[SOLVED] Nvidia/Nvidia-open driver crashing woes

GrimBandito · 2026-01-01 07:47:59

GPU: Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1660 Super OC
Driver: nvidia-open 590.48

Since the release of nvidia driver ~575 my arch installation has started suffering from the graphics driver crashing whilst playing Arc Raiders and my screen just goes blank and reports there is no signal. I usually have no choice but to hard power-off my pc to get it back in working order. The gpu is not overclocked any more that the base settings that came with the card.

Now let me just say that these crashes only happen with a certain game, which would indicate that this game is the problem. However, I have been using the NVIDIA-SMI to inspect the settings of the various drivers and have noticed that the gpu clock speeds that these drivers are using are way beyond the recommended speeds under the manufacturer specs.

The gpu listed above is given a stock max clock speed of 1830 according to gigabytes website, however the nvidia driver I found was allowing the max clock speed to ramp all the way up to over 2100. Effectively overclocking the gpu. Memory clock speeds were normal at 7000. And max gpu temp was set to 90C. The power cap for the card is ~125W.

Usind nvidia-smi I capped the gpu clock speed to the recommeded 1830 and the crashing continued. So I capped the temperature to 80C and the gpu still crashed. Finally I decided to cap the max power usage of the gpu to ~100W down from 125W and the card started to behave itself again and no crashes were experienced.

I am just reporting my experience here for others to read and see if anybody else has some experience with this problem or gpu or game. I am not convinced that the problem is the drivers but I am kind of perplexed as to why the nvidia drivers would want to allow a gpu to clock itself way above the recommended settings. I also must reiterate that these crashing issues appeared to start with the ~575+ series of drivers and persist to today with 590.48 driver.

Just add that prior to my testing I went to some length to de-dust and clean out the pc and re-paste the cpu and gpu.

I am left thinking that Arc Raiders drives my gpu really hard to the point of crashing.

Last edited by GrimBandito (2026-01-01 19:47:51)

seth · 2026-01-01 15:16:47

You'd probably want to mention that in https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/5 … ion/341205 (VERY VEEEERY long thread…)

Edit: and of course in doubt maybe here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA/Troubleshooting

Last edited by seth (2026-01-01 15:18:02)

GrimBandito · 2026-01-01 19:45:16

* Update * Followed the Arch wiki nvidia troubleshooting advice and tried disabling the GSP Firmware. That is by adding to the list of kernel parameters for the nvidia module.

NVreg_EnableGpuFirmware=0

Then regenerate the initramfs.

No crashing as of yet. So possible solution found but only time will tell.

Last edited by GrimBandito (2026-01-01 19:46:45)

Arch Linux

#1 2026-01-01 07:47:59

[SOLVED] Nvidia/Nvidia-open driver crashing woes

#2 2026-01-01 15:16:47

Re: [SOLVED] Nvidia/Nvidia-open driver crashing woes

#3 2026-01-01 19:45:16

Re: [SOLVED] Nvidia/Nvidia-open driver crashing woes

Board footer