NVIDIA NVS 4200M overheating at Linux Mint 21.3 MATE

[Stephen NP]

Hello everyone. I've got a Samsung laptop with the only graphics card called nVidia NVS 4200M. There's no any other graphics installed in this laptop, only this discrete one. I've also got two OS in this laptop, Windows 11 and Linux Mint 21.3 MATE. At Windows 11 there's the latest nVidia driver installed and everything works fine, no overheating, no fan noise, brightness controls work fine. At Linux Mint 21.3 MATE, however, with nVidia driver on (at Driver Manager option) there's GPU overheating (with over 1.2V voltage), loud fan noise and failing brightness controls, I can neighter increase nor decrease display brightness. While Nouveau driver works fine (with about 1.0V voltage), the same way that in Windows 11. Should I blacklist Nouveau driver before switching to nVidia one? Or what is the correct solution of my problem?

 

[kc1di]

If the Nouveau driver seems to work for you why use the nvidia one? Nvidia Linux drivers are not the best, depending on the GPU. Only real reason to Switch from Nouveau is if 1. It does not let the card work or 2. does not preform the needed tasks. So my advise would be to go back to the nouveau driver.

 

[Alexzee]

I agree completely with our member kc1di.

A lot of times the Nvidia driver for Linux is proclamation. I've seen it over and over here in the forms.
Blacklisting the nouveau driver is not advised:-

For fan control you can install lm-sensors.

https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-to-find-fan-speed-in-linux-for-cpu-and-gpu/

What Nvidia GPU do you have? Run this command and read through the output to find your gpu. It should show under the VGA heading.

lspci

How To Adjust Screen Brightness in Linux Mint

How to adjust brightness of the monitor through software if we are using mint on a desktop? - Linux Mint Forums

Hope that helps.
Let us know how things go.

 

[Stephen NP]

My GPU is GF119M (Quadro NVS 4200M).

 

[Stephen NP]

I've just switched the driver back to Nouveau and rebooted the system. Now it shows the desktop in 800x600 resolution, and the resolution is not changeable.

 

[osprey]

I've just switched the driver back to Nouveau and rebooted the system. Now it shows the desktop in 800x600 resolution, and the resolution is not changeable.

That resolution is commonly used by the vesa driver. As to which driver is loaded you can check in the Xorg.0.conf file which could be located at
/var/log/Xorg.0.log or at /home/<user>/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log.
Check the dates of the files since one may be a record from the first installation of X rather than the current running of X. One can see what's been loaded and unloaded with the command:

grep -i load Xorg.0.log

 

[Stephen NP]

grep -i load /var/log/Xorg.0.log [ 12.438] (II) Loader magic: 0x55fc74f63020 [ 12.447] (II) LoadModule: "glx" [ 12.448] (II) Loading /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg/libglx.so [ 12.611] loading driver: nvidia [ 12.867] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia" [ 12.868] (II) Loading /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nvidia/xorg/nvidia_drv.so [ 12.878] (II) LoadModule: "nouveau" [ 12.879] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nouveau_drv.so [ 12.883] (II) LoadModule: "modesetting" [ 12.883] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/modesetting_drv.so [ 12.887] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev" [ 12.887] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so [ 12.889] (II) LoadModule: "vesa" [ 12.889] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so [ 12.890] (II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver 390.157 Wed Oct 12 09:21:41 UTC 2022 [ 12.895] (II) Loading sub module "fb" [ 12.895] (II) LoadModule: "fb" [ 12.895] (II) Loading sub module "wfb" [ 12.895] (II) LoadModule: "wfb" [ 12.895] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libwfb.so [ 12.897] (II) Loading sub module "ramdac" [ 12.897] (II) LoadModule: "ramdac" [ 12.899] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw" [ 12.899] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw" [ 12.900] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so [ 14.035] (II) UnloadModule: "nouveau" [ 14.035] (II) Unloading nouveau [ 14.035] (II) UnloadModule: "modesetting" [ 14.035] (II) Unloading modesetting [ 14.035] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdev" [ 14.035] (II) Unloading fbdev [ 14.035] (II) UnloadSubModule: "fbdevhw" [ 14.035] (II) Unloading fbdevhw [ 14.035] (II) UnloadModule: "vesa" [ 14.035] (II) Unloading vesa [ 14.859] (II) Loading sub module "dri2" [ 14.859] (II) LoadModule: "dri2" [ 14.945] (II) LoadModule: "libinput" [ 14.945] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/libinput_drv.so

 

[osprey]

Thanks for that output. According to the details, it is the nvidia driver that is running since it doesn't appear to have been unloaded like the other drivers such as vesa and nouveau. It appears the nvidia software you installed has not be been entirely purged since it's still able to insert the driver. As I understand it, the nvidia software will disable nouveau which it may blacklist in the /etc/modprobe.d/ directory. After purging the nvidia software, it may be advisable to reboot.

 

[Stephen NP]

I've made this output with nVidia driver activated. But yesterday I also tried to purge nVidia software from that 800x600 mode, and it gave out a message that there was no any nVidia software installed in the system, it only offered to uninstall some nvidia-prime lightweight package.

 

[osprey]

I've made this output with nVidia driver activated. But yesterday I also tried to purge nVidia software from that 800x600 mode, and it gave out a message that there was no any nVidia software installed in the system, it only offered to uninstall some nvidia-prime lightweight package.

Perhaps have a look at this thread which has some ideas buried in it on purging which may be helpful:

[Solved] Uninstall nvidia drivers - Debian User Forums

 

[kc1di]

You should not have to purge nvidia Drivers. You can just Blacklist them in /etc/modeprobe.d and make sure nouveau driver is not blacklisted and is installed. Good luck.

 

[Stephen NP]

I've just switched to Nouveau driver. The backlight controls don't work, the fan is a bit quiter than before and the display resolution can't be changed from 800x600. Here's the new output:
grep -i load /var/log/Xorg.0.log [ 24.260] (II) Loader magic: 0x559933035020 [ 24.264] (II) LoadModule: "glx" [ 24.265] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so [ 24.419] (II) LoadModule: "nouveau" [ 24.687] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nouveau_drv.so [ 24.690] (II) LoadModule: "modesetting" [ 24.690] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/modesetting_drv.so [ 24.692] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev" [ 24.692] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so [ 24.693] (II) LoadModule: "vesa" [ 24.693] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so [ 24.842] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw" [ 24.842] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw" [ 24.843] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so [ 25.122] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw" [ 25.122] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw" [ 25.122] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so [ 25.123] (II) UnloadModule: "modesetting" [ 25.123] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdev" [ 25.123] (II) UnloadSubModule: "fbdevhw" [ 25.124] (II) Loading sub module "fb" [ 25.124] (II) LoadModule: "fb" [ 25.124] (II) Loading sub module "shadow" [ 25.124] (II) LoadModule: "shadow" [ 25.124] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libshadow.so [ 25.485] (II) IGLX: Loaded and initialized swrast [ 25.539] (II) LoadModule: "libinput" [ 25.540] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/libinput_drv.so

 

[Stephen NP]

You should not have to purge nvidia Drivers. You can just Blacklist them in /etc/modeprobe.d and make sure nouveau driver is not blacklisted and is installed. Good luck.

There's only one file in /etc/modeprobe.d that refers to Nouveau, it's called blacklist-nouveau.conf. This is what's inside it:
blacklist nouveau options nouveau modeset=0

 

[osprey]

RThere's only one file in /etc/modeprobe.d that refers to Nouveau, it's called blacklist-nouveau.conf. This is what's inside it:
blacklist nouveau options nouveau modeset=0

A few considerations.

It may be possible to return to using the nouveau driver without purging the nvidia software, but the problem with not purging the nvidia software is that if the system still has a problem after trying to disable the nvidia software to run nouveau, then the user has the problem of determining whether it's the remnants of the nvidia software that are interfering with the graphics, or something else. It's potentially a situation of having a number of stray variables from the nvidia software interfering from being lodged in numerous locations of the filesystem.

In this case, it looks to me that this scenario I have described has obtained in your case. It's the nvidia software that has blacklisted the nouveau driver in /etc/modprobe.d/, and this has not been removed or purged, so the system is getting a double message which is to both blacklist and to run nouveau at the same time.

It would have been more helpful to the system in this case to purge the nvidia software.

Here is a summary of purging from the link in post #10, for your consideration, though not all commands may be needed:
====== summary start ======
Run:

 apt purge "*nvidia*"

Libraries can be missed with purge, so:

Run: dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia, to see what's still there.
Run: apt purge nvidia-* , to purge.
Run: apt purge nvidia-driver-*, to purge.

Remove dependencies:
Run apt autoclean
Run: apt autoremove

Run dpkg again to check again
dpkg -i | nvidia

Do a cache search in /home/<user>, and elsewhere, /var/cache, and delete nvidia remnants.
====== summary end ======

From the output in post #12, it looks like the system is running nouveau, but from your reports, not properly.

The nouveau driver should be removed from the blacklist if it's going to run properly. It was the nvidia software that blacklisted it. The nouveau driver needs modesetting, so the modeset config is inappropriate and should be deleted along with the removal of the blacklisting.

 

[Stephen NP]

Both at Windows and Linux I use the latest driver offered at nVidia website. Windows 11 works fine with this. Linux also works fine, due to my latest experience, just most of the noise comes from the second HDD installed in my laptop. However, recently I tried to switch back to Nouveau, and after that I only got 800x600 resolution without possibility to change it to the higher one. These days I also booted from Linux Mint LiveCD and noticed that the default Nouveau driver gives same, if not the louder, fan noise and same, if not the higher, temperature as nVidia one. So I doubt now Nouveau one is better, as nVidia driver is probably more optimized for nVidia GPU than the open-source general driver.

 

[Alexzee]

A few considerations.

It may be possible to return to using the nouveau driver without purging the nvidia software, but the problem with not purging the nvidia software is that if the system still has a problem after trying to disable the nvidia software to run nouveau, then the user has the problem of determining whether it's the remnants of the nvidia software that are interfering with the graphics, or something else. It's potentially a situation of having a number of stray variables from the nvidia software interfering from being lodged in numerous locations of the filesystem.

In this case, it looks to me that this scenario I have described has obtained in your case. It's the nvidia software that has blacklisted the nouveau driver in /etc/modprobe.d/, and this has not been removed or purged, so the system is getting a double message which is to both blacklist and to run nouveau at the same time.

It would have been more helpful to the system in this case to purge the nvidia software.

Here is a summary of purging from the link in post #10, for your consideration, though not all commands may be needed:
====== summary start ======
Run:

 apt purge "*nvidia*"

Libraries can be missed with purge, so:

Run: dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia, to see what's still there.
Run: apt purge nvidia-* , to purge.
Run: apt purge nvidia-driver-*, to purge.

Remove dependencies:
Run apt autoclean
Run: apt autoremove

Run dpkg again to check again
dpkg -i | nvidia

Do a cache search in /home/<user>, and elsewhere, /var/cache, and delete nvidia remnants.
====== summary end ======

From the output in post #12, it looks like the system is running nouveau, but from your reports, not properly.

The nouveau driver should be removed from the blacklist if it's going to run properly. It was the nvidia software that blacklisted it. The nouveau driver needs modesetting, so the modeset config is inappropriate and should be deleted along with the removal of the blacklisting.

Agreed:-

As long as there isn't a pound sign (#) in front of "blacklist nouveau" /etc/modprobe.d/ that nouveau driver will continue to be blacklisted. Deleting and removing of the blacklisting is best.