Llvmpipe is used instead of NVIDIA GPU. nvidia-settings not working and cannot switch to NVIDIA GPU

[PaxBustermann]

I have a Linux server with 4 Tesla V100 SXM2 and the 460.73.01 drivers. Currently I do not have any CUDA drivers installed and my OS is Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS.

However, the main GPU for the Graphics is currently llvmpipe. So the NVIDIA GPU is not recognized and cannot be used.

The problem is, that I cannot open up the nvidia-settings (even with sudo) and choose which GPU I want to use. Executing the nvidia-settings command gives me the following output:

So currently, I cannot use some software, that would usually need my GPU (e.g. Blender, a 3D animation program).

I tried out several things, e.g. the approaches described here: nvidia-xconfig doesnt do what i want it to, nor does nvidia-settings or ubuntu 18.04 still uses llvmpipe driver - #9 by shionlau or Nvidia-settings error

I installed my current 460 nvidia driver by using the “sudo software-properties-gtk” command and applying the recommended driver there. Before doing that, I purged everything else, in my case the previous drivers for NVIDIA and CUDA. So right now, I only have this recommended 460 NVIDIA driver installed.
Furthermore, using the “sudo prime-select query” command gives me out “nvidia” as a result and “sudo prime-select nvidia” says that my nvidia profile is already set. I switched between intel and nvidia and also rebooted between the switches but that also did not help solving my issue.

So these are some of the main steps I tried out so far but none of them helped and I do not know what else I could try.

I also tried to include the nvidia-bug-report file for further infos, but I could not upload it for whatever reason. It is around 15MB big. So I will be uploading that later (if it works then) or send a link to it.

Any help is really appreciated, since I have been trying to solve this issue for a week now. So thank you very much in advance for your help and support.

[VulkanGuy]

If you haven’t already ; disable secure boot from bios.

[PaxBustermann]

Thank you for the tip, I forgot to mention it. I already disabled secure boot from BIOS.

[generix]

The Xserver is running on the server graphics, likely a matrox or aspeed. Those are simple devices and their drivers don’t support prime.
Don’t know if render offloading would work with those and this is a feature added in Ubuntu 20.04.

[PaxBustermann]

Thank you for your answer, yes, it is an aspeed:

So since these drivers dont support prime, is it actually not possible to render anything on the server by using my NVIDIA GPU or to use it for any software really?

It is probably some work, but we might update to Ubuntu 20.04, if it means, that we can use prime and actually utilize our NVIDIA GPU instead of llvmpipe. However, that is not guaranteed, since the aspeed driver might not even support prime.

So if the problem here is our aspeed driver, can we somehow circumvent this or use another approach to actually utilize our NVIDIA GPU?

[generix]

You could try to configure 18.04 for render offload manually to check if this works with an aspeed:
https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/460.67/README/primerenderoffload.html
The second aproach is to set up virtualgl, that should definitely work but takes a bit of work to set this up with your hardware setup.

[Tigwelder]

No experience with those cards…just ideas here

What does the xorg.conf look like?
Have you tried this as a starting point

nvidia-xconfig -o /etc/X11/xorg.conf.test -a --allow-empty-initial-configuration. --coolbits=28 --use-display-device=“DFP-0” --connected-monitor=“DFP-0”

That will create a file and not replace current config. You can then look,edit,

Is it set up with Device sections for all the GPUs including BusID?
Is there a ServerLayout with all the screens listed? ( I know there are no outputs on cards )

Is there any possible way to force a EDID for each card in xorg.conf so they load in X even though there are no display ports?

Can you start X on one of the cards as the main display and then have it use the working adapter/display as it’s main desktop by sorting them in ServerLayout?

I dealt with this “trying” to get my Intel on board to work with several 3070s. Eventually I disabled it and used the Nvidia card with a monitor on it to get it to start and be able to use the utilities. Not an option in your case.

How to set custom EDID manually?

Https://kodi.wiki/view/Archive:Creating_and_using_edid.bin_via_xorg.conf

[PaxBustermann]

Ok, so as far as I could see, this Prime feature is actually used to switch between both GPUs to save power by not using the NVIDIA GPU for small tasks. Could I somehow disable my aspeed GPU and configure the NVIDIA GPU as the primary GPU without ever switching again? Currently, the llvmpipe Graphics is used as the default setting, but that way our problem would be solved:

I think I also read somewhere, that it is possible to deactivate a GPU via BIOS. So is it maybe possible to deactivate the aspeed GPU via BIOS and force the server to permanently use the NVIDIA GPU.

So in essence, are there some ways to render the aspeed GPU completely useless, such that the NVIDIA GPU is the standard GPU for everything that is done on the server.

Furthermore, I think I could verify whether the Prime functionality and nvidia-settings are working with the aspeed driver in a few days, when we update the server to Ubuntu 20.04. Maybe this update might actually be enough to enable the prime functionality and solve our problem.

Otherwise, we would have to use virtualgl, since nothing else is working.

[Mart]

@PaxBustermann

I think I also read somewhere, that it is possible to deactivate a GPU via BIOS. So is it maybe possible to deactivate the aspeed GPU via BIOS and force the server to permanently use the NVIDIA GPU.

Yes, that could work, if your BIOS has such an option. You will have to look.

[PaxBustermann]

Thank you for the ideas.

Currently, I have no xorg.conf file set up at all, since I read that the xorg.conf file is apparently complicating the usage of the NVIDIA GPU leading to errors and problems.

However, I also tried to solve this problem by using different xorg.conf files. So I did not edit it per hand or anything, but I tried out two different xorg.conf files:
One of them was created by using “nvidia-xconfig” and the other one was created by using “nvidia-xconfig --enable-all-gpus”. I had this idea from the following forum post: Ubuntu 18.04 Uses LLVM instead of NVIDIA Drivers for OpenGL - #2 by aplattner

The first xorg.conf file created with “nvidia-xconfig” generates the following file:

nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig

nvidia-xconfig: version 460.73.01

Section “ServerLayout”
Identifier “Layout0”
Screen 0 “Screen0”
InputDevice “Keyboard0” “CoreKeyboard”
InputDevice “Mouse0” “CorePointer”
EndSection

Section “Files”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
# generated from default
Identifier “Mouse0”
Driver “mouse”
Option “Protocol” “auto”
Option “Device” “/dev/psaux”
Option “Emulate3Buttons” “no”
Option “ZAxisMapping” “4 5”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”
# generated from default
Identifier “Keyboard0”
Driver “kbd”
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Monitor0”
VendorName “Unknown”
ModelName “Unknown”
Option “DPMS”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “Device0”
Driver “nvidia”
VendorName “NVIDIA Corporation”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Screen0”
Device “Device0”
Monitor “Monitor0”
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

And the second xorg.conf file created with “nvidia-xconfig --enable-all-gpus” generates the following file:

nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig

nvidia-xconfig: version 460.73.01

Section “ServerLayout”
Identifier “Layout0”
Screen 0 “Screen0”
Screen 1 “Screen1” RightOf “Screen0”
Screen 2 “Screen2” RightOf “Screen1”
Screen 3 “Screen3” RightOf “Screen2”
InputDevice “Keyboard0” “CoreKeyboard”
InputDevice “Mouse0” “CorePointer”
EndSection

Section “Files”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”

# generated from default
Identifier     "Mouse0"
Driver         "mouse"
Option         "Protocol" "auto"
Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

EndSection

Section “InputDevice”

# generated from default
Identifier     "Keyboard0"
Driver         "kbd"

EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Monitor0”
VendorName “Unknown”
ModelName “Unknown”
Option “DPMS”
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Monitor1”
VendorName “Unknown”
ModelName “Unknown”
Option “DPMS”
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Monitor2”
VendorName “Unknown”
ModelName “Unknown”
Option “DPMS”
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Monitor3”
VendorName “Unknown”
ModelName “Unknown”
Option “DPMS”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “Device0”
Driver “nvidia”
VendorName “NVIDIA Corporation”
BoardName “Tesla V100-SXM2-16GB”
BusID “PCI:97:0:0”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “Device1”
Driver “nvidia”
VendorName “NVIDIA Corporation”
BoardName “Tesla V100-SXM2-16GB”
BusID “PCI:98:0:0”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “Device2”
Driver “nvidia”
VendorName “NVIDIA Corporation”
BoardName “Tesla V100-SXM2-16GB”
BusID “PCI:137:0:0”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “Device3”
Driver “nvidia”
VendorName “NVIDIA Corporation”
BoardName “Tesla V100-SXM2-16GB”
BusID “PCI:138:0:0”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Screen0”
Device “Device0”
Monitor “Monitor0”
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Screen1”
Device “Device1”
Monitor “Monitor1”
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Screen2”
Device “Device2”
Monitor “Monitor2”
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Screen3”
Device “Device3”
Monitor “Monitor3”
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

So the normal nvidia-xconfig does not give out device sections including the BusID, but the “enable all gpus” setting does that actually.
However, it also did not work with either of these two xorg.conf files.

Apart from that I did not try or even know how to force an EDID for each card in the xorg.conf file or start X as one of the cards main display and use the working adapter/display. I will look into that and can give feedback regarding that later on.

But the ideas are all very good and worth pursuing, thank you very much for your input.

[generix]

Your Teslas don’t have a display connector, by disabling the aspeed, you’ll end up with no display. Don’t do that.
Teslas are no VGA devices. You would have to add another VGA card.

[Tigwelder]

You’ll notice the nvidia utilities totally ignore anything non-nvidia.
The second xorg.conf is a good tarting point. Now you need to see what X can provide to add the other card in.

I’m guessing a peek in /var/log/Xorg.0.log towards the bottom will show X removing the Nvidia GPUs one at a time until there are none left to remove.

Your generated xorg.conf needs some more stuff added too. We’ll get to that.

Move your existing xorg.conf aside and rename it xorg.template.conf
So there is no present xorg.conf in /etc/X11

as root run

xorg -configure

That should gen a conf file with your onboard graphics info in it.

Once we see that, we can probably paste together a config.

[Tigwelder]

This has a lot of the options I needed to get X to load 3 more cards with no monitor ( only first) and to not chain them together into a giant amount of combined desktops. I’ve tried to modify it for another screen for your integrated,
The Option “AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration” “True”
should allow the driver to load.

Coolbits allows modification of clocks, etc using nvidia-smi and nvidia-settings

Edit the section for Device0 with the proper driver for your integrated graphics and you to run the command in the post above. ALSO edit the PCI info in that device section. run ‘lspci’ to find it.

the ConnectedMonitor part is a guess since I don’t know what the card lists. CRT is a cheat to bypass EDID since they cant report that info and it doesn’t try to probe it.

start xorg.conf ================================

Section "ServerFlags"
  Option "BlankTime"   "0"
  Option "StandbyTime" "0"
  Option "SuspendTime" "0"
  Option "OffTime"     "0"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0"
Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf Screen0
Screen 2 "Screen2" RightOf Screen1
Screen 3 "Screen3" RightOf Screen2
Screen 4 "Screen4" RightOf Screen3
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

# For reference the following ServerLayout is my setup 
# with just 4 Nvidia 3070s and a montior plugged in one

#Section "ServerLayout"
#  Identifier  "Layout0"
#  Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
#  Screen 1 "Screen1"
#  Screen 2 "Screen2"
#  Screen 3 "Screen3"
#  InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
#EndSection



Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier     "Mouse0"
Driver         "mouse"
Option         "Protocol" "auto"
Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier     "Keyboard0"
Driver         "kbd"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier 	"Monitor0"
VendorName 	"Unknown"
ModelName 	"Unknown"
  HorizSync   28.0 - 33.0
  VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
Option		"DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier 	"Monitor1"
VendorName 	"Unknown"
ModelName 	"Unknown"
  HorizSync   28.0 - 33.0
  VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
Option 		"DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier 	"Monitor2"
VendorName 	"Unknown"
ModelName 	"Unknown"
  HorizSync   28.0 - 33.0
  VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
Option 		"DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier 	"Monitor3"
VendorName 	"Unknown"
ModelName 	"Unknown"
  HorizSync   28.0 - 33.0
  VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
Option 		"DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier 	"Monitor4"
VendorName 	"Unknown"
ModelName 	"Unknown"
  HorizSync   28.0 - 33.0
  VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
Option 		"DPMS"
EndSection


#Add driver and proper PCI ( use 'lspci' command )
Section "Device"
Identifier 	"Device0"
Driver 		""
VendorName 	""
BoardName 	"Your intergrated card. Add driver name above"
BusID 		"PCI:XX:0:0"
EndSection



Section "Device"
Identifier 	"Device1"
Driver 		"nvidia"
VendorName 	"NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName 	"Tesla V100-SXM2-16GB"
BusID 		"PCI:97:0:0"
EndSection

Section	"Device"
Identifier 	"Device2"
Driver 		"nvidia"
VendorName 	"NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName 	"Tesla V100-SXM2-16GB"
BusID 		"PCI:98:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier 	"Device3"
Driver 		"nvidia"
VendorName 	"NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName 	"Tesla V100-SXM2-16GB"
BusID 		"PCI:137:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier 	"Device4"
Driver 		"nvidia"
VendorName 	"NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName 	"Tesla V100-SXM2-16GB"
BusID 		"PCI:138:0:0"
EndSection


Section "Screen"
Identifier 	"Screen0"
Device 		"Device0"
Monitor		"Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 	24
SubSection Display
	Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier 	"Screen1"
Device 		"Device1"
Monitor		"Monitor1"
  Option	"BaseMosaic" "False"
  Option	"AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "True"
  Option	"Stereo" "0"
  Option	"MultiGPU" "Off"
  Option	"SLI" "Off"
  Option	"MetaModes" "nvidia - auto - select + 0 + 0"
  Option	"nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP"
  Option	"ConnectedMonitor" "CRT-0, DFP-0"
  Option	"Coolbits" "31"
DefaultDepth 	24
SubSection Display
	Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier 	"Screen2"
Device 		"Device2"
Monitor 	"Monitor2"
  Option       "BaseMosaic" "False"
  Option       "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "True"
  Option       "Stereo" "0"
  Option       "MultiGPU" "Off"
  Option       "SLI" "Off"
  Option       "MetaModes" "nvidia - auto - select + 0 + 0"
  Option       "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP"
  Option       "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT-0, DFP-0"
  Option       "Coolbits" "31"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection Display
	Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier 	"Screen3"
Device 		"Device3"
Monitor		"Monitor3"
  Option       "BaseMosaic" "False"
  Option       "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "True"
  Option       "Stereo" "0"
  Option       "MultiGPU" "Off"
  Option       "SLI" "Off"
  Option       "MetaModes" "nvidia - auto - select + 0 + 0"
  Option       "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP"
  Option       "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT-0, DFP-0"
  Option       "Coolbits" "31"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
	Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier 	"Screen4"
Device 		"Device4"
Monitor 	"Monitor4"
  Option       "BaseMosaic" "False"
  Option       "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "True"
  Option       "Stereo" "0"
  Option       "MultiGPU" "Off"
  Option       "SLI" "Off"
  Option       "MetaModes" "nvidia - auto - select + 0 + 0"
  Option       "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP"
  Option       "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT-0, DFP-0"
  Option       "Coolbits" "31"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection Display
	Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

[PaxBustermann]

Ok, thank you for mentioning this, I will not disable any GPU from BIOS then.

[PaxBustermann]

Thank you very much for this approach, I just looked into the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file and it looks like this for me:

[116774.617] 
X.Org X Server 1.19.6
Release Date: 2017-12-20
[116774.617] X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[116774.617] Build Operating System: Linux 4.15.0-140-generic x86_64 Ubuntu
[116774.617] Current Operating System: Linux testv100x4 4.15.0-142-generic #146-Ubuntu SMP Tue Apr 13 01:11:19 UTC 2021 x86_64
[116774.618] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-142-generic root=UUID=a2c53296-e58f-4de6-8d37-daf1fb05c854 ro quiet splash nomodeset nvidia-drm.modeset=1 vt.handoff=1
[116774.618] Build Date: 08 April 2021  01:57:21PM
[116774.618] xorg-server 2:1.19.6-1ubuntu4.9 (For technical support please see http://www.ubuntu.com/support) 
[116774.618] Current version of pixman: 0.34.0
[116774.618] 	Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
	to make sure that you have the latest version.
[116774.618] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
	(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
	(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[116774.618] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sat May  1 21:38:13 2021
[116774.618] (==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[116774.618] (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[116774.618] (==) No Layout section.  Using the first Screen section.
[116774.618] (==) No screen section available. Using defaults.
[116774.618] (**) |-->Screen "Default Screen Section" (0)
[116774.618] (**) |   |-->Monitor "<default monitor>"
[116774.619] (==) No monitor specified for screen "Default Screen Section".
	Using a default monitor configuration.
[116774.619] (==) Automatically adding devices
[116774.619] (==) Automatically enabling devices
[116774.619] (==) Automatically adding GPU devices
[116774.619] (==) Automatically binding GPU devices
[116774.619] (==) Max clients allowed: 256, resource mask: 0x1fffff
[116774.619] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.
[116774.619] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[116774.619] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/" does not exist.
[116774.619] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[116774.619] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/" does not exist.
[116774.619] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[116774.619] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi" does not exist.
[116774.619] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[116774.619] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi" does not exist.
[116774.619] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[116774.619] (==) FontPath set to:
	/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc,
	/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1,
	built-ins
[116774.619] (==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[116774.619] (II) The server relies on udev to provide the list of input devices.
	If no devices become available, reconfigure udev or disable AutoAddDevices.
[116774.619] (II) Loader magic: 0x563d805a6020
[116774.619] (II) Module ABI versions:
[116774.619] 	X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.4
[116774.619] 	X.Org Video Driver: 23.0
[116774.619] 	X.Org XInput driver : 24.1
[116774.619] 	X.Org Server Extension : 10.0
[116774.621] (--) using VT number 2

[116774.621] (II) systemd-logind: logind integration requires -keeptty and -keeptty was not provided, disabling logind integration
[116774.623] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card0)
[116774.624] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card1)
[116774.624] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card2)
[116774.624] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card3)
[116774.643] (**) OutputClass "nvidia" ModulePath extended to "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[116774.643] (**) OutputClass "nvidia" ModulePath extended to "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[116774.643] (**) OutputClass "nvidia" ModulePath extended to "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[116774.643] (**) OutputClass "nvidia" ModulePath extended to "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[116774.643] (**) OutputClass "nvidia" ModulePath extended to "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[116774.643] (**) OutputClass "nvidia" ModulePath extended to "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[116774.643] (**) OutputClass "nvidia" ModulePath extended to "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[116774.643] (**) OutputClass "nvidia" ModulePath extended to "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg,/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[116774.657] (--) PCI:*(0:3:0:0) 1a03:2000:1a03:2000 rev 65, Mem @ 0x9c000000/16777216, 0x9d000000/131072, I/O @ 0x00002000/128, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072
[116774.657] (--) PCI: (0:97:0:0) 10de:1db1:10de:1212 rev 161, Mem @ 0xc4000000/16777216, 0x38f800000000/17179869184, 0x38fc00000000/33554432
[116774.657] (--) PCI: (0:98:0:0) 10de:1db1:10de:1212 rev 161, Mem @ 0xc3000000/16777216, 0x38f000000000/17179869184, 0x38f400000000/33554432
[116774.657] (--) PCI: (0:137:0:0) 10de:1db1:10de:1212 rev 161, Mem @ 0xdf000000/16777216, 0x397800000000/17179869184, 0x397c00000000/33554432
[116774.657] (--) PCI: (0:138:0:0) 10de:1db1:10de:1212 rev 161, Mem @ 0xde000000/16777216, 0x397000000000/17179869184, 0x397400000000/33554432
[116774.657] (II) LoadModule: "glx"
[116774.657] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so
[116774.658] (II) Module glx: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.658] 	compiled for 1.19.6, module version = 1.0.0
[116774.658] 	ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 10.0
[116774.658] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card0
[116774.658] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.658] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card0
[116774.658] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.658] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card1
[116774.658] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.658] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card1
[116774.658] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.658] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card2
[116774.659] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.659] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card2
[116774.659] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.659] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card3
[116774.659] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.659] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card3
[116774.659] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.659] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 0
[116774.659] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 1
[116774.659] (==) Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 2
[116774.659] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 3
[116774.659] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 4
[116774.659] (==) Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 5
[116774.659] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 6
[116774.659] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 7
[116774.659] (==) Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 8
[116774.659] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 9
[116774.659] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 10
[116774.659] (==) Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 11
[116774.659] (==) Matched ast as autoconfigured driver 12
[116774.659] (==) Matched modesetting as autoconfigured driver 13
[116774.659] (==) Matched fbdev as autoconfigured driver 14
[116774.659] (==) Matched vesa as autoconfigured driver 15
[116774.659] (==) Assigned the driver to the xf86ConfigLayout
[116774.659] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
[116774.659] (II) Loading /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg/nvidia_drv.so
[116774.659] (II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[116774.659] 	compiled for 1.6.99.901, module version = 1.0.0
[116774.659] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[116774.659] (II) LoadModule: "nouveau"
[116774.660] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nouveau_drv.so
[116774.660] (II) Module nouveau: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.660] 	compiled for 1.19.3, module version = 1.0.15
[116774.660] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[116774.660] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 23.0
[116774.660] (II) LoadModule: "ast"
[116774.661] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module ast
[116774.661] (II) UnloadModule: "ast"
[116774.661] (II) Unloading ast
[116774.661] (EE) Failed to load module "ast" (module does not exist, 0)
[116774.661] (II) LoadModule: "modesetting"
[116774.661] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/modesetting_drv.so
[116774.661] (II) Module modesetting: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.661] 	compiled for 1.19.6, module version = 1.19.6
[116774.661] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[116774.661] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 23.0
[116774.661] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
[116774.662] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
[116774.662] (II) Module fbdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.662] 	compiled for 1.19.3, module version = 0.4.4
[116774.662] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[116774.662] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 23.0
[116774.662] (II) LoadModule: "vesa"
[116774.662] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so
[116774.662] (II) Module vesa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.662] 	compiled for 1.19.3, module version = 2.3.4
[116774.662] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[116774.662] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 23.0
[116774.662] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card0
[116774.662] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.662] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card0
[116774.662] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.662] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card1
[116774.662] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.662] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card1
[116774.662] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.662] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card2
[116774.662] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.662] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card2
[116774.662] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.662] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card3
[116774.662] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.662] (II) Applying OutputClass "nvidia" to /dev/dri/card3
[116774.662] 	loading driver: nvidia
[116774.662] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 0
[116774.662] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 1
[116774.662] (==) Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 2
[116774.662] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 3
[116774.662] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 4
[116774.662] (==) Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 5
[116774.662] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 6
[116774.662] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 7
[116774.662] (==) Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 8
[116774.662] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 9
[116774.662] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 10
[116774.662] (==) Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 11
[116774.662] (==) Matched ast as autoconfigured driver 12
[116774.662] (==) Matched modesetting as autoconfigured driver 13
[116774.662] (==) Matched fbdev as autoconfigured driver 14
[116774.662] (==) Matched vesa as autoconfigured driver 15
[116774.662] (==) Assigned the driver to the xf86ConfigLayout
[116774.662] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
[116774.663] (II) Loading /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg/nvidia_drv.so
[116774.663] (II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[116774.663] 	compiled for 1.6.99.901, module version = 1.0.0
[116774.663] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[116774.663] (II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
[116774.663] (II) Unloading nvidia
[116774.663] (II) Failed to load module "nvidia" (already loaded, 22077)
[116774.663] (II) LoadModule: "nouveau"
[116774.663] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nouveau_drv.so
[116774.663] (II) Module nouveau: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.663] 	compiled for 1.19.3, module version = 1.0.15
[116774.663] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[116774.663] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 23.0
[116774.663] (II) UnloadModule: "nouveau"
[116774.663] (II) Unloading nouveau
[116774.663] (II) Failed to load module "nouveau" (already loaded, 22077)
[116774.663] (II) LoadModule: "ast"
[116774.664] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module ast
[116774.664] (II) UnloadModule: "ast"
[116774.664] (II) Unloading ast
[116774.664] (EE) Failed to load module "ast" (module does not exist, 0)
[116774.664] (II) LoadModule: "modesetting"
[116774.664] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/modesetting_drv.so
[116774.664] (II) Module modesetting: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.664] 	compiled for 1.19.6, module version = 1.19.6
[116774.664] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[116774.664] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 23.0
[116774.664] (II) UnloadModule: "modesetting"
[116774.664] (II) Unloading modesetting
[116774.664] (II) Failed to load module "modesetting" (already loaded, 0)
[116774.664] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
[116774.664] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
[116774.664] (II) Module fbdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.664] 	compiled for 1.19.3, module version = 0.4.4
[116774.664] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[116774.665] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 23.0
[116774.665] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdev"
[116774.665] (II) Unloading fbdev
[116774.665] (II) Failed to load module "fbdev" (already loaded, 0)
[116774.665] (II) LoadModule: "vesa"
[116774.665] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so
[116774.665] (II) Module vesa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.665] 	compiled for 1.19.3, module version = 2.3.4
[116774.665] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[116774.665] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 23.0
[116774.665] (II) UnloadModule: "vesa"
[116774.665] (II) Unloading vesa
[116774.665] (II) Failed to load module "vesa" (already loaded, 0)
[116774.665] (II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver  460.73.01  Thu Apr  1 21:37:53 UTC 2021
[116774.665] (II) NVIDIA Unified Driver for all Supported NVIDIA GPUs
[116774.665] (II) NVIDIA X compatibility module for ABI 23.0 built from xorg-server-1.18.99.902
[116774.665] (II) X log verbosity: 6
[116774.665] (II) NOUVEAU driver Date:   Fri Apr 21 14:41:17 2017 -0400
[116774.665] (II) NOUVEAU driver for NVIDIA chipset families :
[116774.665] 	RIVA TNT        (NV04)
[116774.665] 	RIVA TNT2       (NV05)
[116774.665] 	GeForce 256     (NV10)
[116774.665] 	GeForce 2       (NV11, NV15)
[116774.665] 	GeForce 4MX     (NV17, NV18)
[116774.665] 	GeForce 3       (NV20)
[116774.665] 	GeForce 4Ti     (NV25, NV28)
[116774.665] 	GeForce FX      (NV3x)
[116774.665] 	GeForce 6       (NV4x)
[116774.665] 	GeForce 7       (G7x)
[116774.665] 	GeForce 8       (G8x)
[116774.665] 	GeForce GTX 200 (NVA0)
[116774.665] 	GeForce GTX 400 (NVC0)
[116774.665] (II) modesetting: Driver for Modesetting Kernel Drivers: kms
[116774.665] (II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev
[116774.665] (II) VESA: driver for VESA chipsets: vesa
[116774.741] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for modesetting
[116774.741] (II) modeset(1): using default device
[116774.741] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw"
[116774.741] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw"
[116774.742] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so
[116774.742] (II) Module fbdevhw: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.742] 	compiled for 1.19.6, module version = 0.0.2
[116774.742] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 23.0
[116774.742] (**) FBDEV(2): claimed PCI slot 3@0:0:0
[116774.742] (II) FBDEV(2): using default device
[116774.742] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for vesa
[116774.742] (II) Loading sub module "fb"
[116774.742] (II) LoadModule: "fb"
[116774.743] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfb.so
[116774.743] (II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.743] 	compiled for 1.19.6, module version = 1.0.0
[116774.743] 	ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
[116774.743] (II) Loading sub module "wfb"
[116774.743] (II) LoadModule: "wfb"
[116774.744] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libwfb.so
[116774.744] (II) Module wfb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[116774.744] 	compiled for 1.19.6, module version = 1.0.0
[116774.744] 	ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
[116774.744] (II) Loading sub module "ramdac"
[116774.744] (II) LoadModule: "ramdac"
[116774.744] (II) Module "ramdac" already built-in
[116774.745] (EE) [drm] Failed to open DRM device for (null): -2
[116774.745] (EE) [drm] Failed to open DRM device for (null): -2
[116774.745] (EE) [drm] Failed to open DRM device for (null): -2
[116774.745] (EE) [drm] Failed to open DRM device for (null): -2
[116774.745] (II) modeset(G0): using drv /dev/dri/card0
[116774.745] (II) modeset(G1): using drv /dev/dri/card1
[116774.745] (II) modeset(G2): using drv /dev/dri/card2
[116774.745] (II) modeset(G3): using drv /dev/dri/card3
[116774.745] (EE) Screen 0 deleted because of no matching config section.
[116774.745] (II) UnloadModule: "modesetting"
[116774.745] (EE) 
Fatal server error:
[116774.745] (EE) Cannot run in framebuffer mode. Please specify busIDs        for all framebuffer devices
[116774.745] (EE) 
[116774.745] (EE) 
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support 
	 at http://wiki.x.org
 for help. 
[116774.745] (EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
[116774.745] (EE) 
[116774.914] (EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.

Furthermore, I do not have the xorg-configure command apparently, since it just says that the command was not found:

Both of the following images show the result of the same command (I could not upload it as a single picture but had to divide it into two pictures):

But configuring the xorg.conf file such that we can get a working configuration for the NVIDIA GPU sounds really good and would be a great solution.

[Tigwelder]

See below

[Tigwelder]

Do this to blacklist nouveau driver from loading:

How to disable/blacklist Nouveau nvidia driver on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa Linux

Then the command is a capital X

Xorg -configure

-configure

" When this option is specified, the Xorg server loads all video driver
modules, probes for available hardware, and writes out an initial
xorg.conf(5) file based on what was detected. This option currently has
some problems on some platforms, but in most cases it is a good way to
bootstrap the configuration process. This option is only available when
the server is run as root (i.e, with real-uid 0)."

[PaxBustermann]

Hi all, sorry for the late answer. We actually updated our server now to Ubuntu 20.04.2 and I had quite a lot to do with configuring that.
I also wanted to thank everyone that supported me until now, your answers are greatly appreciated.

So right now the situation in our server is pretty much the same as before except for a main difference. Before we upgraded our server, the settings showed the llvmpipe graphics and never the NVIDIA graphics, as depicted here:

However, right now after the fresh installation of Ubuntu 20.04.2 and installing the NVIDIA driver 460 from the “Software & Updates” application we get the following shown for the graphics in the settings:

I feel like this is actually a huge step forward, since the NVIDIA GPU was actually never shown as the used Graphics in the settings before in our old Ubuntu 18 installation.

Furthermore, using sudo nvidia-settings is now saying, that the display device has to be determined:

The nvidia-settings command itself gives the exact same output as with our old Ubuntu 18 installation (see above).

I guess the control display configuration is probably done in the xorg.conf file. I looked it up and there is no xorg.conf file configured right now, so the etc/X11 folder does not contain any xorg.conf files.

Now I wanted to ask you for support, what I can do here, to configure the control display and hopefully use my NVIDIA GPU to process and render stuff on my display.

Thank you very much in advance for your support.

[Tigwelder]

Here’s a post I made in another thread. take a read through that and the xorg.conf and see if that gets you going in the right direction.

Nvidia-settings returns 'Connection refused. ERROR: The control display is undefined'

Here’s a confirmed working /etc/X11/xorg.conf that uses the iGPU as primary display ( intel in this case ) and then forces one of the Nvidia cards to use an EDID from file to activate the driver/GPU to be loaded by X, therefore for all 4 Nvidia GPU. You’ll have one display with a working X desktop, no spanning multi desktop and be able to use the nvidia utilities and programs on the non dektop GPUs. Set your BusID for each Device ! Configuration - Linux Hostname 5.8.0-53-generic #60~20.04.1-Ub…

[PaxBustermann]

Hi Tigwelder, thank you very much for your answer.

First of all I just wanted to ask if anybody else has huge problems with uploading images onto the forum. The images are always below 1MB, and the uploading process also starts, however, once it comes to an end, a message pops up saying: “Sorry, there was an error uploading that file. Please try again.”. This also happened before and usually I have to take another screenshot of the same thing or similar, just so that I can upload the image here. However, in this case right now, I cannot upload any image that is a little bit bigger (around the same size of other images I posted in my earlier posts here actually). I split the images in some earlier posts to be able to upload them, but right now, not even that is working anymore. If anyone has a solution for that, I would be really grateful.

The results above were actually obtained by using an SSH remote connection to our server. We also used the direct login without an SSH connection and got some other very interesting results:

When we are using the “ps a | grep X” command via an SSH connection we get this:

When we are using the direct physical login, we get the following output:

I have read in other posts, that this Wayland session is hindering the usage of our NVIDIA GPU and tried out a few things regarding this, e.g. from here Tuning nvidia-settings over SSH error

Furthermore, we can now actually access the nvidia-settings (only when we are using the direct login, this does not work over ssh, see my last post):
Could not upload the image here (Will be putting it up once I have an alternative or solution)

However, using the glmark2 benchmark shows that we are actually still using the llvmpipe graphics instead of the NVIDIA GPU:
Could not upload the image here (Will be putting it up once I have an alternative or solution)

Therefore, I wanted to ask the community for support here, since I do not know how to configure the GPU settings correctly, in order to be able to actually utilize the NVIDIA GPU. I saw that @generix, answered a lot of other forum posts regarding this problem and similar problems, so maybe he might know more about this.

Any help is really appreciated, since I cannot really find any solution to these problems, even after trying out a lot of things and upgrading the OS to Ubuntu 20.04.2 in our server. So thank you very much for your help and support!