[arch-general] kernel: NVRM: GPU at 0000:01:00.0 has fallen off the bus. ??

[David C. Rankin]

Guys,

   On my i686 box with nvida 8600GT, nvidia driver, I have experienced 2 
desktop lockups in the past couple of days. When this occurs, the desktop is 
locked hard, but the mouse still moves. Nothing else is responsive. This has 
occurred when the desktop is in active use and when the display is in poweroff 
mode from dpms. Checking error messages I find:

Aug  6 15:21:45 providence kernel: [ 2250.691231] NVRM: GPU at 0000:01:00.0 
has fallen off the bus.
Aug  2 03:11:11 providence kernel: [45209.590664] NVRM: GPU at 0000:01:00.0 
has fallen off the bus.
Aug  2 14:50:48 providence kernel: [ 2128.598972] NVRM: GPU at 0000:01:00.0 
has fallen off the bus.

   I have followed 
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/debian-ubuntu-rhel-fedora-linux-nvidia-nvrm-gpu-fallen-off-bus/ 
to set Persistence Mode, but I'm don't know if that will fix it.

   As in an earlier thread, I still experience high X usage and slow desktop 
response, especially with GTK apps. I hoped that updating the new nvidia 
driver today would do the trick, but the last fall off occurred after the 
update. The article says to update kernel and nvidia driver, but those of 
those are the latest packages from Arch.

   Is this a bug? If so, kernel or nvidia? Is it OK just to set Persistence 
Mode permanently on boot each time? Where is the best place? /etc/rc.local?

-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.