Can't downgrade nvidia driver

turtleheels · April 9, 2024, 3:49pm

I am facing a few issues with nvidia 550 driver and I want to downgrade to 525.

Running Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS (5.15.0-56-generic)

My issues are as follows

Debian package manager just install nvidia 550 regardless of the package I choose.
ubuntu-driver think drivers are already installed if I try to install a specific version.
ubuntu-driver autoinstall/install just install 550, whihc is correct but I don’t want this driver.

I have tried purge all nvidia packages from my system as per the solution in post but it doesn’t help.

Here is what happening when I use apt-get to install nvidia-driver-525. Once the installation completes nvidia-smi shows that it’s using nvidia 550 not 525.

sudo apt-get -s install nvidia-driver-525

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libnvidia-cfg1-550 libnvidia-common-550 libnvidia-compute-550 libnvidia-decode-550 libnvidia-egl-wayland1 libnvidia-encode-550 libnvidia-extra-550 libnvidia-fbc1-550 libnvidia-gl-550
  nvidia-compute-utils-550 nvidia-dkms-550 nvidia-driver-550 nvidia-firmware-550-550.54.14 nvidia-kernel-common-550 nvidia-kernel-source-550 nvidia-settings nvidia-utils-550 screen-resolution-extra
  xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-550
Recommended packages:
  libnvidia-compute-550:i386 libnvidia-decode-550:i386 libnvidia-encode-550:i386 libnvidia-fbc1-550:i386 libnvidia-gl-550:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libnvidia-cfg1-550 libnvidia-common-550 libnvidia-compute-550 libnvidia-decode-550 libnvidia-egl-wayland1 libnvidia-encode-550 libnvidia-extra-550 libnvidia-fbc1-550 libnvidia-gl-550
  nvidia-compute-utils-550 nvidia-dkms-550 nvidia-driver-525 nvidia-driver-550 nvidia-firmware-550-550.54.14 nvidia-kernel-common-550 nvidia-kernel-source-550 nvidia-settings nvidia-utils-550
  screen-resolution-extra xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-550
0 upgraded, 20 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Inst libnvidia-cfg1-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-common-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [all])
Inst libnvidia-compute-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-decode-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-egl-wayland1 (1:1.1.9-1.1 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-encode-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-extra-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-fbc1-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-gl-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-compute-utils-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-kernel-source-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-kernel-common-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-firmware-550-550.54.14 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-dkms-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-utils-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-driver-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-driver-525 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst screen-resolution-extra (0.18.2 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy [all])
Inst nvidia-settings (510.47.03-0ubuntu1 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-cfg1-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-common-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [all])
Conf libnvidia-compute-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-decode-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-egl-wayland1 (1:1.1.9-1.1 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-encode-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-extra-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-fbc1-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-gl-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-compute-utils-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-kernel-source-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-kernel-common-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-firmware-550-550.54.14 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-dkms-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-utils-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-driver-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-driver-525 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf screen-resolution-extra (0.18.2 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy [all])
Conf nvidia-settings (510.47.03-0ubuntu1 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy [amd64])

Here is what happening when I use apt-get to install nvidia-driver-525-open.

sudo apt-get -s install nvidia-driver-525-open

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 nvidia-driver-535-open : Depends: libnvidia-gl-535 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: libnvidia-compute-535 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: libnvidia-extra-535 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: nvidia-compute-utils-535 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: libnvidia-decode-535 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: libnvidia-encode-535 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: nvidia-utils-535 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-535 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: libnvidia-cfg1-535 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not going to be installed
                          Depends: libnvidia-fbc1-535 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not going to be installed
                          Recommends: nvidia-settings but it is not going to be installed
                          Recommends: libnvidia-compute-535:i386 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not installable
                          Recommends: libnvidia-decode-535:i386 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not installable
                          Recommends: libnvidia-encode-535:i386 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not installable
                          Recommends: libnvidia-fbc1-535:i386 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not installable
                          Recommends: libnvidia-gl-535:i386 (= 535.113.01-1pop0~1695753528~22.04~0561f9e~dev) but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

ajindal1 · April 10, 2024, 2:15am

@turtleheels literally facing this right now. commenting to wait for solution

generix · April 10, 2024, 7:13am

You might want to add the graphics driver ppa and check if you get better results.

turtleheels · April 10, 2024, 12:47pm

I have added the following but it does not help

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt update

As you can see the packages that are selected all relate to 550 not 525. Additionally ubuntu-driver always thinks the drivers is installed. I had revmoved all nvidia graphics drivers prior to trying this again.

sudo apt-get -s install nvidia-driver-525
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libnvidia-cfg1-550 libnvidia-common-550 libnvidia-compute-550
  libnvidia-decode-550 libnvidia-egl-wayland1 libnvidia-encode-550
  libnvidia-extra-550 libnvidia-fbc1-550 libnvidia-gl-550
  nvidia-compute-utils-550 nvidia-dkms-550 nvidia-driver-550
  nvidia-firmware-550-550.54.14 nvidia-kernel-common-550
  nvidia-kernel-source-550 nvidia-settings nvidia-utils-550
  screen-resolution-extra xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-550
Recommended packages:
  libnvidia-compute-550:i386 libnvidia-decode-550:i386
  libnvidia-encode-550:i386 libnvidia-fbc1-550:i386 libnvidia-gl-550:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libnvidia-cfg1-550 libnvidia-common-550 libnvidia-compute-550
  libnvidia-decode-550 libnvidia-egl-wayland1 libnvidia-encode-550
  libnvidia-extra-550 libnvidia-fbc1-550 libnvidia-gl-550
  nvidia-compute-utils-550 nvidia-dkms-550 nvidia-driver-525 nvidia-driver-550
  nvidia-firmware-550-550.54.14 nvidia-kernel-common-550
  nvidia-kernel-source-550 nvidia-settings nvidia-utils-550
  screen-resolution-extra xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-550
0 upgraded, 20 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Inst libnvidia-cfg1-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-common-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [all])
Inst libnvidia-compute-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-decode-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-egl-wayland1 (1:1.1.9-1.1 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-encode-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-extra-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-fbc1-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst libnvidia-gl-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-compute-utils-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-kernel-source-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-kernel-common-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-firmware-550-550.54.14 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-dkms-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-utils-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-driver-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst nvidia-driver-525 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Inst screen-resolution-extra (0.18.2 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy [all])
Inst nvidia-settings (510.47.03-0ubuntu1 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy, Proprietary GPU Drivers:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-cfg1-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-common-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [all])
Conf libnvidia-compute-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-decode-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-egl-wayland1 (1:1.1.9-1.1 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-encode-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-extra-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-fbc1-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf libnvidia-gl-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-compute-utils-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-kernel-source-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-kernel-common-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-firmware-550-550.54.14 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-dkms-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-utils-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-driver-550 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf nvidia-driver-525 (550.54.14-1pop0~1709151545~22.04~c91e06a~dev System76 Stable PPA:22.04/jammy [amd64])
Conf screen-resolution-extra (0.18.2 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy [all])
Conf nvidia-settings (510.47.03-0ubuntu1 Ubuntu:22.04/jammy, Proprietary GPU Drivers:22.04/jammy [amd64])

After actually performing the install above here is the results. As you can see it’s the wrong driver.

| sudo nvidia-smi 
Wed Apr 10 09:02:08 2024       
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 550.54.14              Driver Version: 550.54.14      CUDA Version: 12.4     |
|-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |           Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                        |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
|   0  NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ...    Off |   00000000:01:00.0  On |                  N/A |
| N/A   55C    P8             19W /   80W |     683MiB /   8192MiB |     28%      Default |
|                                         |                        |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
                                                                                         
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                              |
|  GPU   GI   CI        PID   Type   Process name                              GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                               Usage      |
|=========================================================================================|
|    0   N/A  N/A      2261      G   /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg                            269MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A      2415      G   /usr/bin/gnome-shell                          169MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A      3117      G   ...yOnDemand --variations-seed-version         52MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A      5391      G   ...seed-version=20240409-180046.183000        103MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A      5741      G   ...erProcess --variations-seed-version         75MiB |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

generix · April 10, 2024, 1:48pm

Looking at the package names, it seems you also added the system76 ppa, so the driver is installed from there.

turtleheels · April 10, 2024, 2:06pm

That appeared to be the issue. Thanks for spotting it.

Here is what I did

Actually studying the apt install packages as I completed missed where it was pulling nvidia driver from.
Review all PPAs and clean them up what is not needed and the one causing the issue.
Switch to nouveau and then reboot

Cleanup all of nvidia drivers

sudo apt install --reinstall linux-image-generic -y
sudo apt install --reinstall linux-headers-generic -y
sudo apt remove --purge '^nvidia-.*' -y
sudo apt remove --purge '^libnvidia-.*' -y
sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf | true
sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/90-nvidia-primary.conf | true
sudo rm /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-nvidia.conf | true
sudo rm /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/11-nvidia-prime.conf | true
sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kms.conf | true
sudo rm /lib/modprobe.d/nvidia-kms.conf | true
sudo apt update -y
sudo apt full-upgrade -y
sudo apt autoremove -y
sudo apt clean -y
sudo apt autoclean -y

- Reboot
- Using apt package manager install the driver of your choice. ubuntu-driver still didn't work for me it thought the driver were still installed.

ajindal1 · April 10, 2024, 11:38pm

@turtleheels
Hey, your solution did not work for me. Is there any other commands you ran?

Everytime I sudo apt install nvidia-driver-525, I still get the same 535 and 550 drivers installed on my system.

turtleheels · April 10, 2024, 11:55pm

I would double check where the package is coming from and remove all PPA that isn’t the one you want.

Also ensure you add the PPA for the nvidia driver

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt update

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Can't downgrade nvidia driver

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