What a Nightmare.

[bob466]

On my main SSD I'm running Mint Cinnamon 22.1 and have Nvidia driver 470 a few days ago I installed some updates, one was Kernel 6.8.0.124.

The next day I started my Tower and the Login screen and Desktop were 10x their normal size...what's going on here. It seems Kernel 6.8.0.124 changed the driver from 470 to 535 which stuffed my Graphic Card...according to the Mint site.

How to fix this...the first thing i did was roll back the Kernel...this didn't work and the fix for this from the Mint site didn't work either.

Lucky for me I had a system image I created just one week ago...put that image back and everything is back to normal. When the Update Manager showed this Kernel 6.8.0.124 to install again...I right clicked it and selected the second option...so it won't be installed again.

Before anyone says I need a new Graphic Card...here's the strange part...on my spare SSD I have Mint Cinnamon 22.3...both Kernel 6.8.0.124 and my Graphic Card and driver 470 are working just fine...what the quack is going on.

We don't have to install the latest Kernel if everything is working just fine...I've never had problems with new Kernels for years but you never know...so if you're a beginner always create a backup before installing a new Kernel like we did years ago and I will from now on because you never know what could happen.

 

[osprey]

On my main SSD I'm running Mint Cinnamon 22.1 and have Nvidia driver 470 a few days ago I installed some updates, one was Kernel 6.8.0.124.

The next day I started my Tower and the Login screen and Desktop were 10x their normal size...what's going on here. It seems Kernel 6.8.0.124 changed the driver from 470 to 535 which stuffed my Graphic Card...according to the Mint site.

How to fix this...the first thing i did was roll back the Kernel...this didn't work and the fix for this from the Mint site didn't work either.

Lucky for me I had a system image I created just one week ago...put that image back and everything is back to normal. When the Update Manager showed this Kernel 6.8.0.124 to install again...I right clicked it and selected the second option...so it won't be installed again.

Before anyone says I need a new Graphic Card...here's the strange part...on my spare SSD I have Mint Cinnamon 22.3...both Kernel 6.8.0.124 and my Graphic Card and driver 470 are working just fine...what the quack is going on.

We don't have to install the latest Kernel if everything is working just fine...I've never had problems with new Kernels for years but you never know...so if you're a beginner always create a backup before installing a new Kernel like we did years ago and I will from now on because you never know what could happen.

Glad that you were able to restore your system. Having a new boot throw up an unexpected display can feel like a "sock in the face". I've had the experience a number of times where the heart jumps because I know I have to do something to the system, rather than just have it work as intended.

In this case where it seems the nvidia blob seems like it was the culprit, what came to mind in the first instance was to go to a virtual console, kill the GUI, purge the seemingly offending nvidia blob, install the former nvidia blob which was known to work, and then either restart the GUI or reboot. If that didn't work, then a restoration image is a very sound solution. It's often the case in linux that repair can be accomplished without total replacement of the whole system by restoration image or a reinstallation, but sometimes the latter means are going to be necessary. They are usually a more economical way of repair as well in terms of time and effort too.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Before anyone says I need a new Graphic Card...here's the strange part...on my spare SSD I have Mint Cinnamon 22.3...both Kernel 6.8.0.124 and my Graphic Card and driver 470 are working just fine...what the quack is going on.

Just out of curiousity which Nvidia gpu do you have?

 

[piorunz]

Consider switching to a Radeon GPU. You will never have to worry about drivers and updates again, it just works.

 

[bob466]

Just out of curiousity which Nvidia gpu do you have?

This one..

Card is only 3 years old...but now I can't go to the open source driver. When I run the Driver Manager I only get this...

The above is after the image was restored.
This was posted on the Mint site...
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?p=2793534#p2793534

As I said...this doesn't affect Mint Cinnamon 22.3...everything works just fine.
I don't wish to move to 22.3 just yet as I'm not to keen on the new Menu.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Card is only 3 years old...but now I can't go to the open source driver. When I run the Driver Manager I only get this...

That gpu gen was released in 2014.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 PCIe x1 Specs

NVIDIA GK208B, 954 MHz, 192 Cores, 16 TMUs, 8 ROPs, 1024 MB DDR3, 800 MHz, 64 bit

www.techpowerup.com

That gpu is considered a legacy gpu and recent Nvidia drivers don't work with anymore for legacy gpu's.
Nouveau drivers are in the kernel so nothing needs to be installed for that.

Switch to Nvdia GPU (GT 710M) with nouveau driver? - Kubuntu Forums

(Apologies in advance if this isn't the correct subforum for this) I have a laptop with an Nvidia GT 710M. It's a bit old and AFAIK the official nvidia driver is not available for the current Linux kernel in Kubuntu 24.04 so I can't use the official driver, but I was wondering if it's possible...

www.kubuntuforums.net

CodeNames · freedesktop.org

nouveau.freedesktop.org

FeatureMatrix · freedesktop.org

nouveau.freedesktop.org

CodeNames · freedesktop.org

nouveau.freedesktop.org

 

[bob466]

That's not correct...Alder lake November 2021

I'm now running Cinnamon 22.3...the card was installed in 2023 with a new Motherboard.

 

[f33dm3bits]

That's not correct...Alder lake November 2021

I'm talking about that "Nvidia Geforce GT710", not about the "Intel Graphics 730".

 

[Trml]

I'm talking about that "Nvidia Geforce GT710", not about the "Intel Graphics 730".

You're both right, as I see it. The GT710 was produced in "Kepler" and later "non-Kepler" (Fermi) variants. @bob466 's laptop has a Kepler variant (GT208B), which Nvidia deprecated: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-will-kill-off-support-for-kepler-gpus-with-next-r470-driver

However, they kept selling Kepler just three years ago (Alder Lake CPU, i.e. the machine indeed is not old). Yes, you can argue it was the laptop manufacturer, but these work directly with Nvidia but labels onto the laptop and advertise it in a which which does nott give a clue how new/old the GPU is. It's misleading consumers. Deprecating a 3-year old laptop.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Yes, you can argue it was the laptop manufacturer, but these work directly with Nvidia but labels onto the laptop and advertise it in a which which does nott give a clue how new/old the GPU is.

Nvidia decides how long they support their gpu's after official release date not after when X person decides to buy a device a specific gpu in it and they usually announce it ahead of time. I'm not saying this good but you can't do anything about it, there are two options with legacy Nvidia gpu's. You can either install the old driver manually until it doesn't have support for your installable kernels anymore or you can just use the nouveau drivers in the kernel.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

I've read somewhere anything older than "TU" (Turing) is not supported however AI doesn't agree with me.

Anyway you can test for TU string with lspci | grep VGA
It should print you TUxxx where xxx is some number. (not in mood to research about it)

 

[kc1di]

Nvidia decides how long they support their gpu's after official release date not after when X person decides to buy a device a specific gpu in it and they usually announce it ahead of time. I'm not saying this good but you can't do anything about it, there are two options with legacy Nvidia gpu's. You can either install the old driver manually until it doesn't have support for your installable kernels anymore or you can just use the nouveau drivers in the kernel.

That is why for years now I've stayed away from Nvidia gpu's. I'm not a gamer and don't really need Nvidia. Stick to intel or amd and I've had zero problems with updates.

 

[f33dm3bits]

That is why for years now I've stayed away from Nvidia gpu's. I'm not a gamer and don't really need Nvidia. Stick to intel or amd and I've had zero problems with updates.

When get a new gpu I usually buy the current or one previous generation before that. Last AMD gpu gave me more problems than I've ever had with any gpu I owned, even with an open issue after 6 months it was still open. With Nvidia you at least will know that there are developers working on it and you don't have to wait for maybe an issue to be fixed after 6-12 months. With the amdgpu drivers you only have to hope it might fixed sometime if you run into an issue. But I don't want to go anymore off-topic than this as it would go down into another whole discussion.

 

[kc1di]

When get a new gpu I usually buy the current or one previous generation before that. Last AMD gpu gave me more problems than I've ever had with any gpu I owned, even with an open issue after 6 months it was still open. With Nvidia you at least will know that there are developers working on it and you don't have to wait for maybe an issue to be fixed after 6-12 months. With the amdgpu drivers you only have to hope it might fixed sometime if you run into an issue. But I don't want to go anymore off-topic than this as it would go down into another whole discussion.

I've only had one amd gpu and it worked fine. But I do try to stick to intel and they just seem to work.
But to @bob466 your choices are limited. With mint it should be possible to boot to the older kernel and get it working.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

<sarcasm>
You guys don't get it, Intel and Nvidia are for elitists lmao,
no wonder those who aren't have problem with them.
</sarcasm>

Intel and Nvidia are also more expensive compared to equal capacity AMD stuff.

edit:

Definition of a Linux Elitist

I talk a lot about Linux elitists and how they are poisoning the Linux world and parts of the Free Software world, as well. Since “Linux Elitist” could mean a lot of things, I want to describe what I personally mean, when I use that term. A Linux Elitist is someone who… says “we have always...

itsfoss.community

 

[PuppyHome]

I am so glad Puppies feel so at home on low spec, older hardware so I don't have to deal with this aggravation!

 

[The Duck]

Intel works OOTB.

I've owned several ATI / AMD graphics cards never any problems using Linux or Windows.

When a user pays a couple hundred dollars or more for a graphics card it should be supported for twenty plus years imo no excuses.

No reason that graphics cards should not still be supported with new kernel release regardless of whose fault it is.

My computers are like my cars I keep using them until they no longer start up and run.

 

[osprey]

That gpu gen was released in 2014.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 PCIe x1 Specs

NVIDIA GK208B, 954 MHz, 192 Cores, 16 TMUs, 8 ROPs, 1024 MB DDR3, 800 MHz, 64 bit

www.techpowerup.com

That gpu is considered a legacy gpu and recent Nvidia drivers don't work with anymore for legacy gpu's.
Nouveau drivers are in the kernel so nothing needs to be installed for that.

Running the nvidia GT 710 gpu card with the 470 driver does have some advantages over nouveau. One can use the nvidia tool nvidia-smi for monitoring aspects like temperature, memory usage and some other performance items compared to the nouveau for which such tools don't work. Other advantages include a "fuller" gpu acceleration and less demand on the cpu compared to nouveau. There are two machines here with GT 710 cards, one on nouveau and the other on 470. According to the user on the machine with the 470 blob, it makes a difference in feel of the desktop. The proprietary blobs are smoother and more responsive she says. Personally, I'm on nouveau on my main machine with the GT 710. It's the absence of a fan and its hum that I prefer which explains sticking with such an old card, plus there's no need for anything more sophisticated at the moment that exceeds the capability of the nouveau driver. It just works.

 

[The Duck]

Having all of the features of a graphics card available and working are a plus if you are a user who games lightly or moderately.

A must have if you are a hard core gamer.

Whatever the case nouveau graphics drivers just don't offer features nor do they cut it.

I don't care what anyone tries to convince others of.

In my case nouveau graphics drivers will not run my Flight Simulators and X-Plane will not even open when running nouveau graphics drivers.

 

[MikeWalsh]

I know exactly where @bob466 is coming from.....and @osprey and @The Duck too, for that matter.

I only bought my very first ever 'discrete' GPU in early 2020, when I had to replace the old Compaq Presario desktop rig after 16 years. I wanted to be able to say "Been there, done that", but I had to keep the power draw down to a minimum due to the ridiculously low-powered PSU HP had supplied this Pavilion desktop with (just 180W).

Since I'm not really a 'gamer', per se, any old 'cooking' GPU would do the job. I'd heard plenty of good things about Nvidia, despite that they weren't exactly known for being helpful to Linux. We have our own, native Nvidia driver installer in Puppyland, thanks to shinobar, one of our small band of Japanese members, which works directly with the .run files available from Nvidia's site.

So; I did some shopping around. I found the GT 710 in a 'passive'-fanless format, which was what I wanted.....I'm not enamoured with the constant whine of fans anyway, and didn't really want even more whirring endlessly away. Most importantly, it only draws 19W, direct from the PCIe slot.

Yes, it's an old design. The standard 10-year Nvidia support window ended year before last.....as Bob's discovered, the 470-series are the last drivers that support it. I know most mainstream distros usually supply a 'current' and a 'legacy' driver, but invariably the 'current' one tends to be the one that gets installed by default. If you want the 'legacy' driver, YOU have to specify and manually install that yourself......and even that doesn't always work. Sometimes, it's STILL too "new" for some older cards.

They know perfectly well that the majority of folks running a discrete GPU are usually gamers, and such individuals tend to always have pretty new, top-end cards.

Asus re-released the GT 710 5-6 years ago, because they'd rebuilt it with GDDR5 (as opposed to the older DDR3), and had performed a re-design on the heatsink, along with offering a variant with 4 x HDMI ports. This is the one I have.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

When I upgraded to the 'Pascal'-architecture 10-series GT 1030 late last year, I did a ton of research into the driver situation before committing myself. Out of a dozen Puppies in the "kennels", 4 are currently running an assortment of different 3xx-/4xx-series drivers.....3 x 64-bitzers, and one 32-bitzer (this is the one on 390.147, the last 32-bit driver for the GT 710). Everything else is either using "nouveau" OR "modesetting".

Turned out that every one of those 'official' drivers ALSO supported the GT 1030, too. So; since the "latest & greatest" has never really bothered me that much - and I have the GT 710 wrapped up in its anti-static bag, in its box and tucked-away in a drawer; it's still fully-functional, so why throw it away? - I've simply left the drivers as they are. Like this, I can swap back & forth between cards with no need to re-install drivers. May sound odd to some, but it makes perfect sense to me.

The installation saga is detailed here:-

Thread '....and now it's upgrade time for the Pavilion desktop : new GPU + CPU!'

Nov 15, 2025

Well; now then :-

For the last year or so, the bulk of my upgrades / improvements / new purchases have been on the replacement Latitude I bought about 14 months back, in early September 2024. More RAM, better, more decent storage - and more of it! - new webcams, and other accessories......y'all know the drill, I'm sure.

For what it is, for a 13-yr old machine the E6430 is going great guns, and I'm really pleased with it. It was time to turn my attention to the main box.....in case the old girl was feeling 'left-out'!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

One thing I'd been meaning to sort out...

• MikeWalsh
• Replies: 86
• Forum: Linux Hardware

• 
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@bob466 :-

You do realise that merely performing a kernel rollback won't work, yes? Your system will already have the 'nvidia.ko' kernel module installed for the newer driver, along with the scores of support files in /usr/lib tailored FOR that module. To correctly re-deploy an older driver, all that lot has to be completely removed first.

Still, if a backup has returned you to where you were, all's well that ends well...

I don't care WHAT others say. For that generation - too old to take advantage of the new-type Nvidia Linux drivers - "official" beats the pants off "nouveau" in everyday operation. Every time.


Mike.