Edit: “Updating to the legacy 580xx drivers doesn’t show me a desktop anymore”, just in case someone else can stumble upon this by searching something similar.
Thanks to @deadcade@lemmy.deadca.de and @Ooops@feddit.org I did try fixing it out of curiosity. I had forgotten to install linux-headers. Hopefully someone who actually has the same problem as me, and needs to fix it, can use the tips given in the comments. On my end, I just had to install linux-headers and one reboot later it worked.
Always check if you have all needed packages and don’t just “remember” that you had them installed.
RIP. Time to pull out the backup, amiright?
right… the backup…
The backup specifically created for recovery…
The recovery backup…
Designed to backup the recovery…:
That backup?

Blessed be CachyOS for setting that shit up for me automatically.
Distro hopped recently. Loving it.
Now I get to say “I use Arch, btw” while still having nfi what I’m doing.
I like diving into the deep end and drown a few times too.
Have you heard of .pacnew files yet?
It should be illegal to use pacman without
pacman-contribinstalled forcheckupdates(no risk of partial upgrades) and for comparing and merging.pacnew-files withpacdiff…It was today when I first heard of it!
Using Arch for ~7 years or so! Both servers and desktops. Always just manually
vimdiff’ed things.And I only recently learned that a separate
vimdiffcommand exists (not that it makes a difference overvim -d)…
You need a couple things:
- The kernel driver (dkms)
- Userspace component
- Kernel headers (for dkms)
First get your kernel headers, this is easy enough, but varies based on which kernel you have installed. The format of the package name is
{kernel}-headers. If you have thelinuxkernel, getlinux-headers. If you havelinux-lts, getlinux-lts-headers. If you’re not sure on this, the commandpacman -Q | grep linuxsearches for installed packages containinglinuxin the name. If you have multiple kernels installed, get the headers for all of them.Then install (from AUR) at least
nvidia-580xx-dkms(display out) andnvidia-580xx-utils(Acceleration, like 3D and video decoding). If you have Steam or play Windows games under Wine, be sure to getlib32-nvidia-580xx-utilstoo.Also of note is the order in which you install things. Having the kernel headers installed is important for the DKMS modules to install succesfully. If you already have
nvidia-580xx-dkmsbut were missing your kernel headers, you should reinstall it after installing your kernel headers.I just went over to NVK. I shouldn’t really waste my time playing the graphic intensive games anyway. The indies are better.
I tried dkms but it took so long to install I gave up.
Hey Look, it’s me! I am on nobara against my fucking will. I spent all saturday screaming.
I’m going to refer the shit out of this thread in my news battle to get my goddamn debian OS back. DNF is scary and I can’t use signal.
Here’s my notes (WARNING: THESE NOTES LEAD TO FAILURE) :
- get verson info for KDE and NVIDIA drivers https://metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/changelogs//non-free-firmware/n/nvidia-graphics-drivers/nvidia-graphics-drivers_550.163.01-2_changelog https://packages.debian.org/trixie/nvidia-driver https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=nvidia&searchon=names&suite=trixie§ion=all https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17999695/debian-package-dependencies-installing-specific-version-not-the-latest added changes to /etc/apt/sources.list https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers?action=show&redirect=NVIDIA#Debian-13_notes 2 - 16 5 - 18 8-17 16 deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie main contrib non-free non-free-firmware 17 deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ trixie-security contrib non-free main non-free-firmware 18 deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie-updates non-free-firmware non-free contrib main 2 deb http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie main (contrib) non-free-firmware 5 deb http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie-updates main non-free-firmware (non-free contrib) 8 deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ trixie-security (contrib) main non-free-firmware added git to /etc ran git config --global --add safe.directory /etc because I was geting thsi eror : fatal: detected dubious ownership in repository at '/etc' To add an exception for this directory, call: installing drivers https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers?action=show&redirect=NVIDIA#Debian-13_notes apt install nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-driver WARNING: No kernel headers were found, skipping module build. To get the headers for the running kernel (6.12.57+deb13-amd64) please install the linux-headers-6.12.57+deb13-amd64 package. ran apt install linux-headers-generic to resolve I DID ACTUALL RUN THE FOLLOWING _____ Post-installation steps for Trixie Optionally verify the result of the DKMS module compilation: # dkms status If you plan to use wayland (which is a default for both the Gnome and KDE Plasma desktops since Debian 12 "Bookworm") make sure to follow the Wayland Modesetting notes below. If gnome starts with X11, you may enable wayland support by enabling NVreg_PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations=1 as mentioned below. If you plan to use suspend/hibernate functionality under KDE desktop environment, you may want to add another option to avoid graphics "glitches" after wakeup/restore: Warning: skip this step if you have Optimus hybrid graphics # echo "options nvidia NVreg_PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations=1" >> /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-options.conf In most cases a restart of the system is recommended to fully load the new driver. For wayland, check again if modeset is properly set, as described above. _____https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers?action=show&redirect=NVIDIA#Wayland_configuration and this wayland shit too _____Is nouveau open source driver for nvidia actually good for such old gpus?
Not for quite a few games. Some lighter titles might get away with it, but not a lot.
“Doesn’t help” is a bit unspecific for an actual answer.
I simply installed
nvidia-580xx-dkmsandnvidia-580xx-utilsand that was all. If you did not already use the dkms-driver package before you of course also need<your kernel>-headersanddkms(but the latter should be pulled as a dependency fornvidia-580xx-dkmsanyway)…Which automatically asks for the removal of
nvidia-open(the standard package for the baselinuxkernel) ornvidia-open-dkmsandnvidia-open-utilsthat replaced the earliernvidia,nvidia-dkms,nvidia-utilspackages when 590 hit.PS: If you still have stuff using 32bit add (you might have guessed the scheme by now…)
lib32-nvidia-580xx-utilsto replacelib32-nvidia-open-utilslinuxmemes
Dropping an extensive explanation and how-to is a meme.
Have you tried reading any official documentation at all so far, in this “issue”?










