NVIDIA GPU, Solus installs but boots to a blank screen

JLm

Hi, there!
I've daily driven Solus Gnome on my computer for quite a while, but I haven't been able to use it since I upgraded my GPU to an NVIDIA T600 (same chip as a GTX 1650 but with fewer cores). Nouveau has trouble with this card on all distros (has something to do with its firmware), but I am always able to install the proprietary Nvidia drivers (DKMS or not). However, with Solus, I am able to install the OS because the live disk boots up with llvmpipe, but after it's installed it only boots to a blank screen. I don't a shell, or even just a blinking cursor, it's just completely blank. How can I solve this problem? Could it be a GDM issue and Plasma would work? Also, is there anything I can do to install Solus with the proprietary Nvidia drivers?

JLm

So, I've just tried the Plasma ISO. It's even worse because it won't even launch the live environment. During the boot process, however, it does say something like "nouveau gr init failed" and freezes after that.

JLm

The Budgie ISO installs and boots UP after installation with llvmpipe, so I am going to try installing the NVidia driver on it. I will update this post with the results afterwards.

JLm

The "Hardware Drivers" app says there are no drivers available. So, I'm going to try and install It manually. Should I install the "nvidia-glx-driver" or the "nvidia-glx-driver-current"? I know 5.15 is an LTS kernel, but on solus it says current on its name.

elfprince

JLm Use the same name as your installed current. uname -a will tell you the name of the kernel.

Staudey

JLm I know 5.15 is an LTS kernel, but on solus it says current on its name.

Yeah, the current (pun intended) situation is a bit confusing, but in general linux-current is the default kernel of every edition, so unless you knowingly changed it, this will be the one on your system.
nvidia-glx-driver-current is indeed the correct driver for your GPU and kernel. I'm a bit surprised the "Hardware Drivers" application didn't detect it, even if you tried it with a freshly installed system (i.e. before updating), because the card's release date was three months before the ISOs were released. Maybe worth checking out if that reveals an issue in our hardware detection.

JLm

I installed the "current" package along with the 32bit one and it worked. So my issue is kinda solved, but I still would like to be advised in case there's something else I Should do.

JLm

elfprince Thanks, I did that and it worked

WetGeek

The old .ISO files have problems installing Solus on some newer hardware, because they don't include some of the newer drivers that are needed. This is a known issue, and one that the team is working on. New .ISO file should be available soon, but it's a huge project.

You've done well to resolve this on your own.

JLm

WetGeek Oh that makes sense! I am looking forward to the new Gnome ISO. Thanks for the reply!

JLm

Staudey Lol, great pun, and nicely explained! Also, I think the problem with the hardware detection might not be caused by Solus. In my experience, this gpu and linux in general don't go well together (I have no idea why, though), because recent ISOs of other distros gave me simillar problems. Manjaro, for instance, wouldn't start any display manager with this gpu, wether I chose free, or propietary drivers. I would love to have the knowledge to investigate this