I have the following graphics card:
VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT218 [GeForce G210] (rev a2)
My system configuration is:
# System Details Report
---
Report details
- Date generated: 2024-12-02 12:24:50
Hardware Information:
- Hardware Model: ASUS All Series
- Memory: 8.0 GiB
- Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-4170 × 4
- Graphics: Software Rendering
- Disk Capacity: 500.1 GB
Software Information:
- Firmware Version: 1103
- OS Name: Ubuntu 24.10
- OS Build: (null)
- OS Type: 64-bit
- GNOME Version: 47
- Windowing System: Wayland
- Kernel Version: Linux 6.11.0-9-generic
Referencing NVIDIA drivers installation - Check driver versions it should be possible to check the driver using the command:
cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version
It turns out that "/proc/driver/" is missing the directory "nvidia" so it seems that the problem preventing the card from fully performing is that the NVIDIA driver for it is missing.
What needs to be done to reinstall the NVIDIA driver so that
cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version
shows up properly and the card works fine again.
Just to the side, I am able to boot up to safe mode with the card, and I am using the safe mode of the driver to write this question here, only with the DVI port (not the desired HDMI port).
Thank you in advance for your help for getting the NVIDIA driver installed properly so the card can fully work again including the HDMI port.
Update: I am currently following the article How to enable NVIDIA?. The answer from "ubfan1" is:
Your reported symptoms exactly match the case of having an installed Nvidia driver, but logging in with wayland. At the login screen, click on the little gear next to the signin button, and select a non-wayland choice. Proceed to login, and the nvidia-settings should be fully functional.
I am trying out some of the steps in that article to try and reach a resolution. Other steps are still helpful, as I have not proven that this approach solves the problem yet.
Update: I logged out and did not find the little gear by the sign-in button.
Update: The article How to enable/disable wayland on Ubuntu Desktop step by step instructions describes why the gear icon was not present. It was not there because Xorg was not enabled. That article has steps to enable it. Now the gear icon shows after selecting the user. But selecting it and attempting login just results in going back to the login screen.
Also,
sudo ubuntu-drivers list
just hangs for awhile and eventually comes to a blank list indicating no drivers present. when I type nvidia-smi I get:
nvidia-smi
Command 'nvidia-smi' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-535-server # version 535.216.01-0ubuntu0.24.10.2, or
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-560 # version 560.35.03-0ubuntu5
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-550-server # version 550.127.05-0ubuntu0.24.10.1
Now I am trying the installation of sudo apt install nvidia-utils-560:
I get:
nvidia-smi
NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.
I found the article NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running. It has some suggestions. From Phúc Lê:
If your nvidia-smi failed to communicate but you've installed the driver so many times, check prime-select.
Run prime-select query to get all possible options. You should see at least nvidia | intel. Choose prime-select nvidia. If it says nvidia is already selected, select a different one, e.g. prime-select intel, then switch back to nvidia prime-select nvidia Reboot and check nvidia-smi.
Now I am trying these steps.
sudo /usr/bin/prime-select intel
Error: no integrated GPU detected.
sudo /usr/bin/prime-select nvidia
Error: no integrated GPU detected.
This next link seems involved, but promising: Using Legacy Nvidia GPUs in Ubuntu 20.04. I am hoping that similar steps would work for Ubuntu 24.10:
I attempted the steps listed in Using Legacy Nvidia GPUs in Ubuntu 20.04. I have a /home partition that is separate from the root partition / on the drive so that I can install a fresh operating system whenever needed while preserving my home directory that has needed downloads and so forth. Following the reference, I disable driver installation. Then following the next steps in the reference:
- Wait for the installation to finish and login to the desktop.
- Open a terminal and install the GA kernel package:
sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic
- Reboot so we can load the older kernel version – don’t install the legacy Nvidia drivers until you are actually running the 5.4 kernel.
Unfortunately, the 5.4 Kernel version is not available referenced steps 1 through 5. Only kernel versions 6 are available which do not solve the problem.
In principle, one could install an older version of Ubuntu, but that is not the point of support on the current LTS version. There are still a lot of cards out there that are G210 or similar and the the LTS support should address this.
I understand that there might be work involved to get a proper driver working. Perhaps something needs to be compiled from scratch -- I am not certain what exactly. I want to know and learn what could be done to get a good driver for the G210 card running. Probably older C code is available to reference to write the newer drivers, but I am not sure exactly where and what work needs to be done to upgrade them to make the G210 HDMI port work. I appreciate additional suggestions , especially those with detailed steps.
That is the point about difficulties - not to give in, but rather to learn from challenges and overcome them.
Update:
I changed cards, to a NVIDIA QUARDO NVS 295 card and used a display port adapter to HDMI. Finally, I booted in the recovery mode and then selected to continue to a normal boot. Surprisingly this worked to bring up the HDMI display. But the resolution is very low. Is there a way to improve the resolution?
Update: (Additional References)
TOMOYO Linux Cross Reference Linux/ Linux kernel release 4.x
The Linux Kernel Archives Including Kernel long term: 5.4.288
