Ubuntu 18.04 and Nvidia drivers

Question

I just installed Ubuntu 18.04 on my Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme, everything seems to work, beside my Nvidia driver (the worst part is that I can't connect to extend monitor).

My spec

Machine Type        : Notebook
Processor       : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz
Operating System        : Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile]

Kernel Version - 
4.15.0-46-generic

BIOS settings - 
*Discrete graphics

What I've tried
* Use the default that drivers that Ubuntu came with * Install the drivers using the apt-get install nvidia-driver-418
* Install the drivers using Nvidia installer (wihtout x11 running, using sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-418.56.run)
* Run nvidia-settings
* Use lightDM and not GNOM
* Purge all nvidia* and install the nvidia-driver-390 from the distro (and not the recommended one)
* And many more suggestions that I found online

What is my status right now
The driver is still not working -

#> nvidia-smi

NVIDIA-SMI couldn't find libnvidia-ml.so library in your system. Please make sure that the NVIDIA Display Driver is properly installed and present in your system.
Please also try adding directory that contains libnvidia-ml.so to your system PATH.

(tried to run it with LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libnvidia-ml.so nvidia-smi with no success.)

The nvidia-settings command still opening me the blank screen, and the output is -

ERROR: Unable to load info from any available system

(nvidia-settings:3423): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 12:17:57.417: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
** Message: 12:17:57.419: PRIME: No offloading required. Abort
** Message: 12:17:57.419: PRIME: is it supported? no

When I run ubuntu-drivers devices I still get -

== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0 ==
modalias : pci:v000010DEd00001C8Csv000017AAsd00002266bc03sc00i00
vendor   : NVIDIA Corporation
model    : GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile]
driver   : nvidia-driver-396 - third-party free
driver   : nvidia-driver-418 - third-party free recommended
driver   : nvidia-driver-410 - third-party free
driver   : nvidia-driver-390 - distro non-free
driver   : nvidia-driver-415 - third-party free
driver   : xserver-xorg-video-nouveau - distro free builtin

despite the fact that it's already installed.

The hardinfo command shows me that "Graphics" is "Unknown".

What insatlled

#> dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia
ii  libnvidia-cfg1-418:amd64                   418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX configuration library
ii  libnvidia-common-418                       418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  all          Shared files used by the NVIDIA libraries
ii  libnvidia-compute-418:amd64                418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVIDIA libcompute package
ii  libnvidia-compute-418:i386                 418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  i386         NVIDIA libcompute package
ii  libnvidia-decode-418:amd64                 418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVIDIA Video Decoding runtime libraries
ii  libnvidia-decode-418:i386                  418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  i386         NVIDIA Video Decoding runtime libraries
ii  libnvidia-encode-418:amd64                 418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii  libnvidia-encode-418:i386                  418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  i386         NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii  libnvidia-fbc1-418:amd64                   418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  

amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL-based Framebuffer Capture runtime library
ii  libnvidia-fbc1-418:i386                    418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  i386         NVIDIA OpenGL-based Framebuffer Capture runtime library
ii  libnvidia-gl-418:amd64                     418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES GLVND libraries and Vulkan ICD
ii  libnvidia-gl-418:i386                      418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  i386         NVIDIA OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES GLVND libraries and Vulkan ICD
ii  libnvidia-ifr1-418:amd64                   418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL-based Inband Frame Readback runtime library
ii  libnvidia-ifr1-418:i386                    418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  i386         NVIDIA OpenGL-based Inband Frame Readback runtime library
ii  nvidia-compute-utils-418                   418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVIDIA compute utilities
ii  nvidia-dkms-418                            418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVIDIA DKMS package
ii  nvidia-driver-418                          418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVIDIA driver metapackage
ii  nvidia-kernel-common-418                   418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        Shared files used with the kernel module
ii  nvidia-kernel-source-418                   418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVIDIA kernel source package
ii  nvidia-prime                               0.8.8.2                                     all          Tools to enable NVIDIA's Prime
ii  nvidia-settings                            418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii  nvidia-utils-418                           418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVIDIA driver support binaries
ii  xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-418              418.56-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1                  amd64        NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

---

I'm really not sure how to proceed, and it seems that the drivers is installed but not really loaded.
I couldn't find a way to load it using modprobe or anything else.

Any help will be helpful! :pray:

Solution 1

Got it. Unfortunately, it seems like the Lenovo secure boot blocked the driver from starting. After disable it on the BIOS, and reboot into Ubuntu, I see the Nvidia logo and I can use nvidia-smi and nvidia-settings.

Solution 2

This is how I had installed Nvidia graphics drivers on my Thinkpad T580.

From the application menu, go to system settings -> details and check if Nvidia graphics card is being used. Open software & updates, and click on the additional drivers tab. Select the option Using NVIDEA driver metapackage from nvidea-driver-390 and click on the Apply Changes button.

Additionally, disable secure boot from UEFI. Restart the computer. In the application menu, open NVIDEA X Server Settings, in the PRIME profiles tab, select NVIDEA.

Reference: 2 Ways to Install Nvidia Driver on Ubuntu 18.04

Comments

[tatsu]

well you haven't rebooted have you? on linux you have to reboot for the driver to be loaded. and personalyl my prefered mode of install is basically the apt install method you used, altough it's even more convinient if you just do : sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa -y && sudo apt update then open up the software & sorces app and go to the "aditional drivers" tab and browse and install the driver you want from there.

[Elad Leev]

if i had a dollar for every reboot that I did ;) unfortunately that's not the case. I've tried to install via ubuntu-drivers, apt-get and via the installer from nvidia site. nothing really helped :(

[tatsu]

well the installation method isn't the problem. the drivers are installed but there are problems in how they intertwine with your system. btw your output for ubuntu-drivers devices is nominal, I have the same. it's simply the same list as you get in the additional drivers tab but it doesn't say which one ins installed. did you ever get it to work with this hardware, say with a previous version of ubuntu? would you be open to trying with ubuntu 18.10? (ubuntu 19.04 comes out on april 18)

[Elad Leev]

It's a new laptop, so that's the first version that I'm trying to use. I don't care to use 18.10, but not sure that it could help. must be somehow to actually load the driver after boot (modprobe or whatever)

[tatsu]

actually you'd be very much surprized. ubuntu 18.10 comes with additional driver and graphics support that ubuntu 18.10 does not have access to. the same that ubuntu 19.04 will ship with. for several people here ubuntu 18.10 did the trick. you may have to also get a later kernel than the one it ships with : sudo add-apt-repository ppa:teejee2008/ppa -y && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ukuu -y && ukuu and then installing the graphics driver after that. I think it's worth a shot given this is a fresh install and that you have little to loose by reinstalling.

[Elad Leev]

Will give it a try tomorrow, thanks! :) Hope it will make it

[double-beep]

A link to a solution is welcome, but please ensure your answer is useful without it: add context around the link so your fellow users will have some idea what it is and why it’s there, then quote the most relevant part of the page you're linking to in case the target page is unavailable. Answers that are little more than a link may be deleted.

[Sridhar Jammalamadaka]

Thank you for the feedback. I will update the answer accordingly.