Arch Linux

Mack_Out

Member

Registered: 2026-03-18

Posts: 3

Syslog flooded with NVRM entries

Hello,

Sorry but I couldn't figure out exactly in which category to post
2 days ago I did a full system upgrade and now anytime my screen is going blank as per the power options, after a while I could hear the GPU fan going crazy and see multiple log entries:

kernel: NVRM: GPU0 dispcmnCtrlCmdSystemGetVblankCounter_IMPL: invalid head number!

I am using XFCE4 on 6.19.8-arch1-1

CPU: Intel i5-7500 (4) @ 3.800GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650

I googled and only found
https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/o … ngs/355892

But without a fix.

Please assist if possible
              │

cylgalad

Member

From: France

Registered: 2022-09-11

Posts: 1

Re: Syslog flooded with NVRM entries

Hi,
This bug spams the system journal by more than half a million lines per day, and fills dmesg in less than 3 minutes.

Since it's still not fixed in drivers 595, I just hacked the message away.

With nvidia-open-dkms installed, edit the offending source file:

sudo vim +425 /usr/src/nvidia-595.58.03/src/nvidia/src/kernel/gpu/disp/disp_common_kern_ctrl_minimal.c

Comment out the offending line:

/*        NV_PRINTF(LEVEL_ERROR, "invalid head number!\n");*/

Then reinstall the kernel to build the modified driver and run mkinitcpio:

sudo pacman -S linux

Reboot, spam gone.

Adapt for your setup and for future drivers, if nvidia still doesn't fix it soon.

Mack_Out

Member

Registered: 2026-03-18

Posts: 3

Re: Syslog flooded with NVRM entries

Hi,
This bug spams the system journal by more than half a million lines per day, and fills dmesg in less than 3 minutes.

Since it's still not fixed in drivers 595, I just hacked the message away.

With nvidia-open-dkms installed, edit the offending source file:

sudo vim +425 /usr/src/nvidia-595.58.03/src/nvidia/src/kernel/gpu/disp/disp_common_kern_ctrl_minimal.c

Comment out the offending line:

/*        NV_PRINTF(LEVEL_ERROR, "invalid head number!\n");*/

Then reinstall the kernel to build the modified driver and run mkinitcpio:

sudo pacman -S linux

Reboot, spam gone.

Adapt for your setup and for future drivers, if nvidia still doesn't fix it soon.

Hello
I am just seeing your reply now
Thanks a lot
To be transparent i use rsyslog but after the full system update syslog facility in rsyslog.conf was activated (maybe me by accident but can't recall) anf flooded the logs
I use lnav to track logs

log rotate went nuts
Yeah each rotation was almost 1gb
So i commented syslog and everything went back to normal

And now I have a new issue.  I am on my cell phone wondering how I can go about posting my system logs to get proper help; it has to do with the recent migration to nfttables,  where my workstation can no longer connect to the router, no internet.  Been trying to fix  for 2 days now, no luck

So far using Arch is awesome and Ifixed a lot of my issues by just reading the awesome wiki + websearch but nftables might be my biggest roadblock, really not easy for me to grasp

I might try your workaround once I convince myself to use journal, as I should.  Thanks a bunch for the assist.

Last edited by Mack_Out (Yesterday 22:12:02)

Mack_Out

Member

Registered: 2026-03-18

Posts: 3

Re: Syslog flooded with NVRM entries

By the way I don't have nvida-open-dkms, I have nvidia-open
Are you saying that's what I should install?  Because since the nvidia migration whenever I do full system upgrade i get a kernel module dkms error

But system works fine

The error was something along those lines:

Warning dkms install --no-depmod lkrg/r756.58d73c9 -k (kernel version) exited 10