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I've spent the past two days wrestling with NVIDIA drivers to no avail.

I recently got a GeForce RTX 2080 TI, and I've done a fresh install of Ubuntu 20.04.

Attempting to install NVIDIA drivers results in the following message on boot:

/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root: clean, 210651/60979056 files, 6553314/243690176 blocks

I've tried installing the drivers via:

  • ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
  • sudo apt-get install nvidia-440
  • sudo apt-get install nvidia-450
  • Downloading the .run file from the NVIDIA Drivers website and installing that way

Each time, the error message is the same, talking about blocks.

After the first three commands, I was able to drop into recovery mode and run:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*

Which brought the system back to life. However, after my fourth attempt at installing, that no longer works, I presume because the GUI installer installed to some other location?

I've no idea how to move forward from here. Has anyone been able to get the drivers working on Ubuntu 20.04?

Update 8/3/20

I downgraded to Ubuntu 18.04 and that allowed me to install the drivers and boot. Maybe there's an issue with the drivers and 20.04.

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3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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It is an issue with the default kernel, 5.4.0-48. reverting to ...-47 "solves" it.

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  • 1
    For those unfamiliar with the process. You should provide explicit instructions on how to downgrade the kernel. It doesn't appear the author would understand how to accomplish what you are suggesting.
    – Ramhound
    Sep 23, 2020 at 19:55
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I got into a state where I could not boot with a Dell 7550 running Ubuntu 20.04. After much pain I finally found that the optimus switchable graphics mode in the BIOS had to be disabled. There is some kind of ugly driver bug here.

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I had this problem break my computer and render the display useless over the weekend. Downgrading the kernel version is a temporary fix. You can see the current kernel version via:

> uname -a
Linux brandy 5.4.0-47-generic #51-Ubuntu SMP Fri Sep 4 19:50:52 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I was able to boot to this version of the kernel by selecting the 2nd option in the boot menu after doing a power cycle. It is labeled "Advanced Options for Ubuntu" or similar. Select this option using the up/down arrows, then hit the (a.k.a "Enter") key.

You are now presented with a sub menu, giving a choice of kernels to boot from. Each kernel also has a "-recovery" option. I tried the recovery option for the 5.4.0-48-generic kernel, and it didn't fix the problem.

Selecting the 5.4.0-47-generic kernel allowed the system to boot normally.

You may also wish to review this article on Ubuntu video drivers.

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