# Nvidia drivers do not boot in fresh Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with eGPU that works well with default Nouveau driver **URL:** \ **Category:** Linux\ **Created:** [November 1, 2020, 1:25am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444 "2020-11-01T01:25:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anon231254125345145](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/forums/profile-default-devtalk-84.png) [@anon231254125345145](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/anon231254125345145)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 1:25am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444/1 "2020-11-01T01:25:05Z")
After installing NVIDIA graphics drivers, cannot boot into desktop environment, on a fresh install of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, on an Intel NUC10FNH, with Akitio Node eGPU enclosure and Geforce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card. Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-10710U CPU @ 1.10GHz × 12 Graphics: Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics (CML GT2) / NV132 I’ve tried nearly all driver versions listed by `ubuntu-drivers devices` from 418 to 455, and they all hang the boot on a black screen with flashing cursor after a disk check (although ssh works). I’ve tried every documented install method from the additional drivers GUI, to `ubuntu-drivers autoinstall`, to direct install of a specific version with ppa and apt. Using the default builtin nouveau driver works flawlessly on the eGPU monitor, however I need to install CUDA and use `nvidia-smi`. Here are some debug logs I collected, after following [this thread](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/no-matter-which-drivers-i-install-i-cannot-boot-my-ubuntu-20-04-lts-beyond-a-black-screen/127510): [nvidia-bug-report-part1.txt](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/uploads/short-url/6X80zt7MlyU7YIEGhs4SpSPguZ4.txt) (2.2 MB) [nvidia-bug-report-part2.txt](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/uploads/short-url/tYUX14glKWo96E0Y6sm2HHJNBK4.txt) (2.0 MB) As far as I can tell, there’s no special blacklisting of nvidia happening anywhere. There’s no nvidia-specific files in `/etc/modprobe.d/`. Running `sudo prime-select query` over ssh shows nvidia when boot is hanging. I originally had secure boot enabled when first attempting the graphics driver install through the GUI, but disabled it after the first failed restart. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![anon231254125345145](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/forums/profile-default-devtalk-84.png) [@anon231254125345145](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/anon231254125345145)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 1:28am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444/2 "2020-11-01T01:28:46Z")
Here are some additional debug files collected through ssh (could not upload more than 3 files in OP, also could not upload files larger than 4.4MB, so I split the debug report above in two): [grep\_nvidia\_in\_lib\_udev\_rules\_d.txt](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/uploads/short-url/eKSh5aKhURfLsNV3r9Mzvg3PMhs.txt) (2.0 KB) [lib\_modprobe\_d\_nvidia\_graphics-drivers\_conf.txt](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/uploads/short-url/bzPR0LvEGTW09WN3QG4v0VOtIj.txt) (81 Bytes) [lib\_modprobe\_d\_nvidia\_kms\_conf.txt](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/uploads/short-url/QDtsqjB3mphS5QEtcderwqFDBY.txt) (109 Bytes) ---
**Author:** ![anon231254125345145](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/forums/profile-default-devtalk-84.png) [@anon231254125345145](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/anon231254125345145)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 1:32am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444/3 "2020-11-01T01:32:27Z")
[lshw.txt](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/uploads/short-url/vNnQh3PyojThwI6OrLVDaXDmS4C.txt) (1.1 KB) [nvidia-smi.txt](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/uploads/short-url/eQzexa1KoJYAoDtqe35wXk6Zvxl.txt) (1.5 KB) ---
**Author:** ![RandoNando](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/nvidia/user_avatar/forums.developer.nvidia.com/randonando/32/42666_2.png) [@RandoNando](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/RandoNando)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 4:02am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444/4 "2020-11-02T04:02:36Z")
Can we get the output of `journalctl`? ---
**Author:** ![anon231254125345145](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/forums/profile-default-devtalk-84.png) [@anon231254125345145](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/anon231254125345145)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 8:13am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444/5 "2020-11-02T08:13:44Z")
It’s fairly noisy, so instead of splitting into 14 files, here’s a dropbox link: > **[Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life](https://www.dropbox.com/s/2t47et9kx8o3iog/journalctl_log.txt?dl=0)** Could the following boot error be relevant? `Initramfs unpacking failed: Decoding failed` Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![anon231254125345145](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/forums/profile-default-devtalk-84.png) [@anon231254125345145](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/anon231254125345145)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444/6 "2020-11-10T02:18:07Z")
Any insight? Are there any other resources about nvidia boot behaviour in ubuntu 20? ---
**Author:** ![demorris](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/forums/profile-default-devtalk-84.png) [@demorris](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/demorris)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 6:07am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444/7 "2020-11-24T06:07:46Z")
I believe I ran in to the same issue when using a NUC with a Razer Core X/2080Ti on Ubuntu 20.04. The issue for me was that Xorg was unloading the nvidia driver because I had not set the AllowExternalGpus option in my xorg config file. Check if you’re running into that issue by looking at the Xorg.0.log (or something similar) within the /var/log directory. If its the lack of that flag you’ll probably see a message somewhere in there about it. ---
**Author:** ![Mart](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/forums/profile-default-devtalk-84.png) [@Mart](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/Mart)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 11:06am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444/8 "2020-11-26T11:06:20Z")
Another user had a similar issue with that intitramfs error. did you try: `update-initramfs -c -k all` ? ---
**Author:** ![anon231254125345145](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/forums/profile-default-devtalk-84.png) [@anon231254125345145](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/anon231254125345145)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 9:10am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444/9 "2020-11-29T09:10:37Z")
Thanks!! Adding the `AllowExternalGpus` to the Xorg config did indeed solve the boot issue. Before this fix, I had noticed that I could boot properly without the eGPU, login to desktop using the internal intel GPU, then hot-plug the eGPU after logging in, and it would work as expected for cuda applications (desktop environment would still run on intel). Hot-unplug did not (and still does not) work, as expected/mentioned in the nvidia driver notes. After the fix, I can now reboot safely with the eGPU plugged in. However it prefers the eGPU for rendering the desktop environment, how can I prioritize the integrated intel GPU for this? The `prime-select` command doesn’t seem to do anything, based on `intel_gpu_top` and the Xorg processes/power usage listed by `nvidia-smi`. ---
**Author:** ![anon231254125345145](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/forums/profile-default-devtalk-84.png) [@anon231254125345145](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/anon231254125345145)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 9:15am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444/10 "2020-11-29T09:15:21Z")
> [@Mart](#): > > update-initramfs -c -k all I had not run this manually (although I think apt was already triggering updates to initramfs after related installs); running this did not resolve the error message from `journalctl`. ---
**Author:** ![anon231254125345145](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/forums/profile-default-devtalk-84.png) [@anon231254125345145](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/anon231254125345145)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 12:09am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-drivers-do-not-boot-in-fresh-ubuntu-20-04-lts-with-egpu-that-works-well-with-default-nouveau-driver/158444/11 "2020-11-30T00:09:34Z")
I also tested to see if hot-plug (not hot-unplug) still works. Not unsurprisingly it does not, it enters an unstable state where the GPU is not even detected by `lspci -nnv | grep -A 18 'VGA'` or IOMMU group lists. Even between reboots, the GPU is no longer detected (although thunderbolt and the Akitio Node box still is). However, commenting out the `AllowExternalGpus` and rebooting (with the eGPU on) into the original black screen seems to do some kind of reset; since using SSH, I can then detect the eGPU and run cuda or `nvidia-smi`. If I then shutdown, then turn off the eGPU, and then turn on the NUC, login, and then turn on the eGPU (hot-plug), this brings it back to the original state. So it looks like I can either boot with the eGPU on or hot-plug the eGPU after boot, but not both. Advantage of the hot-plug method is that the desktop renders with the intel GPU; advantage of the boot method is that it’s easier to use, and reboot, remotely.