Score:1

Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS Error when running nvidia-smi in Ubuntu 18 "NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver."

jp flag
Tak

As shown in the below photo I have the nvidia 470 driver installed on my Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS but when I run nvidia-smi it gives the error NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.

I noticed in the settings that the graphics card model is not appearing and says "unknown".

I've also noticed that the Graphics is set to "llvmpipe (LLVM 10.0.0, 256 bits)" although in the settings the nvidia 470 is chosen.

I've did some googling and found that some suggestions are to disable the secure boot so I checked and found out that the secure boot is already off.

I've also removed the nvidia driver and reinstalled as per these steps but still after rebooting the same issue.

Any advice please?

When running lspci -k | grep -EA3 'VGA|3D' this is the result:

0000:17:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 1e30 (rev a1)
    Subsystem: Dell Device 12ba
    Kernel modules: nvidiafb, nouveau
0000:17:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation Device 10f7 (rev a1)
--
0000:73:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 1e30 (rev a1)
    Subsystem: Dell Device 12ba
    Kernel modules: nvidiafb, nouveau
0000:73:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation Device 10f7 (rev a1)
--
0000:a6:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 1e30 (rev a1)
    Subsystem: Dell Device 12ba
    Kernel modules: nvidiafb, nouveau
0000:a6:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation Device 10f7 (rev a1)

The output of dkms status is:

nvidia, 470.74: added
nvidia-fs, 2.7.53: added
oem-ethernet-intel-igb-lp1805326-5.3.5.22, 0.2, 4.15.0-1027-oem, x86_64: installed

enter image description here

Pilot6 avatar
cn flag
Disable Secure Boot.
jp flag
Tak
@Pilot6 As mentioned in my question, I went into the Bios setup and found that it's already disabled.
Pilot6 avatar
cn flag
What is the adapter?
jp flag
Tak
@Pilot6 what do you mean by "the adapter"?
Pilot6 avatar
cn flag
What is the video adapter? Add output of `lspci -k | grep -EA3 'VGA|3D'` to the question
jp flag
Tak
@Pilot6 I've added the output to the question.
jp flag
Tak
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/130338/discussion-between-tak-and-pilot6).
Pilot6 avatar
cn flag
The driver didn't install. What does `dkms status` show? Maybe kernel is too old for the driver, etc.
jp flag
Tak
@Pilot6 I've added the output to the question
cc flag
Where did you get the 470.74 driver? I thought the 470.63.01 was the latest one from the (20.04) standard repos.
jp flag
Tak
@ubfan1 I followed the steps here https://gist.github.com/espoirMur/65cec3d67e0a96e270860c9c276ab9fa
jp flag
Tak
@Pilot6 I remember I did the Ubuntu software updates and probably it included linux-headers which might have caused the issue? as it was working before normally before the update. Currently it is linux-headers-5.4.0-87-generic maybe I should downgrade to the previous one? and if so, then how I can do that?
cc flag
There are lots of nvidia packages not starting with nvidia. See the output of dpkg -l |grep nvidia The initial delete of nvidia pacakges should include all those found. I'm running the 5.4 kernel on 20.04, and as I said, the 470.63.01 is what I have in my nvidia package names.
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