[SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

cloverskull · 2026-01-08 15:16:15

Hey friends, I'm using the vanilla arch kernel (linux package) and when I try to use nvidia-open with it...I can't get my nvidia card to work. However if I use nvidia-open-dkms, it does work.

Also possibly related but I can't get virtualbox to work with the recommended package virtualbox-host-modules-arch, but it /does/ work with virtualbox-host-dkms. I have a fairly vanilla new installation right now but I've noticed that the issue with nvidia not working correctly without the dkms package is something I've dealt with for a while.

Last edited by cloverskull (2026-01-09 02:45:48)

Scimmia · 2026-01-08 15:17:21

What versions of the modules packages and the kernel, exactly?

cloverskull · 2026-01-08 18:36:55

I'm not near my Arch computer at the moment (am at work) but this has been the case as long as I can remember and my computer is fully up to date as I run pacman updates every few days. I can follow up with the specifics this evening but it's certainly not a new issue for me.

seth · 2026-01-08 20:03:36

We'll see. Make sure to report

pacman -Qs kernel|nvidia
uname -a

system72 · 2026-01-08 22:21:58

seth wrote:

pacman -Qs kernel|nvidia

fixed that for u

pacman -Qs 'kernel|nvidia'

cloverskull · 2026-01-09 02:11:23

local/dkms 3.3.0-1
    Dynamic Kernel Modules System
local/egl-gbm 1.1.2.1-1.1
    The GBM EGL external platform library
local/egl-wayland 4:1.1.21-1.1
    EGLStream-based Wayland external platform
local/egl-wayland2 1.0.0.rc.r53.gf4a2d32-1.1
    EGLStream-based Wayland external platform (2)
local/egl-x11 1.0.4-1.1
    NVIDIA XLib and XCB EGL Platform Library
local/fuse3 3.17.4-1.1
    Interface for userspace programs to export a filesystem to the Linux kernel
local/iptables 1:1.8.11-2.1
    Linux kernel packet control tool (using legacy interface)
local/kmod 34.2-1
    Linux kernel module management tools and library
local/lib32-libdrm 2.4.128-1
    Userspace interface to kernel DRM services (32-bit)
local/lib32-nvidia-utils 590.48.01-1.1
    NVIDIA drivers utilities (32-bit)
local/libdrm 2.4.131-1.1
    Userspace interface to kernel DRM services
local/libnetfilter_conntrack 1.0.9-2.1
    Library providing an API to the in-kernel connection tracking state table
local/libnfnetlink 1.0.2-2.1
    Low-level library for netfilter related kernel/userspace communication
local/libsysprof-capture 49.0-1.1
    Kernel based performance profiler - capture library
local/libva-nvidia-driver 0.0.14-1.1
    VA-API implementation that uses NVDEC as a backend
local/libvdpau 1.5-3.1
    Nvidia VDPAU library
local/linux 6.18.3.arch1-1.1
    The Linux kernel and modules
local/linux-api-headers 6.17-1.1
    Kernel headers sanitized for use in userspace
local/linux-firmware-nvidia 20251125-2
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for NVIDIA GPUs and SoCs
local/linux-headers 6.18.3.arch1-1.1
    Headers and scripts for building modules for the Linux kernel
local/mtdev 1.1.7-1.1
    A stand-alone library which transforms all variants of kernel MT events to the slotted type B protocol
local/nvidia-open-dkms 590.48.01-1.1
    NVIDIA open kernel modules - module sources
local/nvidia-prime 1.0-5
    NVIDIA Prime Render Offload configuration and utilities
local/nvidia-utils 590.48.01-1.1
    NVIDIA drivers utilities
local/virtualbox-host-dkms 7.2.4-1
    VirtualBox Host kernel modules sources

Scimmia · 2026-01-09 02:16:23

That's with the -dkms packages. We need the information when you're actually having the problem.

cloverskull · 2026-01-09 02:19:04

Using nvidia-open-dkms:

❯ nvidia-smi       
Thu Jan  8 18:18:24 2026       
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 590.48.01              Driver Version: 590.48.01      CUDA Version: 13.1     |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |           Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                        |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
|   0  NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ...    Off |   00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A |
| N/A   37C    P3            590W /   35W |       0MiB /   8188MiB |     11%      Default |
|                                         |                        |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                              |
|  GPU   GI   CI              PID   Type   Process name                        GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                               Usage      |
|=========================================================================================|
|  No running processes found                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Sorry, need to reboot to post the results of nvidia-open, hate spamming messages unnecessarily

cloverskull · 2026-01-09 02:22:14

local/dkms 3.3.0-1
    Dynamic Kernel Modules System
local/egl-gbm 1.1.2.1-1.1
    The GBM EGL external platform library
local/egl-wayland 4:1.1.21-1.1
    EGLStream-based Wayland external platform
local/egl-wayland2 1.0.0.rc.r53.gf4a2d32-1.1
    EGLStream-based Wayland external platform (2)
local/egl-x11 1.0.4-1.1
    NVIDIA XLib and XCB EGL Platform Library
local/fuse3 3.17.4-1.1
    Interface for userspace programs to export a filesystem to the Linux kernel
local/iptables 1:1.8.11-2.1
    Linux kernel packet control tool (using legacy interface)
local/kmod 34.2-1
    Linux kernel module management tools and library
local/lib32-libdrm 2.4.128-1
    Userspace interface to kernel DRM services (32-bit)
local/lib32-nvidia-utils 590.48.01-1.1
    NVIDIA drivers utilities (32-bit)
local/libdrm 2.4.131-1.1
    Userspace interface to kernel DRM services
local/libnetfilter_conntrack 1.0.9-2.1
    Library providing an API to the in-kernel connection tracking state table
local/libnfnetlink 1.0.2-2.1
    Low-level library for netfilter related kernel/userspace communication
local/libsysprof-capture 49.0-1.1
    Kernel based performance profiler - capture library
local/libva-nvidia-driver 0.0.14-1.1
    VA-API implementation that uses NVDEC as a backend
local/libvdpau 1.5-3.1
    Nvidia VDPAU library
local/linux 6.18.3.arch1-1.1
    The Linux kernel and modules
local/linux-api-headers 6.17-1.1
    Kernel headers sanitized for use in userspace
local/linux-firmware-nvidia 20251125-2
    Firmware files for Linux - Firmware for NVIDIA GPUs and SoCs
local/linux-headers 6.18.3.arch1-1.1
    Headers and scripts for building modules for the Linux kernel
local/mtdev 1.1.7-1.1
    A stand-alone library which transforms all variants of kernel MT events to the slotted type B protocol
local/nvidia-open 590.48.01-4.1
    NVIDIA open kernel modules
local/nvidia-prime 1.0-5
    NVIDIA Prime Render Offload configuration and utilities
local/nvidia-utils 590.48.01-1.1
    NVIDIA drivers utilities
local/virtualbox-host-dkms 7.2.4-1
    VirtualBox Host kernel modules sources

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.

Scimmia · 2026-01-09 02:23:47

local/nvidia-open 590.48.01-4.1
    NVIDIA open kernel modules

yeah, that's the problem. You're installing non-arch packages. What does `pacman -Qi nvidia-open` show?

cloverskull · 2026-01-09 02:28:46

According to https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA we should be installing nvidia-open for arch vanilla linux kernel..?

Edit - also, I have the same issue if I use the recommended virtualbox-host-modules-arch when trying to launch virtualbox; I need to use that dkms package as well. This has been the case for me for a while, I'm surprised more people aren't chiming in with the same issue.

Last edited by cloverskull (2026-01-09 02:30:19)

Scimmia · 2026-01-09 02:29:57

Except the package you have installed is NOT FROM ARCH. What distro are you running?

cloverskull · 2026-01-09 02:31:03

I literally did a pacman -S nvidia-open and am running vanilla Arch

Perhaps it's because I'm using the ALHP x86-64_v3 repos?

Edit - yep, it's because of ALHP

https://somegit.dev/ALHP/ALHP.GO/issues/68

Last edited by cloverskull (2026-01-09 02:32:35)

Scimmia · 2026-01-09 02:32:57

Yeah, you override a bunch of Arch packages with 3rd party crap, things like this happen. At what point is it no longer Arch? Replace 25% of it? 50% of it?

cloverskull · 2026-01-09 02:38:14

Man, I wish Arch would have x86-64_v3 enabled repos, that would simplify everything. I get much better performance (especially with AI tasks, which is what I do for a living) using the ALHP x86-64_v3 repos.

But yeah point taken. *shrug* Thanks for the help

system72 · 2026-01-09 10:54:36

if you want something like this, you would probably want to replace the arch repos with the cachyos repos since their packages are compiled with x86-64_v3 and v4, or just use cachy at that point .. oh and gentoo allows extensive compiler based optimizations through portage, so gentoo might be what you're looking for too

Arch Linux

#1 2026-01-08 15:16:15

[SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#2 2026-01-08 15:17:21

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#3 2026-01-08 18:36:55

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#4 2026-01-08 20:03:36

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#5 2026-01-08 22:21:58

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#6 2026-01-09 02:11:23

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#7 2026-01-09 02:16:23

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#8 2026-01-09 02:19:04

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#9 2026-01-09 02:22:14

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#10 2026-01-09 02:23:47

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#11 2026-01-09 02:28:46

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#12 2026-01-09 02:29:57

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#13 2026-01-09 02:31:03

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#14 2026-01-09 02:32:57

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#15 2026-01-09 02:38:14

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

#16 2026-01-09 10:54:36

Re: [SOLVED] nvidia-open doesn't work as expected, nvidia-open-dkms does

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