Just got a new GPU, why is it so hard to use it?
from OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net to linux@lemmy.ml on 11 Aug 23:31
https://slrpnk.net/post/25961695

Hey all, just got a Geforce 5070 to replace my 2070 from years ago. Ubuntu’s been pretty smooth sailing for me until now, and I’m not exactly the best at navigating this stuff.

When Ubuntu starts to boot, the GPU stops outputting display to my monitor. As though it doesn’t detect the new GPU. I tried putting the 2070 back in and downloading the 570 drivers but it didn’t change anything. I found a tutorial for what seemed to be my issue that asked me to change the kernel, but halfway through the tutorial, commands that worked on their machine started failing on mine. I wish I’d documented what the error messages were because when I went to poke around more today, I got a message about kernel panic and can’t even boot with the 2070. Where do I go from here?

SOLUTION: Went back and got an AMD GPU. Worked out of the box. Thanks to all who helped. Would have kept trying but I only have so much time for troubleshooting right now.

#linux

threaded - newest

just_another_person@lemmy.world on 11 Aug 23:34 next collapse

You sure your PSU can handle that card? Sounds like you may not have enough wattage.

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 11 Aug 23:49 collapse

Yes, I have a 650W PSU which is the recommended wattage.

just_another_person@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 00:15 collapse

Run ‘nvidia-smi’ and post the output

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 12 Aug 00:19 collapse

Mon Aug 11 19:17:03 2025
±----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | NVIDIA-SMI 570.158.01 Driver Version: 570.158.01 CUDA Version: 12.8 | |-----------------------------------------±-----------------------±---------------------+ | GPU Name Persistence-M | Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC | | Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap | Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. | | | | MIG M. | |=========================================+========================+======================| | 0 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 … Off | 00000000:09:00.0 On | N/A | | 0% 37C P8 18W / 235W | 481MiB / 8192MiB | 2% Default | | | | N/A | ±----------------------------------------±-----------------------±---------------------+

±----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Processes: | | GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory | | ID ID Usage | |=========================================================================================| | 0 N/A N/A 2099 G /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg 143MiB | | 0 N/A N/A 2358 G /usr/bin/gnome-shell 105MiB | | 0 N/A N/A 2950 G …exec/xdg-desktop-portal-gnome 10MiB | | 0 N/A N/A 5684 G …/6565/usr/lib/firefox/firefox 167MiB | | 0 N/A N/A 8244 G /usr/bin/nautilus 13MiB | | 0 N/A N/A 8333 G …tcher-linux-x64/balena-etcher 20MiB | ±----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

just_another_person@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 00:31 collapse

Well the driver is loaded, and you have processes engaged with it, so it’s functional.

If you’re losing output, maybe you have a conflict with the nouveau driver. Have you blacklisted it?

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 12 Aug 00:37 collapse

Honestly I haven’t even heard of a nouveau driver. I sure haven’t blacklisted it.

To be clear I got this output with my old GPU. Not sure how I would get to the command terminal with the new one.

just_another_person@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 00:46 collapse

You need to run these commands on the machine having the problem. Giving output from another machine doesn’t help solve anything.

If you’re getting dead output on your 5070, it means the driver is more than likely NOT loaded, so the output will be different.

Boot the 5070, and when you get a black screen, hit ALT+F2 to drop to a console shell. Login, and run ‘nvidia-smi’, and you should get something that confirms it’s loaded, or something that says it is not loaded.

If it’s not loaded, it means you haven’t installed the drivers (you sure you did?). Check your packages, make sure the driver is properly installed, then do this to blacklist the nouveau driver which may be in conflict.

Reboot. See if it works.

The_Hideous_Orgalorg@sh.itjust.works on 12 Aug 01:54 collapse

They didn’t run it on a different machine, they ran it with the old GPU is installed instead of the new one.

just_another_person@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 04:14 collapse

Thanks for clarifying. Missed that.

vk6flab@lemmy.radio on 11 Aug 23:36 next collapse

Which tutorial were you following?

Which version of Ubuntu are you using?

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 11 Aug 23:59 collapse

m.youtube.com/watch?v=o5deOXLDpZw

Installed it new only a few months ago, it should be 24.04.3

Auth@lemmy.world on 11 Aug 23:37 next collapse

If you have at least Ubuntu 24.10 and the NVIDIA 570.133.07 driver installed with the 2070, it should be plug and play with the new card.

If you put the 2070 in are you able to get a working system?

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 12 Aug 00:00 next collapse

I think I’m on 24.04.3 LTS. May I ask what is in 24.10 that would make a difference?

Auth@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 00:18 collapse

24.10 is a minimum. If you’re on 24.04 that means you are very up to date and have the 6.14 kernel which is new enough. So we can rule that out as an issue.

Jumuta@sh.itjust.works on 12 Aug 04:24 collapse

6.14 is 25.04, not 24.04

Auth@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 04:47 collapse

My bad, I got it from this website and assumed it was correct. linuxiac.com/ubuntu-24-04-3-lts-released-with-bug…

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 12 Aug 00:11 collapse

I was able to boot on the 2070. I’ll try on a newer version of Ubuntu.

Auth@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 00:26 collapse

Can you run nvidia-smi and confirm you’re on the 570 driver?

Also after you do a failed boot with the 5070 put the 2070 back in and try run this command journalctl -b -1 -p 0…2 to check the log from the previous boot and filter for only high priority issues. This should give some insight on whats failing when you try and boot with the 5070.

Another dumb check but have you got the display cables plugged into the gpu?

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 12 Aug 00:30 next collapse

Yeah the display cable is definitely plugged in. It displays the TUF logo on startup and I can get into BIOS settings while the monitor is plugged into the GPU. I only get ‘no input detected’ once I try to boot.

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 12 Aug 00:32 collapse

Nvidia-smi output:

Mon Aug 11 19:17:03 2025
±----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | NVIDIA-SMI 570.158.01 Driver Version: 570.158.01 CUDA Version: 12.8 | |-----------------------------------------±-----------------------±---------------------+ | GPU Name Persistence-M | Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC | | Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap | Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. | | | | MIG M. | |=========================================+========================+======================| | 0 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 … Off | 00000000:09:00.0 On | N/A | | 0% 37C P8 18W / 235W | 481MiB / 8192MiB | 2% Default | | | | N/A | ±----------------------------------------±-----------------------±---------------------+

±----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Processes: | | GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory | | ID ID Usage | |=========================================================================================| | 0 N/A N/A 2099 G /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg 143MiB | | 0 N/A N/A 2358 G /usr/bin/gnome-shell 105MiB | | 0 N/A N/A 2950 G …exec/xdg-desktop-portal-gnome 10MiB | | 0 N/A N/A 5684 G …/6565/usr/lib/firefox/firefox 167MiB | | 0 N/A N/A 8244 G /usr/bin/nautilus 13MiB | | 0 N/A N/A 8333 G …tcher-linux-x64/balena-etcher 20MiB | ±----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Auth@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 03:49 collapse

Can you run Journalctl and take a look at the logs from one of the boots with the 5070? You can use journalctl -b -0 for current boot -1 for the previous boot -2 for two boots ago etc. -p 0…2 to limit the output to events from critical to severe priority.

frongt@lemmy.zip on 11 Aug 23:45 next collapse

You did plug in the GPU power cables as described in the manual, right?

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 11 Aug 23:55 collapse

Yeah lol the GPU is observably receiving power. Lights and fan come on as everything starts up and they stay on. The green safety light is on. I don’t think it’s a power issue.

frongt@lemmy.zip on 12 Aug 01:28 next collapse

That doesn’t exclude a power issue. A lot of cards will light up and spin up even without enough power, then stop responding once something actually tries to use its capabilities.

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 12 Aug 01:52 collapse

Fair enough then, I’ve just checked the recommended wattage. My PSU is 650W and that’s exactly what the GPU recommends.

apt_install_coffee@lemmy.ml on 12 Aug 06:20 collapse

Most GPUs will have fan spin & lights if only on pcie power (the pcie slot provides 75W without external connection), but then misbehave during display; I know it sounds stupid but make sure the 12V power connector on the top of the card is firmly plugged in, that connector in particular has a reputation for being unreliable.

infinitevalence@discuss.online on 12 Aug 00:05 next collapse

I hate to be the jerk but it’s because you got Nvidia. Intel and AMD cards enjoy significantly better graphics card support.

I would also try a different distribution that’s known for having more recent kernels and faster development. Something like Manjaro is actually a pretty good fit for this situation.

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 12 Aug 00:15 next collapse

I don’t take any offense to that. If I can’t get the 5070 to work I’ll see if I can take it back and get something from AMD or Intel.

infinitevalence@discuss.online on 12 Aug 01:39 collapse

I would live boot or install side by side another more modern distro before dumping the card. It’s a fine card it just requires effort to get working unlike AMD/Intel.

Auth@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 00:57 next collapse

I hate to be the jerk but it’s because you got Nvidia

No its not. The nvidia 5070 works on linux and has for a while now.

I would also try a different distribution that’s known for having more recent kernels and faster development. Something like Manjaro is actually a pretty good fit for this situation.

We really need to avoid just suggesting a different distro as the solution. In this case it makes no sense, they’re running kernel 6.14 and the Nvidia driver is out of kernel. Phoronix benchmarked the 5070 running an older version of ubuntu and still got good performance and it worked well. That means their version of ubuntu which is new enough to support it. Im not sure what the issue is but I think switching distro’s is a last resort once you’ve tried everything else.

infinitevalence@discuss.online on 12 Aug 01:35 next collapse

Great but it’s not working out of the box and clearly that was the expectation.

AMD has built in support so no extra steps needed.

Ubuntu has a history of not having the latest kernels and having spotty support for new hardware.

Sure you can fix it but again the out of the box expectation.

We can agree that it should work and can work and I don’t disagree that always suggestions a different distribution is not generally helpful but watching people suffer trying to get Ubuntu working is a sore spot for me.

Auth@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 01:46 collapse

Its not an out of the box installation. He has an existing ubuntu installation and is upgrading the GPU. We can always be like oh you ran into a single issue, just get rid of your hardware and swap to an entirely new distro. Thats a worst case solution to the problem.

AMD has built in support so no extra steps needed.

Doesnt matter, he isnt asking about an AMD card.

Ubuntu has a history of not having the latest kernels and having spotty support for new hardware.

Its actually the opposite, ubuntu generally has very good hardware support. Cannonical work with vendors to test hardware works on their platform. The 5070 phronix benchmarks were done on ubuntu. Suggesting its a distro issue is ignoring the problem

Mihies@programming.dev on 12 Aug 05:43 next collapse

“it works on Linux” isn’t black and white. My 2070 would not work with freerdp in full screen and nouveau drivers. It works with Nvidia drivers, though.

[deleted] on 12 Aug 07:23 collapse

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Auth@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 21:43 collapse

I completely disagree with all your reasons but im sick of arguing this. My answer is the same as previous comments. Ubuntu works with this hardware and its up to date thus distro is not the issue.

WeebLife@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 01:24 next collapse

My 4070 ti has worked flawlessly with Linux mint

infinitevalence@discuss.online on 12 Aug 01:37 collapse

Good to know that your different distribution works well with your different GPU.

WeebLife@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 12:15 collapse

Its helpful to know that nvidia can work well with Linux.

Zen_Shinobi@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 02:49 next collapse

4070 Mint Mate 22.1 here and have had no issues with that or my 1050ti cards. Nvidia has had strides in linux compatibility the past 10 years or so.

[deleted] on 12 Aug 07:18 collapse

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db2@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 00:38 next collapse

Is it sending HDR to a screen that can’t display it

OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net on 12 Aug 00:51 collapse

The monitors have high enough resolution. The one I have connected now is 2560x1440.

osaerisxero@kbin.melroy.org on 12 Aug 03:55 collapse

HDR = High Dynamic Range. It's a different color format that non-HDR displays can't speak and output no input/blank screen/whatever the monitor does for a malformed video stream

rodsthencones@startrek.website on 12 Aug 01:21 next collapse

When Linux boots, it does not always use the first port on the video card. Sometimes the bios will display on the onboard video, then when the kernel boots, it will change to a different video port. I find with multiple video ports, its best to plug in all of them till you figure out which ones work. Nvidia is not well supported, and most video cards have problems in Linux. Generally, if you have to use a proprietary driver, it will have specific issues. The free drivers will just be buggy. Best is to see what cards are known to work well. There are maintained, well there used to be, lists of hardware that works well. If you installed proprietary drivers, they are often difficult to remove. There is not always instructions on how to uninstall. So part of your problems might be the drivers.

Xiisadaddy@lemmygrad.ml on 12 Aug 02:09 next collapse

It might just be a card issue rather than a linux issue. I bought a new CPU a few months ago that was dead on arrival. Had to return it. Bought it brand new. So it’s something to double check.

Mihies@programming.dev on 12 Aug 05:44 collapse

Definitely a worthy advice. Many times it’s just bad hardware, not OS.

Zen_Shinobi@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 02:51 next collapse

Not to sound like a smartass, but did you check BIOS to make sure it’s everything is running properly?

OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml on 12 Aug 03:17 next collapse

My 2080 has issues and cuts off part of the screen on Linux mint. My 6700xt and amd setup would never. I switched and tried every driver. I’ve never used nvidia. Anyone have advice?

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 12 Aug 03:56 collapse

cuts off part of the screen

this happens to me if i use nouveau. i solve this by installing the driver and setting the correct refresh rate.

OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml on 12 Aug 15:41 collapse

I tried all drivers and done all display settings. I’ve changed resolution and refresh. I can’t for the life of ms figure this out. Anyone at all please help… Its so frustrating I don’t even use my PC anymore.

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 12 Aug 17:13 collapse

what are the system logs saying about it? have you tested the card on another machine/os?

did you delete the nvidia config files between reinstalls?

OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml on 12 Aug 17:23 collapse

I didn’t so a reinstall I simply swapped my ssd into another PC. When I sold my amd rig. System logs show no errors that im aware of when in the GUI system reports in mint. It’s works fine on windows but on mint it cuts off about 5 percent of the screen or 10 all the way around. So I’m missing the start icon and such. I have never deletes nvidia files or configs. I’m used to amd and never used nvidia before. I did however try every driver from noveau to 575 open. All of them made no difference or made it worse.

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 12 Aug 19:28 collapse

alright go back to nouveau then try a complete purge with sudo apt purge *nvidia* && sudo apt autoremove -y && sudo apt autoclean

and delete all the leftover nvidia files you can find. namely the .nvidia-settings-rc on your home directory, but check xorg.conf for any weirdness. then reinstall the latest driver.

beyond that changing to x11 or vice versa can help. i know the cinnamon de in mint has issues with nvidia sometimes, testing it out on gnome or kde is a good idea too.

not to mention using an ssd from a previous computer complicates stuff a bit further, doing a clean install might prove useful too.

in any case, here’s a resource for debugging it further: docs.lambda.ai/…/using-the-nvidia-bug-report.log-…

wish you luck. nvidia mostly works well with the major des nowadays, but can still be annoying as fuck when it has issues. if nothing works, hit me up again and i’ll see what i can do to help.

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 12 Aug 03:59 next collapse

return to stock kernel, uninstall and completely purge the old drivers through another TTY. make sure to delete nvidia configs and files from your home directory, then install the new ones with ubuntu-drivers install.

this usually does it for me when it comes to nvidia weirdness.

Sina@beehaw.org on 12 Aug 04:06 next collapse

It’s a bit of a conundrum, because if you cannot figure out how to force update the kernel on Ubuntu, then it’s likely rolling release will cause you endless pain, but that’s what you need for Blackwell right now. Maybe try Tumbleweed or even one of the Arch installers such as Endeavor OS.

Jumuta@sh.itjust.works on 12 Aug 04:27 next collapse

try a live usb

stuner@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 05:44 next collapse

One thing that comes to mind is that the 50series is only supperted by the open version of the proprietary Nvidia drivers. The closed version doesn’t support your new GPU, but would work with your old GPU. Do you know which version you installed?

[deleted] on 12 Aug 07:11 next collapse

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thecoffeehobbit@sopuli.xyz on 12 Aug 22:02 collapse

I mean, there are quite a few others than Arch+family that package a very recent kernel too. Fedora as you mentioned, but also NixOS, openSUSE Tumbleweed and even Gentoo if you’re that kind of a person. I bet I missed some.

But yeah Ubuntu is not necessarily one of them

agelord@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 12:42 next collapse

Can you boot in safe mode and install the new open source drivers?

mactan@lemmy.ml on 12 Aug 18:14 next collapse

Nvidia

fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me

d00ery@lemmy.world on 12 Aug 22:08 collapse

I had problems with my 3080 and Ubuntu having a flickering screen. Eventually I switched from displayport cable to hdmi and that fixed the issue.