Accidently installed 550 driver and my computer lags horribly. went back to the 535 and its still lagging with so many things gone wrong

[sambridges]

While i was optimising Proton for gaming i went and tinkered around the driver. I've only use 535 since its the most stable until just now i decided to try out the 555 driver and now my laptop is almost unusable. everything is very stuttery and laggy.

I tried to fix it by applying 535 drivers in the additional drivers setting but after rebooting it was not the same. The nvidia x server didnt detect it at all and somehow the solution i used to fix it made it worse and now its completely gone from my device and i cant install it because it requires 560 drivers.

i decided to use the method of uninstalling all nvidia components and do the apt install ubuntu-drivers method. it just didnt work. none of all the drivers i tried (510.515.470,545,550) just didnt work and was so laggy.

So my question:

1.How can i reinstall the usual 535 (proprietary,tested) drivers? all drivers with "(proprietary)" only did not fix the issue but made it worse.

2.how to reinstall nvidia x server setting that does not require 560 drivers?

my specs are
OS: Zorin OS 17.1 x86_64
Host: OMEN by HP 16.1 inch Gaming La
Kernel: 6.8.0-40-generic
Uptime: 22 mins
Packages: 2763 (dpkg), 82 (flatpak),
Shell: bash 5.1.16
Resolution: 2560x1440
DE: GNOME 43.9
WM: Mutter
WM Theme: Fluent-Dark-compact
Theme: Fluent-Dark-compact [GTK2/3]
Icons: Papirus-Dark [GTK2/3]
Terminal: gnome-terminal
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 6800H with Radeon G
GPU: NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3070 Ti Lapt
GPU: AMD ATI Radeon 680M
Memory: 5993MiB / 15186MiB

[Storm]

sudo apt remove --purge nvidia* libnvidia*
sudo apt install --install-recommends nvidia-driver-535

Should do the trick.

[sambridges]

Sadly this does not work. While it did install the Nvidia X server, the app did not register the gpu. looking at the additional drivers, the one in use is "Nvidia driver metapackage from nvidia-driver-535(proprietary)". what i needed is "...nvidia-driver-535(proprietary,tested)".

its still jittery and stuttering like before with no less worse or improvement.

[Aravisian]

@sambridges

the one in use is "Nvidia driver metapackage from nvidia-driver-535(proprietary)". what i needed is "...nvidia-driver-535(proprietary,tested)".

Although the "(tested)" implies something, it is misleading. Essentially, they are the exact same driver, however the tested one includes instabilities - it should say Testing, not Tested.

@sambridges

NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3070 Ti Lapt

The 535, 545, 550 or 555 drivers should all work on that card.
This does not sound like a driver issue exactly. It may be a module issue.
You msut fully remove and purge the driver as outlined by @Storm but you may take the additional step of reinstalling your kernel. Let's be thorough:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall linux-image-$(uname -r) linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Do Not Use the 6.8 kernel, for now. Instead, set your boot default to the 6.5 kernel, if you need:

[HOW TO] set an older kernel to default boot

You may need to use an earlier kernel than the current kernel used by Zorin. This method allows you to set the kernel that you will boot into by default. To set the new kernel to default: Boot into the kernel you wish to be Saved. Open terminal and run: sudo nano /etc/default/grub Change GRUB_DEFAULT=0 to GRUB_DEFAULT=saved Hit enter to drop down a line. Add GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true ctrl+x to exit, then the y key to say yes to save, then the enter key to save as current configuration. Ru…

Once that completes, install the Nvidia Driver:

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-535

Once that completes with no errors, reboot But do not enter the desktop, yet. Instead, before logging in, ensure that you are set to Zorin Desktop on X not to Zorin Desktop on Wayland.
Then login in and test.

[sambridges]

Do not Use the 6.8 kernel

from i've checked in dkms status. could this be it?

sam-bridges@sambridges-OMEN-by-HP-16-1-inch-Gaming-Laptop-PC:~$ dkms status
hid-xpadneo/v0.9-172-gfd0cd48, 5.15.0-118-generic, x86_64: installed
hid-xpadneo/v0.9-172-gfd0cd48, 6.5.0-41-generic, x86_64: installed
hid-xpadneo/v0.9-172-gfd0cd48, 6.8.0-40-generic, x86_64: installed
nvidia/535.183.01, 6.8.0-40-generic, x86_64: installed (WARNING! Diff between built and installed module!) (WARNING! Diff between built and installed module!) (WARNING! Diff between built and installed module!) (WARNING! Diff between built and installed module!) (WARNING! Diff between built and installed module!)
virtualbox/6.1.50, 5.15.0-118-generic, x86_64: installed
virtualbox/6.1.50, 6.5.0-41-generic, x86_64: installed
virtualbox/6.1.50, 6.8.0-40-generic, x86_64: installed

[Aravisian]

Use this kernel:

@sambridges

6.5.0-41-generic, x86_64: installed

Do not use:

@sambridges

6.8.0-40-generic, x86_64: installed

Reference:

After update, display is really slow and screen is tearing

Thanks for the flag @zabadabadoo! We've investigated this issue and have found that specifically the upstream proprietary NVIDIA 545 driver package currently doesn't have a kernel module that's compatible with Linux 6.8 yet. We've found that most other versions of the NVIDIA driver package should nevertheless be compatible with the latest kernel update: 550 545 535 530 (auto-upgrades to version 535) 525 (auto-u…

You can access Grub Menu by tapping esc or tab from the motherboard splash screen on UEFI or holding Left Shift Key on MBR (Legacy) boot systems.
From Grub Menu, select Advanced Options... then select Zorin on 6.5.0-41

[sambridges]

Sorry for the delay

Instead, before logging in, ensure that you are set to Zorin Desktop on X not to Zorin Desktop on Wayland

Could you elaborate on this?

[Aravisian]

@sambridges

Could you elaborate on this?

You can find this one asked a lot, since GDM3 is not very clear about how to switch Desktop Environments:

Zorin On Xorg

Its already there. At the login screen after you put in your user name click on the cog wheel in lower right corner. There you will see a choice that says "Zorin Desktop on Xorg". Click on that and enter your password.

If you do not see the gear icon/cog wheel, then select the option to login in as different user, then it should appear. After making your adjustments, then just login as your normal user.

[sambridges]

There's only 4 options presented

Ubuntu
Ubuntu on Wayland
Zorin Desktop
Zorin Desktop on Wayland

UPDATE: IT WORKED!

i logged in with the third option, and surprise-the stutter and lagging is fully gone and the gpu is used and registered in the x server settings.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much @Storm and @Aravisian!

For other people who have this problem, apparently its not the drivers causing the lag. the kernel incompatibility with the drivers are what's causing it. i wrote down the summary

Check which kernel you are using with neofetch.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install neofetch

once done type in neofetch in terminal to see which kernel you are using.

then type

dkms status

to see the incompalibility of the kernel with the drivers. you can see it through the several warning messages.

As previously said by @Aravisian, the 6.8.0 kernel is not fully functional so you have to revert back to 6.5.0.

follow these steps

sudo apt remove --purge nvidia* libnvidia*
sudo apt-get install --reinstall linux-image-$(uname -r) linux-headers-$(uname -r)

and then reboot

sudo reboot

from here change the kernel through BIOS in UEFI.
When booting on your device, try vigorously spam press both left and right shift
until you see the Grub menu

from there go to advanced and choose the 6.5.0 kernel

once logged in. open terminal and type the following

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Change GRUB_DEFAULT=0 to GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
hit enter to drop down a line. Add GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true and then press ctrl+x to exit, then the y key to say yes to save, then the enter key to save as current configuration.

then run

sudo update-grub

before rebooting, install the driver
in my case im using the 535 driver

sudo apt install --install-recommends nvidia-driver-535

afterwards, go to setting>user and turn off auto log in

then reboot

in the login section,select user profile and a cog icon will appear on the bottom right.

choose the option "Zorin Desktop on X" or if that does not shown go with the "Zorin Desktop" option

and i hope that fixes it.