Downgrade nvidia drivers to specific version

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Author
square
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2022 7:54 pm

Re: Downgrade nvidia drivers to specific version

#21 Post by square »

dolphin_oracle wrote: Sun Jun 29, 2025 11:27 am I would check to make sure libxnvctrl0 was downgraded properly when the drivers were removed. that can cause some funky stuff. the pinning only defines a preference, but if the current dpkg status is not compatible, ddm-mx won't fix it.

IIRC, when you do a -p operation with ddm-mx, it will remove then replace libxnvctrl0 with whatever version is currently in the enabled repos.
Synaptic reports version 525.85.05-3~deb12u1 of libxnvctrl0 as being installed, and also as this being the only available version. (Synaptic seems to be more accurate than the mx package installer regarding whether or not something is installed.)

Code: Select all

$ dpkg --status libxnvctrl0
Package: libxnvctrl0
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: libs
Installed-Size: 52
Maintainer: Debian NVIDIA Maintainers <pkg-nvidia-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Architecture: amd64
Multi-Arch: same
Source: libxnvctrl
Version: 525.85.05-3~deb12u1
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14), libx11-6 (>= 2:1.4.99.1), libxext6
Description: NV-CONTROL X extension (runtime library)
 The NV-CONTROL X extension provides a mechanism for X clients to
 query and set configuration parameters of the NVIDIA X driver.
 State set by the NV-CONTROL X extension is assumed to be persistent
 only for the current server generation.
 .
 This package contains the shared library.
Homepage: https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-settings/
I tried again – no change. See how after telling the installer to pull the nvidia test repo, it does not actually do it:

Code: Select all

$ sudo ddm-mx -i nvidia -N

Distribution:   MX

INSTALL IS nvidia
Sperrung wird hergestellt.....
===================================
ddm-mx: 25.06.01
kernel release: 6.14.10-2-liquorix-amd64
kernel version: #1 ZEN SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC liquorix 6.14-13~mx23ahs (2025-06-09)
command parameters: -i nvidia -N
===================================
===================================
Installiere Treiber für: nvidia
Start am (m/t/j): 07/01/2025 21:30:21
===================================

========================================
========================================

Um die Open-Source-Treiber wiederherzustellen, verwenden Sie: 
sudo ddm-mx -p nvidia

========================================
========================================


Aktualisiere Quellen mit apt-get update

Weiter
  1) yes (default)
  2) no
Drücke <Enter> für den Vorgabewert Eintrag
Verwende 'q' für Beenden

OK:1 http://mirror.plusserver.com/mxlinux/mxlinux/mx/repo bookworm InRelease
OK:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates InRelease                                                                                                                                                                    
OK:3 http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security InRelease                                                                                                                                                     
OK:5 https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/12/prod bookworm InRelease                                                                                                                                                           
OK:6 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease                                                                                                                                                                            
OK:7 https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable InRelease                                                                                                                                                                 
OK:8 https://deb.nodesource.com/node_20.x nodistro InRelease                                                                                                                                                                    
OK:9 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/cdemu/ppa/ubuntu jammy InRelease                                                                                                                                  
OK:4 https://downloads.mariadb.com/Tools/debian bookworm InRelease                                                                                                                            
OK:13 https://download.zulip.com/desktop/apt stable InRelease                                                                      
OK:10 https://dlm.mariadb.com/repo/mariadb-server/10.rolling/repo/debian bookworm InRelease                
OK:14 https://download.sublimetext.com apt/stable/ InRelease                                  
OK:11 https://dlm.mariadb.com/repo/maxscale/latest/apt bookworm InRelease                     
OK:12 https://mxrepo.com/mx/repo bookworm InRelease
Paketlisten werden gelesen… Fertig
========================================
Possible previous install detected.
========================================

Kandidat ist: nvidia-driver 535.247.01-1~deb12u1
Installiert ist: nvidia-driver 535.247.01-1~deb12u1


In den Nvidia-Entwicklerpaketquellen nach einer neueren Version suchen?
  1) yes
  2) no (default)
Drücke <Enter> für den Vorgabewert Eintrag
Verwende 'q' für Beenden
1
Ok...
Nvidia-Entwicklerpaketquellen aktivieren
Den Signaturschlüssel der Nvidia-Paketquellen erhalten
https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/debian12/x86_64/cuda-keyring_1.1-1_all.deb
--2025-07-01 21:30:27--  https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/debian12/x86_64/cuda-keyring_1.1-1_all.deb
Auflösen des Hostnamens developer.download.nvidia.com (developer.download.nvidia.com)… 95.101.79.81, 2.17.22.34
Verbindungsaufbau zu developer.download.nvidia.com (developer.download.nvidia.com)|95.101.79.81|:443 … verbunden.
HTTP-Anforderung gesendet, auf Antwort wird gewartet … 200 OK
Länge: 4148 (4,1K) [application/x-deb]
Wird in »/tmp/nvidia-keyring.deb« gespeichert.

/tmp/nvidia-keyring.deb                                  100%[===============================================================================================================================>]   4,05K  --.-KB/s    in 0s      

2025-07-01 21:30:27 (178 MB/s) - »/tmp/nvidia-keyring.deb« gespeichert [4148/4148]

(Lese Datenbank ... 431321 Dateien und Verzeichnisse sind derzeit installiert.)
Vorbereitung zum Entpacken von /tmp/nvidia-keyring.deb ...
Entpacken von cuda-keyring (1.1-1) über (1.1-1) ...
cuda-keyring (1.1-1) wird eingerichtet ...
"apt-get update" läuft..

Aktualisiere Quellen mit apt-get update

Weiter
  1) yes (default)
  2) no
Drücke <Enter> für den Vorgabewert Eintrag
Verwende 'q' für Beenden
1
OK:1 http://mirror.plusserver.com/mxlinux/mxlinux/mx/repo bookworm InRelease
OK:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates InRelease                                                                                                                                                                    
OK:3 http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security InRelease                                                                                                                                                     
OK:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease                                                                                                                                                                            
OK:6 https://deb.nodesource.com/node_20.x nodistro InRelease                                                                                                                                                                    
OK:7 https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/12/prod bookworm InRelease                                                                                                                                                           
OK:9 https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable InRelease                                                                                                                                                                 
OK:11 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/cdemu/ppa/ubuntu jammy InRelease                                                                                                                                                         
OK:5 https://downloads.mariadb.com/Tools/debian bookworm InRelease                                                                                                                                                 
OK:13 https://download.zulip.com/desktop/apt stable InRelease                                                                                              
OK:8 https://dlm.mariadb.com/repo/mariadb-server/10.rolling/repo/debian bookworm InRelease                 
OK:14 https://download.sublimetext.com apt/stable/ InRelease                                  
OK:10 https://dlm.mariadb.com/repo/maxscale/latest/apt bookworm InRelease                     
OK:12 https://mxrepo.com/mx/repo bookworm InRelease
Paketlisten werden gelesen… Fertig



Kandidat ist: nvidia-driver 535.247.01-1~deb12u1
Installiert ist: nvidia-driver 535.247.01-1~deb12u1


Ist dies ein NVIDIA/INTEL Optimus System?
  1) yes (default)
  2) no
Drücke <Enter> für den Vorgabewert Eintrag
Verwende 'q' für Beenden

   12101007
xorg version    12101007
nvidia major version 535

Sie können den neuen PRIMUS-Treiber verwenden, der in den nvidia-Treibern integriert ist.
Verwenden Sie "nvidia-run-mx", gefolgt von Ihrem Anwendungsbefehl, um die nvidia-Grafik zu nutzen

Wenn Sie die älteren bumblebee optimus Treiber erzwingen wollen,
 beenden und starten Sie neu mit sudo ddm-mx -i nvidia -f bumblebee-nvidia

Kandidat ist: nvidia-driver 535.247.01-1~deb12u1
Installiert ist: nvidia-driver 535.247.01-1~deb12u1


Kandidat ist: nvidia-driver 535.247.01-1~deb12u1
Installiert ist: nvidia-driver 535.247.01-1~deb12u1

Nvidia-Treiber sind bereits installiert

Erneut installieren oder beenden?
 packages to install are  nvidia-driver

1: Erneut installieren
2: Beenden

Auswahlnummer eintragen
2
Beende...


Drücke <Enter> zum verlassen
What follows is a QSI taken while ddm-mx stood at the "apt-get update" prompt after installing cuda-keyring. Note that there's no nvidia repo in the list.
I also notice that in above log after cuda-keyring is installed there's an automatic "apt-get update" without a prompt (or it's a mistranslation). That one finishes instantly! I suspect it shouldn't be like that.

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 6.14.10-2-liquorix-amd64 [6.14-13~mx23ahs] x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0 
           parameters: audit=0 intel_pstate=disable amd_pstate=disable 
           BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.14.10-2-liquorix-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           i915.force_probe=46a6 ibt=off 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.20.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.38 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.20.0 vt: 7 
           dm: LightDM 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.6_x64 Libretto November 22  2021 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Micro-Star product: Raider GE76 12UGS v: REV:1.0 serial: <filter> 
           Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Micro-Star model: MS-17K4 v: REV:1.0 serial: <filter> 
           UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: E17K4IMS.201 date: 12/08/2021 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 71.4 Wh (96.9%) condition: 73.7/95.0 Wh (77.6%) volts: 16.2 
           min: 15.2 model: MSI BIF0_9 type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Not charging 
CPU:       Info: 10-Core model: 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
           arch: Alder Lake family: 6 model-id: 9A (154) stepping: 3 microcode: 437 cache: 
           L2: 24 MiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 107520 
           Speed: 544 MHz min/max: 400/2701 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 470 2: 553 
           3: 400 4: 500 5: 400 6: 400 7: 400 8: 400 9: 491 10: 500 11: 400 12: 400 13: 557 
           14: 400 15: 1954 16: 500 17: 763 18: 400 19: 400 20: 400 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected 
           Type: ghostwrite status: Not affected 
           Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected 
           Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected 
           Type: old_microcode status: Not affected 
           Type: reg_file_data_sampling mitigation: Clear Register File 
           Type: retbleed status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced / Automatic IBRS; IBPB: conditional; PBRSB-eIBRS: 
           SW sequence; BHI: BHI_DIS_S 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-P GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: i915 
           v: kernel alternate: xe bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:46a6 class-ID: 0300 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GA104 [Geforce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU] vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
           driver: nvidia v: 535.247.01 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:24a0 class-ID: 0300 
           Device-3: Bison Integrated Camera type: USB driver: N/A bus-ID: 3-7:4 
           chip-ID: 5986:1160 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0 driver: 
           loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: fbdev,nouveau,vesa alternate: nv display-ID: :0.0 
           screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 678x382mm (26.7x15.0") 
           s-diag: 778mm (30.6") 
           Monitor-1: eDP-1 res: 2560x1440 hz: 240 dpi: 171 size: 381x214mm (15.0x8.4") 
           diag: 437mm (17.2") 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (ADL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 24.2.8-1mx23ahs 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Alder Lake PCH-P High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
           driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 
           alternate: snd_hda_intel,snd_soc_avs,snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 
           chip-ID: 8086:51c8 class-ID: 0401 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GA104 High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228b class-ID: 0403 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k6.14.10-2-liquorix-amd64 running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-P PCH CNVi WiFi 
           vendor: Rivet Networks Dual Band Wi-Fi 6E AX1675i 160MHz 2x2 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel 
           port: 6000 bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:51f0 class-ID: 0280 
           IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Realtek Killer E3000 2.5GbE vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169 v: kernel 
           port: 3000 bus-ID: 2f:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:3000 class-ID: 0200 
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: lxcbr0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Bluetooth: Device-1: Intel type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 3-10:7 chip-ID: 8087:0033 
           class-ID: e001 
           Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: N/A rfk-block: 
           hardware: no software: no address: <filter> 
           Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff 
           link-mode: peripheral accept 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 800.89 GiB (84.0%) 
           SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Micron model: 3400 MTFDKBA1T0TFH 
           size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 
           type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: P7MA000 temp: 45.9 C scheme: GPT 
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 645.22 GiB size: 634.02 GiB (98.26%) used: 596.97 GiB (94.2%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 253:0 mapped: root.fsm 
           ID-2: /boot raw-size: 512 MiB size: 487.2 MiB (95.16%) used: 179.6 MiB (36.9%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2 
           ID-3: /boot/efi raw-size: 128 MiB size: 126 MiB (98.45%) used: 274 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat 
           dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 
           ID-4: /home raw-size: 199.98 GiB size: 195.79 GiB (97.90%) used: 175.47 GiB (89.6%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1 maj-min: 253:1 mapped: 1.home.fsm 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 7.98 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
           dev: /dev/dm-2 maj-min: 253:2 mapped: swap 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 72.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     Packages: note: see --pkg apt: 3138 lib: 1703 flatpak: 0 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           1: deb https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/cdemu/ppa/ubuntu jammy main
           2: deb-src https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/cdemu/ppa/ubuntu jammy main
           3: deb http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
           2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/erlang-solutions.list 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lutris.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mariadb.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64,arm64] https://dlm.mariadb.com/repo/mariadb-server/10.rolling/repo/debian bookworm main
           2: deb [arch=amd64,arm64] https://dlm.mariadb.com/repo/maxscale/latest/apt bookworm main
           3: deb [arch=amd64] http://downloads.mariadb.com/Tools/debian bookworm main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-prod.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64,arm64,armhf signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/microsoft-prod.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/12/prod bookworm main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mirror.plusserver.com/mxlinux/mxlinux/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
           2: deb http://mirror.plusserver.com/mxlinux/mxlinux/mx/repo/ bookworm ahs
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_20.x nodistro main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sublime-text.list 
           1: deb https://download.sublimetext.com/ apt/stable/
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/zulip-desktop.list 
           1: deb https://download.zulip.com/desktop/apt stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.sources 
           1: deb [arch=amd64,arm64,armhf] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main
Info:      Processes: 458 Uptime: 2d 7h 55m wakeups: 43505 Memory: 31.05 GiB 
           used: 3.97 GiB (12.8%) Init: SysVinit v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl 
           Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 10/12/9 Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release 
           inxi: 3.3.06 
Boot Mode: UEFI

User avatar
dolphin_oracle
Developer
Posts: 22455
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 12:17 pm

Re: Downgrade nvidia drivers to specific version

#22 Post by dolphin_oracle »

I’ll look at the -N code. In the past the cuda-keying package sets up the nvidia repo.
http://www.youtube.com/runwiththedolphin
lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 - MX-23
FYI: mx "test" repo is not the same thing as debian testing repo.
Live system help document: https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-antix-live-usb-system/

User avatar
dolphin_oracle
Developer
Posts: 22455
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 12:17 pm

Re: Downgrade nvidia drivers to specific version

#23 Post by dolphin_oracle »

the ""apt-get update" läuft.." is a bogus left over string. I will remove that. the command is not actually running.

at the moment I can't duplicate the problem with the developer repo not being enabled when cuda-keyring is installed. the only thing I can figure is that maybe if cuda-keyring package was already installed, but the repo was not present, that the repo would not be re-added.

Code: Select all

sudo apt purge cuda-keyring
might help with that.
http://www.youtube.com/runwiththedolphin
lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 - MX-23
FYI: mx "test" repo is not the same thing as debian testing repo.
Live system help document: https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-antix-live-usb-system/

square
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2022 7:54 pm

Re: Downgrade nvidia drivers to specific version

#24 Post by square »

dolphin_oracle wrote: Tue Jul 01, 2025 8:34 pm the only thing I can figure is that maybe if cuda-keyring package was already installed, but the repo was not present, that the repo would not be re-added.

Code: Select all

sudo apt purge cuda-keyring
might help with that.
Yep, that was it!

Code: Select all

$ dpkg --status cuda-keyring
Package: cuda-keyring
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: multiverse/devel
Installed-Size: 16
Maintainer: cudatools <cudatools@nvidia.com>
Architecture: all
Version: 1.1-1
Conffiles:
 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cuda-debian12-x86_64.list b56e28279cd586ebf8f9a57806ead1f3
Description: GPG keyring for the CUDA repository
  Enrolls public key: 3BF863CC (2023)
  and enables repo: debian12/x86_64
After the purge it pulls again.

So my guess is I interrupted ddm-mx (Ctrl+C at a prompt) while the package was still installed, which made it (partially?) skip uninstalling. Perhaps the script could be enhanced to force a reinstall so it can recover.

I'll continue testing driver versions when I find the time. Downgrade seems like a no-go with up-to-date kernels, unless someone does the work to make the old driver compatible – there are DKMS build errors. I don't know how to do this, though I can read and write C and handle git.

Edit: The necessary patch is probably buried somewhere in here: https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kern ... /525...535

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