Re-activate Nvidia After Blacklist; Current Kernel In Use i915

Hardware Support
1

System Info

• OS: Zorin 18
• Current kernel: 6.14.0-33-generic (confirmed via uname -r)
• GPU setup: Intel i915 (integrated) + NVIDIA discrete (dual-GPU)
• NVIDIA driver installed: nvidia-driver-590-open (version 590.48.01)
• nvidia-prime: installed (v0.8.17.2)

Background / What I Did

I previously blacklisted my NVIDIA driver so that i915 would become the active GPU. I wasn't aware of i915's limitations at the time. Now I have an ongoing Machine Learning project that requires NVIDIA GPU compute (CUDA), so I need to switch back.

Steps I Was Advised to Take

Step 1 — Remove the blacklist file:
sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nvidia.conf
Step 2 — Switch to NVIDIA via prime-select:
sudo prime-select nvidia
Step 3 — Rebuild initramfs:
sudo update-initramfs -u
Step 4 — Reboot.

My Concern — Kernel Mismatcch
When I ran dpkg -l | grep nvidia, I noticed the pre-built NVIDIA kernel modules are built for kernels 6.17.0-14 and 6.17.0-19 — but my currently running kernel is 6.14.0-33-generic. There is no nvidia module listed for 6.14.0-33.

I also noticed that nvidia-dkms-590-open has an 'rc' status (removed, config files remain), meaning DKMS is not currently present to rebuild the module automatically.

My fear: switching to NVIDIA and rebooting into kernel 6.14.0-33 will result in a black screen because no NVIDIA module exists for that kernel version.

My Questions

  1. Is my kernel mismatch concern valid? Will I get a black screen on reboot?

  2. Should I reinstall nvidia-dkms-590-open FIRST before doing the 4-step switch?
    sudo apt install nvidia-dkms-590-open

  3. After DKMS is reinstalled, how do I verify it built the module for 6.14.0-33 before rebooting?
    ls /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/updates/dkms/ | grep nvidia

  4. Is there any other trapp or pre-condition I should be aware of before proceeding?

2

I would actually do this as:
sudo apt remove --purge '^nvidia-.*' '^libnvidia-.*'

Then:

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-580 nvidia-dkms-580

I understand the "latest and greatest" pressure - especially from games and other software that see that a Nvidia driver has been released five minutes ago and demands you get with the times...
But the 590 has been problematic three ways out of a two way street.

Your concern is valid - and the above will solve that concern.

1 Like
3

One last question if you don't mind? Presently I'm not with my laptop, so i just asked AI about this, it told me that before I do that, I should Install headers;
sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Is this install header command necessary or even right? Thank you anyway

4

The linux headers are usually already installed.

You can check with

apt list linux-headers
1 Like
5

It is correct, and as @Forpli points out, they are already installed.
The reason it tells you to do that is in case the distro in use does not include the headers.
Many include Linux-Image and Linux-Modules. Zorin OS includes Linux-Headers and Linux-modules-extra, as well as the Image and Modules.

The headers are needed since the Nvidia Driver is a kernel module.

2 Likes
6

Hello good sir. I have followed your advice, just now. There was a three days power cut in our area, anyway. What do I do after I reinstalled Nvidia driver 580? Do i sudo reboot or restart the laptop? I'm getting really anxious doing the wrong thing now

7

You can do either of these. Restarting is just a means of initializing on the new driver.

8

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