Ubuntu 24.04 on Dell XPS 8930 with GeForce GTX 1050 Ti -- no graphics (worked with 20.04)

Graphics / Linux Linux
1

Hi NVIDIA,
If this was addressed elsewhere, I couldn’t find it.
I updated the OS, and now I only get text-based login.
I’ve purged the existing drivers, blacklisted ‘nouveau’, set ‘nomodeset’ in ‘grub’, disabled ‘wayland’ and several other things a few times, but my login comes up text only.
I’ll try to upload '‘nvidia-bug-report.sh’, `nvidia-smi {,–query}’ and more (in the reply)

I appreciate any help!
AK in PDX

2

nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (350.9 KB)

gpu-manager.txt (2.1 KB)

nvidia-smi.txt (1.7 KB)

nvidia-smi-query.txt (9.4 KB)

3

Another thought: As this box is remote to me now, I assume if ‘nvidia-smi’ shows ‘ No running processes found’ and ‘GPU-Util == 0’ that it’s not in use. Will the ‘GPU-Util’ show any use even if it’s just a login screen? Thx

4

[ 161.066] (EE) Failed to load module “nvidia” (module does not exist, 0)

Check if you have xserver-xorg-video-nvidia installed (dpkg -l xserver-xorg-video-nvidia)

5

Thanks for your reply
Yes, I do (I had to append the version)

dpkg -l xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-535
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
++±=============================-===========================-============-=================================
ii xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-535 535.274.02-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver
6

Not sure if this means much

lsmod | grep nvidia 
nvidia_uvm           1798144  0
nvidia_drm             94208  0
nvidia_modeset       1314816  1 nvidia_drm
nvidia              56926208  2 nvidia_uvm,nvidia_modeset
video                  77824  3 dell_wmi,i915,nvidia_modeset
7

These are the kernel modules and everything seems ok here, further evidenced by your proper nvidia-smi output. The problem is on X11 level: the Failed to load module “nvidia” (module does not exist, 0) log fragment is from X11 logs and refers to an X11 module, not the kernel module with the same name.

Please post the output of ls -l /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/

Also, do you use any custom X11 config? Please post the contents of all files in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ folder (if any).

8 
root@unstable:~# ls /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ 
root@unstable:~# ls -l /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/
total 3056
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  160800 Nov 19 07:40 amdgpu_drv.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   14656 Apr  8  2024 ati_drv.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   31904 Apr  8  2024 fbdev_drv.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1707624 Apr  8  2024 intel_drv.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  123752 Oct 23 10:29 modesetting_drv.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  212520 Jul  1  2024 nouveau_drv.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  168616 Apr  8  2024 qxl_drv.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  489824 Apr  8  2024 radeon_drv.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   31968 Jul  1  2024 vesa_drv.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  170376 Apr  8  2024 vmware_drv.so
9

I tried to look in /usr/lib/nvidia/ for a possible driver, but it only contains a text file alternate-install-available that tells me to use the GUI ;-)

10

So as it’s apparently missing, what does xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-535 provide?? Ubuntu packaging is… weird, to say least. Please post the output of dpkg -L xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-535.

11 
root@unstable:~# dpkg -L xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-535
/.
/usr
/usr/lib
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg/nvidia_drv.so
/usr/share
/usr/share/X11
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-nvidia.conf
/usr/share/doc
/usr/share/doc/xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-535
/usr/share/doc/xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-535/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-535/copyright

I see
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6400168 Sep 28 01:20 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg/nvidia_drv.so
Should I try it in /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/?

12

Yes, that is a brute-force solution that will probably work (you can try either copying it or soft-linking with ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg/nvidia_drv.so in /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/ folder).

My guess is that some package configuration script failed to create such link automatically and “the proper” way to resolve this, would be to reinstall this package, but I am not familiar with Ubuntu Nviidia packaging, so I have no idea which one exactly. Perhaps other forum members will be able to advise more.

13 
root@unstable:/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers# ls -l nvidia_drv.so
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      51 Dec 29 00:32 nvidia_drv.so -> /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg/nvidia_drv.so

Now I rebooted, but nvidia-smi still looks the same (0% GPU, no running processes). As this box is in the office, and I won’t be able to get there for at least 12 hours, what would be the best way to see if it worked? Another nvidia-bug-report.log.gz ?

And thank you for your help so far!
AK

14

This means it didn’t work :/

yes, please: let’s see what is happening now that the X11 module is there.
Also to make it easier to browse through, please attach the latest /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

15

Just to make sure: this GTX 1050ti is the machine’s built-in dGPU, correct? Not an eGPU using some external adapter?

16

Xorg.0.log (52.6 KB)
nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (345.9 KB)

XPS 8930 is a company-provided desktop I inherited a while back.

root@unstable:~# lspci|grep -i nvidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP107 [GeForce GTX 1050 Ti] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GP107GL High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
17

I use two monitors on it, and I believe I use HDMI cables, one to a built-in plug and the other to a card, but I’m not certain at this time.

18

[ 58.137] (==) Log file: “/var/log/Xorg.0.log”, Time: Fri Dec 26 19:06:01 2025

It’s stale. Like X is not even trying to start now for some reason.
I suppose some other, non-Nvidia related misconfiguration, but hard for me to say exactly what kind (I ditched Ubuntu exactly when attempting to upgrade to 24.04 a year ago as it was a complete joke of an OS IMHO, been a happy Debian user since).

19

What graphic environment have you chosen during installation? If it was Gnome or KDE, then you are probably using Wayland not X11, which would explain why X11 is not starting ;-] In such case I’m also unable to help more as I have exactly zero experience with Wayland. Again, hopefully other forum users will be able to advise more in such case.

20

I’m considering that
Most of our production runs on Debian and lately more Devuan

I think the Xorg.0.log was only logging when I tried to load nouveau driver hoping it would work.

This was an upgrade to existing Gnome environment, so it didn;t ask me.
Re Wayland
I had WaylandEnable=false uncommented in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf, thinking it disabled it.

Anyway, it 01:30 here, and I’m off. Thanks again!

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