# nvidia-smi "No devices were found" error 

**URL:** <https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-smi-no-devices-were-found-error/38464>\
**Category:** CUDA Setup and Installation\
**Created:** [June 22, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-smi-no-devices-were-found-error/38464 "2015-06-22T18:42:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 23

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**Author:** ![jarskynz](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/images/forums/profile-default-devtalk-84.png) [@jarskynz](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/u/jarskynz)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 1:40am UTC](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-smi-no-devices-were-found-error/38464/23 "2020-11-01T01:40:46Z")

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All of a sudden started having the issue after a reboot about a week ago as well, using Ubuntu 20.04.

Things i’ve tried so far:

- Upgrading Ubuntu 20.04
- Upgrading/Downgrading NVIDIA driver via run file (450.66 / 455.38 / 440.100)
- Nouveau driver is blacklisted, i tried running another initramfs to update the kernel.

I then purged everything e.g

> sudo apt-get remove nvidia-\* xserver-xorg-\* && sudo apt-get purge nvidia-\* xserver-xorg-\* && sudo apt-get autoclean && sudo apt-get autoremove

Shutdown, and tested the card in a different system where it ran perfectly. Loaded it up to 100% for 2 hours and completed tasks fine. I then put the card back into my Ubuntu Server and reinstalled, this time via aptitude

> sudo apt-get install dkms build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)  
> sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf  
> blacklist nouveau  
> blacklist nvidiafb  
> alias nouveau off  
> echo options nouveau modeset=0 | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/nouveau-kms.conf  
> sudo apt-get install nvidia-headless-450-server nvidia-utils-450-server nvidia-container-runtime nvidia-container-toolkit nvidia-docker2

Still have the same issue

> $ lspci | grep NVIDIA  
> 07:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP104 [GeForce GTX 1070] (rev a1)  
> 07:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GP104 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)

> $ dmesg | grep NVRM  
> [1.569623] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86\_64 Kernel Module 450.80.02 Wed Sep 23 01:13:39 UTC 2020  
> [65.390214] NVRM: GPU 0000:07:00.0: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffff:1266)  
> [65.390403] NVRM: GPU 0000:07:00.0: rm\_init\_adapter failed, device minor number 0

> $ dmesg | grep NVIDIA  
> [1.450276] nvidia: module license ‘NVIDIA’ taints kernel.  
> [1.569623] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86\_64 Kernel Module 450.80.02 Wed Sep 23 01:13:39 UTC 2020  
> [1.572949] nvidia-modeset: Loading NVIDIA Kernel Mode Setting Driver for UNIX platforms 450.80.02 Wed Sep 23 00:48:09 UTC 2020

> $ cat /var/log/kern.log | grep taint  
> Nov 1 14:13:49 mediabox kernel: [1.450269] nvidia: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel.  
> Nov 1 14:13:49 mediabox kernel: [1.450276] nvidia: module license ‘NVIDIA’ taints kernel.  
> Nov 1 14:13:49 mediabox kernel: [1.450278] Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint  
> Nov 1 14:13:49 mediabox kernel: [1.460693] nvidia: module verification failed: signature and/or required key missing - tainting kernel

> $ sudo nvidia-smi  
> No devices were found

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