v6/7th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 05)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 591b (rev 04)
01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] (rev a1)

In fact, after installing the nvidia driver, I can start the X server, but without direct rendering. To have direct rendering, I have to reinstall the mesa and xorg-server packages.

My question is, what is going on on my system? After some googling, I have the suspicion that I have the so called NVIDIA Optimus? What do you think? Is there a way for me to use the nvidia driver with direct rendering in Slackware64-current on my laptop? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Best regards,
Martin

keefaz · 02-03-2018, 06:59 AM

It seems you didn't install nvidia-driver package from sbo just nvidia-kernel, no?

tramni1980 · 02-03-2018, 07:12 AM

keefaz, thank you very much for your reply. I installed both packages:

Code:

ls /var/log/packages/nvidia*
/var/log/packages/nvidia-driver-390.25-x86_64-1_SBo  /var/log/packages/nvidia-kernel-390.25_4.14.15-x86_64-1_SBo

Cheers,
Martin

enorbet · 02-03-2018, 07:56 AM

From reading your Xorg.0.log it is obvious that the Intel Graphics is set as Primary on your system. One solution depends on the type of your system namely whether or not there is an option to toggle on/off the embedded Intel graphics. If that is possible, and hopefully it is, then when you are on AC power you can just turn off Intel and utilize only nVidia. If that option doesn't exist, then your system is "muxless" and a bit harder to setup and utilize switching.

If your system is muxless there are only limited options - Bumblebee, Nvidia Prime, and Optimus prime.

tramni1980 · 02-03-2018, 08:37 AM

Thank you for your reply, enorbet. How should I find out if there is an option to switch off the intel card? In the BIOS I can find no option for selecting between the two cards. Actually, only the NVIDIA card is listed in the BIOS, there is no mention of the Intel card. In the BIOS Graphics Settings there was only some number to set, something related to memory consumption and nothing else.

Note that lspci does not recognize my NVIDIA card as a VGA controller, but as "3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] (rev a1)". Does all this mean that my system is muxless?

keefaz · 02-03-2018, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tramni1980

keefaz, thank you very much for your reply. I installed both packages:

Code:

ls /var/log/packages/nvidia*
/var/log/packages/nvidia-driver-390.25-x86_64-1_SBo  /var/log/packages/nvidia-kernel-390.25_4.14.15-x86_64-1_SBo

Cheers,
Martin

In your Xorg logs

Code:

[ 17204.327] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so
[ 17204.328] (II) Module glx: vendor="X.Org Foundation"

glx module should be: Module glx: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"

Maybe try reinstalling the nvidia-driver package
Do you have something related to video driver in /etc/X11/xorg.conf (if exists) or in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d ?

[edit]
Sorry I was not aware of Optimus technology, I will leave it to more knowledgable users (enorbet)

tramni1980 · 02-03-2018, 12:59 PM

Hello,

many thanks to everybody to replied to this thread. After some additional googling I was assured that I have to do with NVIDIA Optimus. So I followed the instructions in slackdocs on installing and running bumblebee. Now everything seems to be OK.

Cheers and thanks a lot again,
Martin

enorbet · 02-03-2018, 01:11 PM

Ho-o-o-o-old on thar Baba Looey I am by no means experienced with Optimus. I've read about it a bit but never owned one and I'm beginning to think that it mat be possible to setup two separate environments, possibly as a bootloader option. It seems to me that creating an optional Blacklist.Intel file blacklisting i965 when nVidia only is desired should likely work. This may require one or more initrd files to have a boot option but I'm just guesstimating.

I haven't read through the many hits but there are enough truly serious people working on this that not only Reddit but GitHub has articles for workarounds.

Here's one that looks promising --- GitHub on Optimus (including Muxless) ---

I should add that sadly for OP there is a lot of hatred out there for any Optimus system. That seems to depend a great deal on expectations but apparently much of the "fault" ;ies with Intel in that there can be a major hit on the discrete graphics system and in some horrific cases it barely works at all. Personally I don't understand the attraction of Optimus. It seems to me that just scaling a lone discrete GPU down provides enough power management but I'm probably deaf and dumb in this regard since I've not owned an Optimus system and only rarely run on battery power, certainly not for more than an hour or two.