Problem Installing nvidia driver for NVIDIA L4 GPU

Graphics / Linux Linux
1

Hello everyone,

I have been facing a problem for a few days now while installing nvidia drivers for the NVIDIA L4 GPU.
My current system configuration is the following :

  • Ubuntu 22.04 VM with Vmware esxi, GPU is configured with passthrough.
  • Driver version that I try to install: 535.161.07 following this guide.

After installing the driver I try to execute the nvidia-smi command, I get the following result :

Command ‘nvidia-smi’ not found, but can be installed with:
apt install nvidia-utils-390 # version 390.157-0ubuntu0.22.04.2, or
apt install nvidia-utils-418-server # version 418.226.00-0ubuntu5~0.22.04.1
apt install nvidia-utils-450-server # version 450.248.02-0ubuntu0.22.04.1
apt install nvidia-utils-470 # version 470.223.02-0ubuntu0.22.04.1
apt install nvidia-utils-470-server # version 470.223.02-0ubuntu0.22.04.1
apt install nvidia-utils-525 # version 525.147.05-0ubuntu0.22.04.1
apt install nvidia-utils-525-server # version 525.147.05-0ubuntu0.22.04.1
apt install nvidia-utils-535 # version 535.129.03-0ubuntu0.22.04.1
apt install nvidia-utils-535-server # version 535.129.03-0ubuntu0.22.04.1
apt install nvidia-utils-510 # version 510.60.02-0ubuntu1
apt install nvidia-utils-510-server # version 510.47.03-0ubuntu3

Here is one of the entries in the nvidia bug report log :

NVRM: The NVIDIA GPU 0000:13:00.0 (PCI ID: 10de:27b8)
NVRM: installed in this system is not supported by the
NVRM: NVIDIA 535.161.07 driver release.
NVRM: Please see ‘Appendix A - Supported NVIDIA GPU Products’
NVRM: in this release’s README, available on the operating system
NVRM: specific graphics driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

The PCI ID 10de:27b8 does correspond to NVIDIA L4, and when I read the Appendix A of the driver’s README, I do see the L4 GPU in the list of compatible GPUs.

Here is the output of the dkms status nvidia command :
nvidia/535.161.07, 5.15.0-97-generic, x86_64: installed

Output of uname -r command : 5.15.0-97-generic

output of lshw -c display command (shows that the GPU is unclaimed with no driver installed) :

*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: SVGA II Adapter
vendor: VMware
physical id: f
bus info: pci@0000:00:0f.0
logical name: /dev/fb0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom fb
configuration: depth=32 driver=vmwgfx latency=64 resolution=1176,885
resources: irq:16 ioport:2040(size=16) memory:f0000000-f7ffffff memory:fb800000-fbffffff memory:c0000-dffff
*-display UNCLAIMED
description: 3D controller
product: NVIDIA Corporation
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:13:00.0
version: a1
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pciexpress msix cap_list
configuration: latency=64
resources: iomemory:1fff0-1ffef iomemory:1fff0-1ffef memory:fda00000-fda3ffff memory:1fff00000000-1fff7fffffff memory:1fff80000000-1fff81ffffff

Here is the Passthrough config in Vmware:

image
image1088×366 4.88 KB

Any help would be very appreciated.
Thank you all !

2

Nvidia have changed the pass-through restrictions for enterprise gpus starting with the Ada gen. Those can only be passed through in compute mode. This can usually be switched using the display mode selector tool but the L4 doesn’t seem to be supported.
In virtual graphics mode, Nvidia vGPU has to be used with additional licensing costs. Don’t know if the old trick of hiding the hypervisor works around that.

3

Thank you for your response, but I have also tried this using Vmware’s GRID vGPU, same problem.
Really don’t know what I can try next.

4

In case of vgpu, you need to use the grid driver on the guests.

6

Were you eventually able to get the L4 to passthrough?

I am looking into building a server with L4s and planning to pass them through Proxmox.