Hi, There was a notice on arch-announce and on archlinux.org/news ( https://archlinux.org/news/nvidia-590-driver-drops-pascal-support-main-packa... ) that confuses me. "With the update to driver version 590, the NVIDIA driver no longer supports Pascal (GTX 10xx) GPUs or older" etc. I don't really know if that applies to me, given the brand/model labels and all. (some detail about my hardware is offered at the end of this message.) And even if it does, the notice is (to my dull mind) unclear. It says: Updating the NVIDIA packages on systems with Pascal, Maxwell, or older cards will fail to load the driver, which may result in a broken graphical environment. That would be bad and makes me hesitent to experiment. Part of what confuses me is this: Users with GTX 10xx series and older cards must switch to the legacy proprietary branch to maintain support I'm using the proprietary nvidia driver already, so what does that statement mean to me? (I'm not running nouveau or other) So I have questions - the one above ("does this mean me?") - the one about already using the proprietary driver - can I simply not upgrade the nvidia driver, keep using the installed one? - If the system breaks, what is my recourse? - Is "Install nvidia-580xx-dkms from the AUR" (as it says) appropriate for me? I know this sounds like a lot of foggy nonunderstanding, and I guess that's because that's what it is. The relevant system has a very old NVIDIA card. I haven't seen any reactions to this, maybe I'm the only one left ;) Possibly relevant stuff from hwinfo: 22: PCI 100.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA) [Created at pci.395] Unique ID: VCu0.4tATP2A+FnB Parent ID: 8otl.w6ofvOouCK2 SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/0000:01:00.0 SysFS BusID: 0000:01:00.0 Hardware Class: graphics card Model: "nVidia GM206 [GeForce GTX 960]" Vendor: pci 0x10de "nVidia Corporation" Device: pci 0x1401 "GM206 [GeForce GTX 960]" SubVendor: pci 0x1462 "Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI]" SubDevice: pci 0x3201 Revision: 0xa1 Driver: "nvidia" Driver Modules: "nvidia" Memory Range: 0xfd000000-0xfdffffff (rw,non-prefetchable) Memory Range: 0xd0000000-0xdfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable) Memory Range: 0xce000000-0xcfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable) I/O Ports: 0xcc00-0xcc7f (rw) Memory Range: 0x000c0000-0x000dffff (rw,non-prefetchable,disabled) IRQ: 27 (1392224 events) Module Alias: "pci:v000010DEd00001401sv00001462sd00003201bc03sc00i00" Driver Info #0: Driver Status: nouveau is not active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nouveau" Driver Info #1: Driver Status: nvidia_drm is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nvidia_drm" Driver Info #2: Driver Status: nvidia is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nvidia" Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown Attached to: #20 (PCI bridge) Thanks for any attention. -mm- (long time no write)
I have a GTX 1080 or 1050 or something like that. It is easy to see if your card has that chip. If it does, DO NOT UPDATE. I didnt realize I was losing driver coverage until my monitors started looking like it was trying to squeeze a 600X800 res monitor onto my 1900Xwhatever monitor. After a bit of digging and banging my head on my desk, I figured out what happened. I initially tried to install the backup driver that you referenced but was unable to get it to work correction. I then tried to get an old version of the just updated driver, but that was not trivial. I'm sure this could be resolved given a sufficient amount of time expended that I just didn't have, but the computer in question is used by one of my employees, and I travel for months at at a time. I realized that if something like this happened when I was traveling (granted, just don't update...) she would have a bricked computer if I was not there to tinker with it. For my application, this was my cue to change OSs for this application. I put LMDE on this computer due to my application - not a ding on arch, just wrong tool for the job there. In hindsight, if I knew what was being depreciated in the update in advance, I would have made sure that the old version was never updated. My advice is keep what you got and don't poke it! Russ *Confidentiality Notice: This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose, or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message.Non-Binding and Expiration Disclaimer: Content of emails, to include any included links and attachments thereto, sent or received shall not create a binding contract or be construed to be conveyance or acceptance of any offer, contract or any other agreement, whatsoever, nor shall the same be binding on any party until a written contract is signed by all parties. In the event a bona fide, signed offer is conveyed via email, the same shall expire, if not accepted and fully executed by all parties, upon the latter of its explicitly stated expiration date or, if such a date is not specified, twenty-four hours from its initial transmission by the offeror and shall thereafter not be binding on any party.* *Wire Fraud Notice: Never trust wiring instructions sent via email. Cyber criminals are hacking email accounts and sending emails with fake wiring instructions. These emails are convincing and sophisticated. Always independently confirm wiring instructions in person or via a telephone call to a trusted and verified phone number. Never wire money without double-checking that the wiring instructions are correct.Affiliated Business Disclosure: I have an ownership interest in both Pink Realty, Inc and Pink Realty Rentals and work closely with both companies and their agents and employees, my real estate license and my brokerage activity is with Pink Realty Rentals.* On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 10:44 AM Mark E. Mallett <mem@schmem.com> wrote:
Hi,
There was a notice on arch-announce and on archlinux.org/news (
https://archlinux.org/news/nvidia-590-driver-drops-pascal-support-main-packa... )
that confuses me. "With the update to driver version 590, the NVIDIA driver no longer supports Pascal (GTX 10xx) GPUs or older" etc. I don't really know if that applies to me, given the brand/model labels and all. (some detail about my hardware is offered at the end of this message.) And even if it does, the notice is (to my dull mind) unclear. It says:
Updating the NVIDIA packages on systems with Pascal, Maxwell, or older cards will fail to load the driver, which may result in a broken graphical environment.
That would be bad and makes me hesitent to experiment.
Part of what confuses me is this:
Users with GTX 10xx series and older cards must switch to the legacy proprietary branch to maintain support
I'm using the proprietary nvidia driver already, so what does that statement mean to me? (I'm not running nouveau or other)
So I have questions
- the one above ("does this mean me?")
- the one about already using the proprietary driver
- can I simply not upgrade the nvidia driver, keep using the installed one?
- If the system breaks, what is my recourse?
- Is "Install nvidia-580xx-dkms from the AUR" (as it says) appropriate for me?
I know this sounds like a lot of foggy nonunderstanding, and I guess that's because that's what it is. The relevant system has a very old NVIDIA card. I haven't seen any reactions to this, maybe I'm the only one left ;)
Possibly relevant stuff from hwinfo:
22: PCI 100.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA) [Created at pci.395] Unique ID: VCu0.4tATP2A+FnB Parent ID: 8otl.w6ofvOouCK2 SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/0000:01:00.0 SysFS BusID: 0000:01:00.0 Hardware Class: graphics card Model: "nVidia GM206 [GeForce GTX 960]" Vendor: pci 0x10de "nVidia Corporation" Device: pci 0x1401 "GM206 [GeForce GTX 960]" SubVendor: pci 0x1462 "Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI]" SubDevice: pci 0x3201 Revision: 0xa1 Driver: "nvidia" Driver Modules: "nvidia" Memory Range: 0xfd000000-0xfdffffff (rw,non-prefetchable) Memory Range: 0xd0000000-0xdfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable) Memory Range: 0xce000000-0xcfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable) I/O Ports: 0xcc00-0xcc7f (rw) Memory Range: 0x000c0000-0x000dffff (rw,non-prefetchable,disabled) IRQ: 27 (1392224 events) Module Alias: "pci:v000010DEd00001401sv00001462sd00003201bc03sc00i00" Driver Info #0: Driver Status: nouveau is not active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nouveau" Driver Info #1: Driver Status: nvidia_drm is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nvidia_drm" Driver Info #2: Driver Status: nvidia is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nvidia" Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown Attached to: #20 (PCI bridge)
Thanks for any attention.
-mm- (long time no write)
Mark: You are most likely affected as well, as your card (GTX 960) is 9th gen and therefore older than the 10th gen GPUs mentioned in the news post. Russ: This is a decision by NVIDIA, not Arch Linux. They are dropping support for these cards from their driver, there is nothing Arch can do about this, except for providing the legacy driver for you to switch to as mentioned in the news post. Cheers, lukaro
I know. Stuff is just rolling down hill. It just semi-bricked the computer until I went and worked on it. Given that I am not always available to do that when I travel, it was just the wrong tool for the job for that use case. Russ Breckenridge Pink Realty Rentals Property Management Direct Contact: (719) 630-1000 - Direct, Call only, Do not text (303) 380-1000 - Direct, Call only, Do not text (719) 629-7465 - Text message only Russ@PinkRealty.com Office Contact: (719) 393-7465 - Pink Realty, Main number (719) 633-7000 - Property Management (719) 260-6000 - Pink Realty Buyer Team (719) 227-7000 - Pink Realty Seller Team (719) 203-9000 - Transaction Coordinator (800) 677-3253 - Fax Check out our website for full access to all homes listed for sale in the Pikes Peak, Denver, Pueblo, and Royal Gorge MLS systems. www.PinkRealty.com <http://www.pinkrealty.com/> Check out our website for all of our currently available rental properties. www.PinkRentals.com *Confidentiality Notice: This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose, or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message.Non-Binding and Expiration Disclaimer: Content of emails, to include any included links and attachments thereto, sent or received shall not create a binding contract or be construed to be conveyance or acceptance of any offer, contract or any other agreement, whatsoever, nor shall the same be binding on any party until a written contract is signed by all parties. In the event a bona fide, signed offer is conveyed via email, the same shall expire, if not accepted and fully executed by all parties, upon the latter of its explicitly stated expiration date or, if such a date is not specified, twenty-four hours from its initial transmission by the offeror and shall thereafter not be binding on any party.* *Wire Fraud Notice: Never trust wiring instructions sent via email. Cyber criminals are hacking email accounts and sending emails with fake wiring instructions. These emails are convincing and sophisticated. Always independently confirm wiring instructions in person or via a telephone call to a trusted and verified phone number. Never wire money without double-checking that the wiring instructions are correct.Affiliated Business Disclosure: I have an ownership interest in both Pink Realty, Inc and Pink Realty Rentals and work closely with both companies and their agents and employees, my real estate license and my brokerage activity is with Pink Realty Rentals.* On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 12:39 PM lukaro <lists@lrose.de> wrote:
Mark: You are most likely affected as well, as your card (GTX 960) is 9th gen and therefore older than the 10th gen GPUs mentioned in the news post.
Russ: This is a decision by NVIDIA, not Arch Linux. They are dropping support for these cards from their driver, there is nothing Arch can do about this, except for providing the legacy driver for you to switch to as mentioned in the news post.
Cheers, lukaro
On 1/8/26 2:01 PM, Russ wrote:
I know. Stuff is just rolling down hill. It just semi-bricked the computer until I went and worked on it. Given that I am not always available to do that when I travel, it was just the wrong tool for the job for that use case.
Whoa.... Your card is fine and still supported by the arch nvidia-legacy package. The only thing that changes is you have to install that package to continue using the proprietary driver. I'm still running the 390xx driver on a laptop with the quadro 3000M card. Arch/AUR has all the drivers for the 390xx cards, the 470 cards and now the 580xx cards. Download the AUR package from https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/nvidia-580xx-utils and then "makepkg -s" in the directory with the PKGBUILD. Install the resulting dkms module, the driver will compile the proprietary driver, you then simply reboot. Down the line with kernel updates, the issue becomes maintaining the package when kernel updates break the current build. Have faith, if we have been able to keep the 390 driver patched for years, there is plenty of life left in the 580 driver. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
David, I think that was why the replacement driver didnt work when I installed it. I compiled and installed but didnt reboot! To clarify, I know my card is good. I also knew that the legacy driver would work, just needed some tinkering - in this case, a reboot, apparently. That didnt change the fact that I simply needed to leave my employee with a computer that was less susceptible to issues such as this that may need troubleshooting when I am gone for extended periods. Thanks for pointing out that issue. Ill remember that in the future. Russ *Confidentiality Notice: This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose, or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message.Non-Binding and Expiration Disclaimer: Content of emails, to include any included links and attachments thereto, sent or received shall not create a binding contract or be construed to be conveyance or acceptance of any offer, contract or any other agreement, whatsoever, nor shall the same be binding on any party until a written contract is signed by all parties. In the event a bona fide, signed offer is conveyed via email, the same shall expire, if not accepted and fully executed by all parties, upon the latter of its explicitly stated expiration date or, if such a date is not specified, twenty-four hours from its initial transmission by the offeror and shall thereafter not be binding on any party.* *Wire Fraud Notice: Never trust wiring instructions sent via email. Cyber criminals are hacking email accounts and sending emails with fake wiring instructions. These emails are convincing and sophisticated. Always independently confirm wiring instructions in person or via a telephone call to a trusted and verified phone number. Never wire money without double-checking that the wiring instructions are correct.Affiliated Business Disclosure: I have an ownership interest in both Pink Realty, Inc and Pink Realty Rentals and work closely with both companies and their agents and employees, my real estate license and my brokerage activity is with Pink Realty Rentals.* On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 2:43 PM David C Rankin <drankinatty@gmail.com> wrote:
On 1/8/26 2:01 PM, Russ wrote:
I know. Stuff is just rolling down hill. It just semi-bricked the computer until I went and worked on it. Given that I am not always available to do that when I travel, it was just the wrong tool for the job for that use case.
Whoa....
Your card is fine and still supported by the arch nvidia-legacy package. The only thing that changes is you have to install that package to continue using the proprietary driver.
I'm still running the 390xx driver on a laptop with the quadro 3000M card. Arch/AUR has all the drivers for the 390xx cards, the 470 cards and now the 580xx cards.
Download the AUR package from https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/nvidia-580xx-utils and then "makepkg -s" in the directory with the PKGBUILD. Install the resulting dkms module, the driver will compile the proprietary driver, you then simply reboot.
Down the line with kernel updates, the issue becomes maintaining the package when kernel updates break the current build. Have faith, if we have been able to keep the 390 driver patched for years, there is plenty of life left in the 580 driver.
-- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
On 1/8/26 2:01 PM, Russ wrote:
I know. Stuff is just rolling down hill. It just semi-bricked the computer until I went and worked on it. Given that I am not always available to do that when I travel, it was just the wrong tool for the job for that use case.
(update) The 580xx-utils and the 580xx-dkms packages are separate on AUR but reading the comments are a split packages. So install https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/nvidia-580xx-dkms - which will provide the dkms build of the nvidia module you need. The https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/nvidia-580xx-utils may also provide dkms, but the "provides" on the page does indicate so yet. For the earlier 470xx and 390xx drivers, the -utils package is the one that provides the dkms driver and the nvidia module build. I suspect the same will apply to the 580xx driver in the future. (wouldn't make sense to do the 580xx different from the 470xx and 380xx packages, but I've learned to never say never...) Rest of the described process is the same. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
Had the same issue, and I definitely feel the pain that you guys are experiencing. It sucks when an upstream package provider eliminates support for hardware that is still very prolific. I will say, the Arch wiki was a great help to me in restoring the graphics environment. I had the same issue where the resolution got squeezed after a reboot applied my pacman -Syu updates which I had done without checking the news or warnings. This page in particular - https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA - indicates that the 580xx-dkms were the drivers I would need. So in TTY I did the following steps which fixed my system perfectly without any further issues: Cleared pacman cache Forcibly removed old nvidia drivers and associated libraries (there will be dependency complaints) While doing this, Steam complained about dependencies so I just uninstalled the steam native runtime as well Install older 580 series drivers indicated in the wiki Reboot That worked for me, but your situation may differ. On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 11:01 AM Russ <russ@pinkrealty.com> wrote:
I have a GTX 1080 or 1050 or something like that. It is easy to see if your card has that chip. If it does, DO NOT UPDATE. I didnt realize I was losing driver coverage until my monitors started looking like it was trying to squeeze a 600X800 res monitor onto my 1900Xwhatever monitor. After a bit of digging and banging my head on my desk, I figured out what happened. I initially tried to install the backup driver that you referenced but was unable to get it to work correction. I then tried to get an old version of the just updated driver, but that was not trivial. I'm sure this could be resolved given a sufficient amount of time expended that I just didn't have, but the computer in question is used by one of my employees, and I travel for months at at a time. I realized that if something like this happened when I was traveling (granted, just don't update...) she would have a bricked computer if I was not there to tinker with it. For my application, this was my cue to change OSs for this application. I put LMDE on this computer due to my application - not a ding on arch, just wrong tool for the job there.
In hindsight, if I knew what was being depreciated in the update in advance, I would have made sure that the old version was never updated. My advice is keep what you got and don't poke it!
Russ
*Confidentiality Notice: This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose, or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message.Non-Binding and Expiration Disclaimer: Content of emails, to include any included links and attachments thereto, sent or received shall not create a binding contract or be construed to be conveyance or acceptance of any offer, contract or any other agreement, whatsoever, nor shall the same be binding on any party until a written contract is signed by all parties. In the event a bona fide, signed offer is conveyed via email, the same shall expire, if not accepted and fully executed by all parties, upon the latter of its explicitly stated expiration date or, if such a date is not specified, twenty-four hours from its initial transmission by the offeror and shall thereafter not be binding on any party.*
*Wire Fraud Notice: Never trust wiring instructions sent via email. Cyber criminals are hacking email accounts and sending emails with fake wiring instructions. These emails are convincing and sophisticated. Always independently confirm wiring instructions in person or via a telephone call to a trusted and verified phone number. Never wire money without double-checking that the wiring instructions are correct.Affiliated Business Disclosure: I have an ownership interest in both Pink Realty, Inc and Pink Realty Rentals and work closely with both companies and their agents and employees, my real estate license and my brokerage activity is with Pink Realty Rentals.*
On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 10:44 AM Mark E. Mallett <mem@schmem.com> wrote:
Hi,
There was a notice on arch-announce and on archlinux.org/news (
https://archlinux.org/news/nvidia-590-driver-drops-pascal-support-main-packa... )
that confuses me. "With the update to driver version 590, the NVIDIA driver no longer supports Pascal (GTX 10xx) GPUs or older" etc. I don't really know if that applies to me, given the brand/model labels and all. (some detail about my hardware is offered at the end of this message.) And even if it does, the notice is (to my dull mind) unclear. It says:
Updating the NVIDIA packages on systems with Pascal, Maxwell, or older cards will fail to load the driver, which may result in a broken graphical environment.
That would be bad and makes me hesitent to experiment.
Part of what confuses me is this:
Users with GTX 10xx series and older cards must switch to the legacy proprietary branch to maintain support
I'm using the proprietary nvidia driver already, so what does that statement mean to me? (I'm not running nouveau or other)
So I have questions
- the one above ("does this mean me?")
- the one about already using the proprietary driver
- can I simply not upgrade the nvidia driver, keep using the installed one?
- If the system breaks, what is my recourse?
- Is "Install nvidia-580xx-dkms from the AUR" (as it says) appropriate for me?
I know this sounds like a lot of foggy nonunderstanding, and I guess that's because that's what it is. The relevant system has a very old NVIDIA card. I haven't seen any reactions to this, maybe I'm the only one left ;)
Possibly relevant stuff from hwinfo:
22: PCI 100.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA) [Created at pci.395] Unique ID: VCu0.4tATP2A+FnB Parent ID: 8otl.w6ofvOouCK2 SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/0000:01:00.0 SysFS BusID: 0000:01:00.0 Hardware Class: graphics card Model: "nVidia GM206 [GeForce GTX 960]" Vendor: pci 0x10de "nVidia Corporation" Device: pci 0x1401 "GM206 [GeForce GTX 960]" SubVendor: pci 0x1462 "Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI]" SubDevice: pci 0x3201 Revision: 0xa1 Driver: "nvidia" Driver Modules: "nvidia" Memory Range: 0xfd000000-0xfdffffff (rw,non-prefetchable) Memory Range: 0xd0000000-0xdfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable) Memory Range: 0xce000000-0xcfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable) I/O Ports: 0xcc00-0xcc7f (rw) Memory Range: 0x000c0000-0x000dffff (rw,non-prefetchable,disabled) IRQ: 27 (1392224 events) Module Alias: "pci:v000010DEd00001401sv00001462sd00003201bc03sc00i00" Driver Info #0: Driver Status: nouveau is not active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nouveau" Driver Info #1: Driver Status: nvidia_drm is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nvidia_drm" Driver Info #2: Driver Status: nvidia is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nvidia" Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown Attached to: #20 (PCI bridge)
Thanks for any attention.
-mm- (long time no write)
Mem, "I'm using the proprietary nvidia driver already, so what does that statement mean to me?" Yes. gtx 960 is older than 10xx series gpus. since the new drivers break on older cards, you won't be able to continue using that package. You'll need to uninstall it and install the 580 dkms package - the one about already using the proprietary driver Just think of it as a fork for the older gpu's. the new driver doesn't work on older cards now, so if you want to be able to use it in the future, you're going to have to use the 580 dkms package. - can I simply not upgrade the nvidia driver, keep using the installed one? Maybe, but it'll probably break things once you update your system... - If the system breaks, what is my recourse? check logs, watch the prompts, file bug reports, check forums, etc et al. basically what you do anyway running arch... - Is "Install nvidia-580xx-dkms from the AUR" (as it says) appropriate for me? yes. just make sure you remove the nvidia driver package you installed before you install the 580 dkms. Ziggy posted the rough steps they had to take, so be aware that you'll probably have to remove a few packages with dependancy complaints. including steam apparently. Russ, if you're gonna use arch, it's always a good idea to check the website if you have problems with an update.(that post is still the first thing there.) And you do want to update, you just need to update to the "new" package, and remove the old one. The way your post reads, it sounds like you missed doing that, probably causing a conflict. Or maybe had dependancy complaints trying to remove? And an older version of the driver would probably break other things, hence your issues. On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 1:05 PM Ziggy Avetisyan <ziggyavetisyan@gmail.com> wrote:
Had the same issue, and I definitely feel the pain that you guys are experiencing. It sucks when an upstream package provider eliminates support for hardware that is still very prolific. I will say, the Arch wiki was a great help to me in restoring the graphics environment. I had the same issue where the resolution got squeezed after a reboot applied my pacman -Syu updates which I had done without checking the news or warnings. This page in particular - https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA - indicates that the 580xx-dkms were the drivers I would need. So in TTY I did the following steps which fixed my system perfectly without any further issues:
Cleared pacman cache Forcibly removed old nvidia drivers and associated libraries (there will be dependency complaints) While doing this, Steam complained about dependencies so I just uninstalled the steam native runtime as well Install older 580 series drivers indicated in the wiki Reboot
That worked for me, but your situation may differ.
On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 11:01 AM Russ <russ@pinkrealty.com> wrote:
I have a GTX 1080 or 1050 or something like that. It is easy to see if your card has that chip. If it does, DO NOT UPDATE. I didnt realize I was losing driver coverage until my monitors started looking like it was trying to squeeze a 600X800 res monitor onto my 1900Xwhatever monitor. After a bit of digging and banging my head on my desk, I figured out what happened. I initially tried to install the backup driver that you referenced but was unable to get it to work correction. I then tried to get an old version of the just updated driver, but that was not trivial. I'm sure this could be resolved given a sufficient amount of time expended that I just didn't have, but the computer in question is used by one of my employees, and I travel for months at at a time. I realized that if something like this happened when I was traveling (granted, just don't update...) she would have a bricked computer if I was not there to tinker with it. For my application, this was my cue to change OSs for this application. I put LMDE on this computer due to my application - not a ding on arch, just wrong tool for the job there.
In hindsight, if I knew what was being depreciated in the update in advance, I would have made sure that the old version was never updated. My advice is keep what you got and don't poke it!
Russ
*Confidentiality Notice: This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose, or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message.Non-Binding and Expiration Disclaimer: Content of emails, to include any included links and attachments thereto, sent or received shall not create a binding contract or be construed to be conveyance or acceptance of any offer, contract or any other agreement, whatsoever, nor shall the same be binding on any party until a written contract is signed by all parties. In the event a bona fide, signed offer is conveyed via email, the same shall expire, if not accepted and fully executed by all parties, upon the latter of its explicitly stated expiration date or, if such a date is not specified, twenty-four hours from its initial transmission by the offeror and shall thereafter not be binding on any party.*
*Wire Fraud Notice: Never trust wiring instructions sent via email. Cyber criminals are hacking email accounts and sending emails with fake wiring instructions. These emails are convincing and sophisticated. Always independently confirm wiring instructions in person or via a telephone call to a trusted and verified phone number. Never wire money without double-checking that the wiring instructions are correct.Affiliated Business Disclosure: I have an ownership interest in both Pink Realty, Inc and Pink Realty Rentals and work closely with both companies and their agents and employees, my real estate license and my brokerage activity is with Pink Realty Rentals.*
On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 10:44 AM Mark E. Mallett <mem@schmem.com> wrote:
Hi,
There was a notice on arch-announce and on archlinux.org/news (
https://archlinux.org/news/nvidia-590-driver-drops-pascal-support-main-packa... )
that confuses me. "With the update to driver version 590, the NVIDIA driver no longer supports Pascal (GTX 10xx) GPUs or older" etc. I don't really know if that applies to me, given the brand/model labels and all. (some detail about my hardware is offered at the end of this message.) And even if it does, the notice is (to my dull mind) unclear. It says:
Updating the NVIDIA packages on systems with Pascal, Maxwell, or older cards will fail to load the driver, which may result in a broken graphical environment.
That would be bad and makes me hesitent to experiment.
Part of what confuses me is this:
Users with GTX 10xx series and older cards must switch to the legacy proprietary branch to maintain support
I'm using the proprietary nvidia driver already, so what does that statement mean to me? (I'm not running nouveau or other)
So I have questions
- the one above ("does this mean me?")
- the one about already using the proprietary driver
- can I simply not upgrade the nvidia driver, keep using the installed one?
- If the system breaks, what is my recourse?
- Is "Install nvidia-580xx-dkms from the AUR" (as it says) appropriate for me?
I know this sounds like a lot of foggy nonunderstanding, and I guess that's because that's what it is. The relevant system has a very old NVIDIA card. I haven't seen any reactions to this, maybe I'm the only one left ;)
Possibly relevant stuff from hwinfo:
22: PCI 100.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA) [Created at pci.395] Unique ID: VCu0.4tATP2A+FnB Parent ID: 8otl.w6ofvOouCK2 SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/0000:01:00.0 SysFS BusID: 0000:01:00.0 Hardware Class: graphics card Model: "nVidia GM206 [GeForce GTX 960]" Vendor: pci 0x10de "nVidia Corporation" Device: pci 0x1401 "GM206 [GeForce GTX 960]" SubVendor: pci 0x1462 "Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI]" SubDevice: pci 0x3201 Revision: 0xa1 Driver: "nvidia" Driver Modules: "nvidia" Memory Range: 0xfd000000-0xfdffffff (rw,non-prefetchable) Memory Range: 0xd0000000-0xdfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable) Memory Range: 0xce000000-0xcfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable) I/O Ports: 0xcc00-0xcc7f (rw) Memory Range: 0x000c0000-0x000dffff (rw,non-prefetchable,disabled) IRQ: 27 (1392224 events) Module Alias: "pci:v000010DEd00001401sv00001462sd00003201bc03sc00i00" Driver Info #0: Driver Status: nouveau is not active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nouveau" Driver Info #1: Driver Status: nvidia_drm is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nvidia_drm" Driver Info #2: Driver Status: nvidia is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe nvidia" Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown Attached to: #20 (PCI bridge)
Thanks for any attention.
-mm- (long time no write)
On 1/8/26 18:43, Mark E. Mallett wrote:
So I have questions
- the one above ("does this mean me?") Yes, your GTX960 is a precursor to the 10xx series.
- the one about already using the proprietary driver
The keyword there is "legacy"
- can I simply not upgrade the nvidia driver, keep using the installed one?
This might work for a bit, but I would not recommend it. At some point in its unpatched state the compatibility with the kernel will break.
- If the system breaks, what is my recourse?
Many ways. Don't worry about it now, you will not break it with the nvidia-580xx-dkms
- Is "Install nvidia-580xx-dkms from the AUR" (as it says) appropriate for me?
Yes, install that. It conflicts with the non-legacy driver, so that will be simply replaced. You might also want to install the other nvidia-580xx-* packages from AUR, depending on what is currently on your system. (And maybe also lib32-nvidia-580xx-*)
I know this sounds like a lot of foggy nonunderstanding, and I guess that's because that's what it is. The relevant system has a very old NVIDIA card. I haven't seen any reactions to this, maybe I'm the only one left 😉
My other machine has an ancient GTX540 😉 I have been using nvidia-340xx (or was it nvidia-390xx?) for years and only recently switched to the open source nouveau driver. That might also be an option for you, if you are not doing heavy 3D stuff like gaming. If you encounter any problems, which I doubt, the mailing list and forum is still there. Good luck.
On Thu, Jan 8, 2026, at 09:43, Mark E. Mallett wrote:
I'm using the proprietary nvidia driver already
I think this may be part of the confusion. In 2024 NVIDIA open-sourced their official drivers. It would be helpful to clarify which drivers you are currently using. Christopher
On Thu, Jan 08, 2026 at 12:43:24PM -0500, Mark E. Mallett wrote:
Hi,
There was a notice on arch-announce and on archlinux.org/news ( https://archlinux.org/news/nvidia-590-driver-drops-pascal-support-main-packa... )
etc I appreciate all the responses. Without replying individually: sounds like the approriate thing is to move to the nvidia-580xx-dkms from AUR. I'll give that a try after I work up the time and courage. One thing I forgot to mention is: I'm using this card with three monitors (one portrait mode with one landscape on each side) and I use nvidia-settings to create a large virtual monitor within nvidia control. I wonder if this will continue to work? (I've used e.g. xrandr on other systems so can likely go back to that if needed). Another is that I haven't done a system update in a little while (not too long but ...). I wonder if I should do the change to the driver before doing the system update or vice versa. Thanks again, -mm-
On 10.01.2026 20:56, Mark E. Mallett wrote:
On Thu, Jan 08, 2026 at 12:43:24PM -0500, Mark E. Mallett wrote: One thing I forgot to mention is: I'm using this card with three monitors (one portrait mode with one landscape on each side) and I use nvidia-settings to create a large virtual monitor within nvidia control. I wonder if this will continue to work? (I've used e.g. xrandr on other systems so can likely go back to that if needed).
If it worked on 580 drivers I don't see why it shouldn't. AFAIK nvidia from pacman is just a version downloaded from nvidia.com, but precompiled by Arch, while AUR -dkms version is using the same nvidia.com version, but adds it to the DKMS, so it'll compile on your own machine every time. Other than that there's no difference in functionality (at least no major difference), except that you better not forget to upgrade AUR packages too.
Another is that I haven't done a system update in a little while (not too long but ...). I wonder if I should do the change to the driver before doing the system update or vice versa.
I'd upgrade my system first and then reinstall the driver. Your system will recompile the driver on kernel upgrade anyway. And with upgrading the system first you'll probably be more safe from dealing with possible conflicts
On 1/10/26 10:56 AM, Mark E. Mallett wrote:
Another is that I haven't done a system update in a little while (not too long but ...). I wonder if I should do the change to the driver before doing the system update or vice versa.
Doesn't really matter, but.. 1) if you load the 580xx driver before the system update, then the dkms build will occur during the system update and only one reboot is needed; or 2) system update, reboot for the new kernel, then 580xx driver install and another reboot to load the driver. (this is an over simplification, and there are ways to load/unload the driver and restart the graphics system -- but simpler just to reboot) -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
On 11.01.2026 00:11, David C Rankin wrote:
1) if you load the 580xx driver before the system update, then the dkms build will occur during the system update and only one reboot is needed; or
2) system update, reboot for the new kernel, then 580xx driver install and another reboot to load the driver.
One thing to note though, you WILL need linux-headers (pacman) installed. dkms package does not automatically pull it in, probably due to being listed as optdepends for different kernel flavours vanilla, lts, zen, hardened. Nevertheless dkms won't work and won't actually trigger the build without the any linux-headers package installed. However as soon as you install linux-headers it will also trigger nvidia build too. -- Cheers, --lucian
On Sat, Jan 10, 2026 at 11:56:06AM -0500, Mark E. Mallett wrote:
On Thu, Jan 08, 2026 at 12:43:24PM -0500, Mark E. Mallett wrote:
Hi,
There was a notice on arch-announce and on archlinux.org/news ( https://archlinux.org/news/nvidia-590-driver-drops-pascal-support-main-packa... )
etc
This again ;) I finally found the time and the fortitude to tackle this nvidia change thing. Other than a couple of pilot errors, it went well (*). Thanks to everyone's suggestions and information. -mm- (*) After a half hour of use, anyway. But so far so good.
participants (10)
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Christopher Cooper
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Curtis Nixon
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David C Rankin
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Jürgen Werner
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Lucian Langa
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lukaro
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Mark E. Mallett
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Russ
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Sergey Filatov
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Ziggy Avetisyan