All games abruptly died

General Help
1

Hello, this is a decidedly odd one, so please bear with me!

This morning, I was playing Control through Heroic Launcher. It ran fine, saved my game, I quit and went to walk the dog. Came back later and it launched but then got stuck on a black screen when I tried to load my game.

What's odd is that now none of my games work, whether through Heroic Launcher or through Steam. Either they launch and die immediately, launch and die as soon as they try to engage the GPU, or launch and don't use the GPU and result in a slideshow. Games I've tried through Steam are Elden Ring (dies), Bioshock Infinite (dies after the intro videos play) and Horizon Chase Turbo (launches but runs at about 1 frame every 3 seconds).

Things I have tried:

  • Verifying files on Steam
  • Purging and reinstalling the nVidia driver
  • Reinstalling the games

Output of inxi -Ga is as follows:

Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GA106 [GeForce RTX 3060] driver: nvidia v: 550.90.07
alternate: nvidiafb,nouveau,nvidia_drm pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16
link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s ports: active: none off: DP-1,HDMI-A-1
empty: DP-2,DP-3 bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2503 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 type: USB
driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 5-3.3:7 chip-ID: 046d:082d
class-ID: 0102 serial: DA76D9AF
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 compositor: gnome-shell v: 43.9
driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nouveau,nvidia unloaded: fbdev,vesa
gpu: nvidia display-ID: :1 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-dpi: 81 s-size: 1204x343mm (47.4x13.5")
s-diag: 1252mm (49.3")
Monitor-1: DP-0 pos: primary,right res: 1920x1080 dpi: 82
size: 598x336mm (23.5x13.2") diag: 686mm (27")
Monitor-2: HDMI-0 pos: primary,left res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 102
size: 477x268mm (18.8x10.6") diag: 547mm (21.5")
OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060/PCIe/SSE2
v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 550.90.07 direct render: Yes

I'm on kernel 6.8.0-40 and nVidia driver 550. Neither of those has changed since this last worked fine.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: of the games that launch but run like a dog, I've had 'watch -d -n 0.5 nvidia-smi' open in a terminal window, and the issue appears to be that they are not using the nvidia GPU at all. The GPU utilisation doesn't move, and they don't appear in the list of processes using the GPU. Presumably they're rendering in software.

EDIT 2: If relevant, glxgears works fine and shows up in the list of processes using the GPU in nvidia-smi.

2

This Combination should theoretically work together. But have You tested if it runs better when You change to the older 6.5 Kernel?

3

I haven't. Would you be willing to explain how I would do that?

If it helps, it did work fine with that kernel and that driver until this morning.

4

Until this Morning ... came there an Update? And if yes what installs it? Maybe the 6.8 Kernel or have You them a while?

Because of Your Edit: Do you have an internal Graphics, too? I mean in Your CPU?

Because of the Explanation: Do You have a Dual-Boot System or Zorin only?

5

Thanks for coming back.

No update this morning. I've been running kernel 6.8 for a good week or so.

No internal graphics in my cpu. It's a Ryzen 7 5800X.

It's only Zorin OS on the system, no other OS.

6

Okay, only Zorin. Then you shouldn't have the GRUB Menu when boot Your System. So, we will make it active. Because on the GRUB Screen You have the Option ''Advanced Options for Zorin''. And when You choose this Option, you can use another Kernel.

Open the Terminal and type sudo nano /etc/default/grub

In the upcoming Screen you look for the Line GRUB_TIMEOUT:

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Bildschirmfoto vom 2024-08-24 16-26-571633×1157 147 KB

In Your Case there should stand a 0 because You don't have a Dual-Boot System. Replace the Number with a 10 for Example. This Number says that the GRUB Screen appears 10 Seconds. If You prefer a longer Time Windowd You can take a higher Number like 20 or 30.

After You have replaced the Number, You type ctrl+o to save the Change, Enter to confirm and ctlr+x to exit. Then back in the normal Terminal Overview type sudo update-grub to load the Change. It is important to do that. Without it won't work.

After You have done all this reboot Your System and You should have a GRUB Screen. Choose there the Option ''Advanced Options for Zorin'' and choose ther the 6.5 Kernel.

7

Thank you. I did as you suggested but didn't get the grub screen, it just waited at a blank screen for the duration of the timeout value and then booted as normal. Do I maybe need to change GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE to something other than "hidden" too?

1 Like
8

You can change hidden to menu

Always remember that you must run sudo update grub after making and saving changes to the grub file.

1 Like
9

Thanks, that got me into the Grub menu. Booting kernel 6.5 results in the nvidia drivers not loading at all - Settings / About shows lllvmpipe under Graphics.

1 Like
10

Please follow the terminal commands in this post:

Once your Nvidia drivers are fully installed, reboot and test.

I use an RTX 3060, as well.

2 Likes
11

Thank you. Just to clarify, I should be booting into kernel 6.5 still?

1 Like
12

I really recommend it.
I realize that opinions will vary about which kernel to use. My own opinion is "working and stable" is preferable over "latest and newest."
The reason to opt for a later kernel is almost always for the reason of finding support for the newest hardware.
If you are using an 8 year old computer for example, using the 5.10 kernel is not only fine but better since it has everything you need for full support without any of the regressions.

If your hardware needs the 6.8 kernel and you know it, then I would suggest switching to a different release of 6.8 than the -40 at this time.
If otherwise, then you do not need the 6.8 and its problems.

2 Likes
13

Thank you everyone for your help. It seems that some updates that came in through the Software app overnight have fixed it. I forgot to make a note of their precise names but they related to nVidia and GL. All is now well, it seems.

All very odd. I really appreciate the people on this forum rallying round to help, especially at a weekend!

1 Like
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