How to blacklist nouveau driver

[OS1]

EDIT doktor5000: Split out from viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2944

It is seemingly impossible to disable nouveau by adding anything to any blacklist file. The only way maybe to remove the module from the kernel modules directory.

[OS1]

Nope that doesn't work so is nouveau not built as a module? If it is a modules where does it load it from? If it isn't a module is there actually anyway to disable it?

[doktor5000]

For one, you were posting on a thread which is long dead, since more than half a year. I've separated it into a new one.
At least provide basic information (which Mageia version you're talking about for example)

[OS1]

I'm using MGA 3. I think this is partly to do with answering "yes" to the option to discard "unused" hardware drivers during install. I've just done an install and unchecked the remove option. I also added xdriver=nvidia, as it says in the errata, and nokmsboot, as suggested in the error window, to the grub options. Now it attempts to start X with the nVidia drivers but falls over because the X module is 310.32 while the kernel module is 310.19. The nokmsboot option seems to really slow the boot process down though. I didn't have to do all this with MGA 2, it all just worked. In MGA 2 saying yes to the proprietary driver in drakx11 was enough. In MGA 3, although it appears to install everything, the job appears only half done.

[alf]

Did you ever try "rdblacklist=nouveau" as kernel command line option? works fine here.

[doktor5000]

You also may want to look at https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8773 for some context information.
X directly loads nouveau, so blacklisting it does only mean it will not be loaded at system boot.

[M8R3t0f541]

OS1,

This problem is solved with 'nokmsboot' appended to the kernel line in grub.cfg (grub2) or menu.lst (grub legacy)

Read the steps here: https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8773#c46

[OS1]

That has been seen to work but it also has the side effect of increasing the boot time quite severely, at least for me it does. Moreover, I didn't have to do this for MGA 2, it may have done it automatically though I'll check.

[M8R3t0f541]

Mageia-3 is still in beta testing, Increasing boot time severely? I usually boot my system once a day.

[zeke]

Is there some way to get blacklisting nouveau to be permanent?

I am on MGA2, and every time a new kernel update comes out I lose the ability to boot as plymouth crashes before starting X.
My workaround right now is that I am using kernel 3.3.6 which works fine (I fixed it way back when I installed 3.3.6, and so it works), but newer kernels have the conflict problem). If I try one of the newer kernels at boot time, it fails. This is a production rig, so I don't have the time to mess about with this everytime a new kernel is released.

I have tried using dkms-nvidia-current and that does not work automagically, nor does using the nvidia-desktop-current

[doktor5000]

How did you blacklist it in the first place?

[zeke]

That is the problem, I can't remember how I got it working in the first place. I know that I had the same problem on 2 different boxes with NVIDIA cards.

I would love to help generate a definitive guide for upgrading (or installing) Mageia in computers with NVIDIA cards as this has been a recurring problem for me since Mageia 2 came out. (I don't remember these problems with Mageia 1).

I know nouveau works great for some people, but there are proprietary features I need so nouveau won't work for me.

Nouveau is installed on my desktop, and if I try to uninstall it RPMdrak wants to also remove x11-driver-video-1.0.0-37.mga2.x86_64 which seems like a bad idea?

I have dkms-nvidia-current installed and it will compile the driver on 1st boot on a new kernel, but them I get the crash and the plymouth failure.
I also have x11-driver-video-nvidia-current installed right now as well as nvidia-current-kernel-3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2 which seems to be the driver that is working for me.

[doktor5000]

I'm also only using dkms-nvidia approach and never had any problem with kernel updates, and didn't fiddle manually (well, except for the initial removal of the nvidia-current-kernel packages as i don't need/want those)

Please show your /boot/grub/menu.lst and also the output of

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grep -Ri nouveau /etc/mod*

[zeke]

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[root@localhost]# cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/boot/gfxmenu
default 3

title linux
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=af6713c2-576c-41ae-93e6-94794839d9c5 splash quiet nokmsboot resume=UUID=7c362895-127c-427f-abc4-6f040090fa99 vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=af6713c2-576c-41ae-93e6-94794839d9c5 nokmsboot resume=UUID=7c362895-127c-427f-abc4-6f040090fa99
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=af6713c2-576c-41ae-93e6-94794839d9c5 failsafe
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title desktop 3.3.6-2.mga2
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz-3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2 BOOT_IMAGE=desktop_3.3.6-2.mga2 root=UUID=af6713c2-576c-41ae-93e6-94794839d9c5 splash quiet nokmsboot resume=UUID=7c362895-127c-427f-abc4-6f040090fa99 vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd-3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2.img

title desktop 3.3.8-2.mga2
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz-3.3.8-desktop-2.mga2 BOOT_IMAGE=desktop_3.3.8-2.mga2 root=UUID=af6713c2-576c-41ae-93e6-94794839d9c5 splash quiet nokmsboot resume=UUID=7c362895-127c-427f-abc4-6f040090fa99 vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd-3.3.8-desktop-2.mga2.img

title desktop 3.4.24-3.mga2
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz-3.4.24-desktop-3.mga2 BOOT_IMAGE=desktop_3.4.24-3.mga2 root=UUID=af6713c2-576c-41ae-93e6-94794839d9c5 splash quiet nokmsboot resume=UUID=7c362895-127c-427f-abc4-6f040090fa99 vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd-3.4.24-desktop-3.mga2.img

title desktop 3.4.32-2.mga2
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz-3.4.32-desktop-2.mga2 BOOT_IMAGE=desktop_3.4.32-2.mga2 root=UUID=af6713c2-576c-41ae-93e6-94794839d9c5 splash quiet nokmsboot resume=UUID=7c362895-127c-427f-abc4-6f040090fa99 vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd-3.4.32-desktop-2.mga2.img

title desktop 3.4.34-1.mga2
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz-3.4.34-desktop-1.mga2 BOOT_IMAGE=desktop_3.4.34-1.mga2 root=UUID=af6713c2-576c-41ae-93e6-94794839d9c5 splash quiet nokmsboot resume=UUID=7c362895-127c-427f-abc4-6f040090fa99 vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd-3.4.34-desktop-1.mga2.img


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[root@localhost ]# grep -Ri nouveau /etc/mod*
[root@localhost brett]#


[doktor5000]

Well, the nokmsboot options are set for all kernels. Please also show the output of

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rpm -qa | grep -E 'kernel|nvidia' | sort -u

and from

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dkms status

[zeke]

Thanks Doktor:

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[root@localhost]# rpm -qa | grep -E 'kernel|nvidia' | sort -u
dkms-nvidia-current-295.49-2.mga2.nonfree
kernel-desktop-3.3.6-2.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-3.3.8-2.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-3.4.24-3.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-3.4.32-2.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-3.4.34-1.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-devel-3.3.6-2.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-devel-3.3.8-2.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-devel-3.4.24-3.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-devel-3.4.32-2.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-devel-3.4.34-1.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-devel-latest-3.4.34-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-latest-3.4.34-1.mga2
kernel-firmware-20120219-1.mga2
kernel-userspace-headers-3.4.34-1.mga2
nvidia-current-doc-html-295.49-2.mga2.nonfree
nvidia-current-kernel-3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2-295.49-4.mga2.nonfree
x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-295.49-2.mga2.nonfree
[root@localhost brett]# dkms status
nvidia-current, 295.49-2.mga2.nonfree, 3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2, x86_64: installed
nvidia-current, 295.49-2.mga2.nonfree, 3.3.8-desktop-2.mga2, x86_64: installed
virtualbox, 4.1.24-1.mga2, 3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2, x86_64: installed
virtualbox, 4.1.24-1.mga2, 3.4.24-desktop-3.mga2, x86_64: installed
virtualbox, 4.1.24-1.mga2, 3.3.8-desktop-2.mga2, x86_64: installed
virtualbox, 4.1.24-1.mga2, 3.4.32-desktop-2.mga2, x86_64: installed
virtualbox, 4.1.24-1.mga2, 3.4.34-desktop-1.mga2, x86_64: installed
nvidia-current, 295.49-2.mga2.nonfree, 3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2, x86_64: installed-binary from 3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2
[root@localhost]#
 


[m123456]

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urpme x11-driver-video-nouveau
echo '/x11-driver-video-nouveau/' >> /etc/urpmi/skip.list

?

[OS1]

Mageia-3 is still in beta testing, Increasing boot time severely? I usually boot my system once a day.

Something odd was going on, indeed X was failing with or without nVidia or Nouveau. Managed to do an update last night and this corrected those issue. Now there is no difference between nokmsboot and without. Still think it would be better if this didn't have to be added. The nokmsboot allows me to use the nVidia drivers.

[zeke]

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# urpme x11-driver-video-nouveau
To satisfy dependencies, the following 2 packages will be removed (218KB):
  x11-driver-video-1.0.0-37.mga2.x86_64
   (due to missing x11-driver-video-nouveau)
  x11-driver-video-nouveau-0.0.16-0.20120322.1.mga2.x86_64
Remove 2 packages? (y/N)


Is this OK?

[doktor5000]

[root@localhost]# rpm -qa | grep -E 'kernel|nvidia' | sort -u
dkms-nvidia-current-295.49-2.mga2.nonfree
kernel-desktop-3.3.6-2.mga2-1-1.mga2
nvidia-current-kernel-3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2-295.49-4.mga2.nonfree
[...]
[root@localhost brett]# dkms status
nvidia-current, 295.49-2.mga2.nonfree, 3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2, x86_64: installed
nvidia-current, 295.49-2.mga2.nonfree, 3.3.8-desktop-2.mga2, x86_64: installed
nvidia-current, 295.49-2.mga2.nonfree, 3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2, x86_64: installed-binary from 3.3.6-desktop-2.mga2
[root@localhost]#

So basically it should be working at least for 3.3.6, and normally also for 3.3.8.
For the other kernels there's no nvidia driver available, could have been due to missing kernel-devel packages, but something else seems the case.
Maybe you disabled dkms service on boot?

For the dirty workaround, that only removes nouveau, and also all the other X video drivers. rpm -e --nodeps would be to only remove nouveau,
But anyways, this doesn't magically fix the nvidia driver for the other kernels besides 3.3.6 as shown above ...

I have nouveau installed, and never needed to blacklist it. Here's what i have:

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[doktor5000@Mageia2 ~]$ rpm -qa | grep -E '^kernel|nvidia|nouveau' | sort
dkms-nvidia-current-295.71-1.mga2.nonfree
kernel-desktop-3.4.24-3.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-3.4.32-2.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-3.4.34-1.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-devel-3.4.24-3.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-devel-3.4.32-2.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-devel-3.4.34-1.mga2-1-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-devel-latest-3.4.34-1.mga2
kernel-desktop-latest-3.4.34-1.mga2
kernel-firmware-20120219-1.mga2
kernel-firmware-nonfree-20121030-1.mga2.nonfree
kernel-userspace-headers-3.4.34-1.mga2
lib64drm_nouveau1-2.4.33-1.mga2
libdrm_nouveau1-2.4.33-1.mga2
nvidia-current-doc-html-295.71-1.mga2.nonfree
x11-driver-video-nouveau-0.0.16-0.20120322.1.mga2
x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-295.71-1.mga2.nonfree

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[doktor5000@Mageia2 ~]$ sudo dkms status | grep nvidia
nvidia-current, 295.71-1.mga2.nonfree, 3.4.34-desktop-1.mga2, x86_64: installed
nvidia-current, 295.71-1.mga2.nonfree, 3.4.24-desktop-3.mga2, x86_64: installed
nvidia-current, 295.71-1.mga2.nonfree, 3.4.32-desktop-2.mga2, x86_64: installed


[m123456]

I'm not sure, but x11-driver-video:

X11 video drivers metapackage. This package contains no files, but
depends on most common free X.org video drivers.

/edit:
Don't use 'urpme --auto-orphans'!

[zeke]

Doktor, you are correct, booting kernel 3.3.6 and 3.3.8 work fine.

How can I tell if dkms is disabled? I don't think it is, becxause when I tried to boot a newer kernel I did see it building the nvidia driver.

When I try to boot into a newer kernel, this is what happens:

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failed to start
wait for plymouth boot screen to quit
see systemctl status plymouthquit-wait.service for details
 

After a while (like 30-sec or a minute) CUPS starts then LSB and then display manager, but the system hangs there indefinately.

The only way out is to power down which proceeds normally.

[doktor5000]

Just investigated this a bit, and dkms is not really a service.

Can you please boot into any of the non-working kernels, switch to a tty (or append a "3" to the kernel options from grub bootloader) and run the following command as root:

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/usr/sbin/dkms_autoinstaller start

and post output here?

PS: from our kernel maintainer: Seems you're missing the latest nvidia updates, could it be that you didn't enable the nonfree-updates repo?
Please show the output of

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urpmq --list-media active

[zeke]

I booted into safe mode (the regular boot hangs before I can access tty)

Output is:

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# /usr/sbin/dkms_autoinstaller start

Installing nvidia-current (xxx)
.......
  bad exit status: 10
Build failed Installation skipped
Virtualbox already installed


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$ urpmq --list-media active
Core Release (distrib1)
Core Updates (distrib3)
Core Updates Testing (distrib5)
Nonfree Release (distrib11)
Nonfree Backports (distrib17)
Tainted Release (distrib21)
Core 32bit Release (distrib31)
Core 32bit Updates (distrib33)


I enabled nonfree updates (not sure how I missed that when I installed) though when I updated after enabling the repo, I on got java and kerebos updates on the list.

[doktor5000]

You should disable Core Updates Testing (distrib5) and Nonfree Backports (distrib17) by the way.

Please show the output of

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urpmq --list-url
urpmi --auto-update