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Question: should Driver Manager avoid NVIDIA 535 / transitional 470 on GTX 760 and offer 470-server instead? #111

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Question: should Driver Manager avoid NVIDIA 535 / transitional 470 on GTX 760 and offer 470-server instead?#111

Description

@teriodore
teriodore
opened on Jun 4, 2026

Steps to reproduce

  1. Use Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon on X11.

  2. Use a system with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760:

    • GPU: NVIDIA Corporation GK104 [GeForce GTX 760]
    • PCI ID: 10de:1187

  3. Open Driver Manager after a normal kernel/update cycle.

  4. Observe the NVIDIA driver options / selected driver.

  5. Attempt to use the offered NVIDIA proprietary driver path.

Question

Should Driver Manager treat this GPU as requiring the real NVIDIA 470 legacy/server branch, rather than offering or selecting an NVIDIA 535 path or the normal nvidia-driver-470 package?

On this system, the normal nvidia-driver-470 package behaved like a transitional trap and attempted to depend on/install NVIDIA 535 packages. NVIDIA 535 is incompatible with the GTX 760 and explicitly ignored the GPU at boot.

The working driver set was not normal nvidia-driver-470, but:

nvidia-driver-470-server
nvidia-dkms-470-server
nvidia-kernel-common-470-server
nvidia-utils-470-server
xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-470-server

Expected behaviour

For a GTX 760, Driver Manager should not guide the user toward NVIDIA 535 or any package path that resolves into NVIDIA 535.

Ideally, it should either:

  1. offer the working 470-server branch, or
  2. clearly warn that the normal nvidia-driver-470 package resolves incorrectly on this package set, and that the user should install the 470-server branch manually.

Actual behaviour

After update/reboot, the system ended up with broken graphics:

  • only one generic/unknown display
  • low/fallback resolution
  • flickering icons / unstable desktop
  • Xorg errors about missing DRM/framebuffer device
  • NVIDIA 535 warning that the GTX 760 is only supported through 470.xx legacy drivers

Relevant NVIDIA message:

NVIDIA 535.309.01
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 GPU installed in this system is supported through the NVIDIA 470.xx legacy drivers.
The 535 driver will ignore this GPU.

Xorg also showed:

[drm] Failed to open DRM device for pci:0000:01:00.0: -19
open /dev/dri/card0: No such file or directory
Unable to find a valid framebuffer device

Package behaviour observed

Simulating the normal 470 install showed this dependency problem:

nvidia-dkms-470 : Depends: nvidia-dkms-535
nvidia-driver-470 : Depends: nvidia-driver-535 but it is not installable
nvidia-kernel-common-470 : Depends: nvidia-kernel-common-535 but it is not installable
nvidia-utils-470 : Depends: nvidia-utils-535 but it is not installable
xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-470 : Depends: xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-535 but it is not installable

Simulating 470-server was clean and installed only 470-server packages.

Recovery / workaround

The system was recovered by blocking NVIDIA 535 and installing the 470-server branch.

Pin file used:

/etc/apt/preferences.d/block-nvidia-535-gtx760

The important result after recovery:

Kernel driver in use: nvidia
driver: nvidia v: 470.256.02
X loaded: nvidia
OpenGL renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760
nvidia-driver-470-server Installed: 470.256.02-0ubuntu0.22.04.1
nvidia-driver-535 Candidate: none

System information

Distribution: Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon
Session: X11
Kernel: 5.15.0-181-generic
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760
Working driver: NVIDIA 470.256.02
Working package: nvidia-driver-470-server
Broken/incompatible branch: NVIDIA 535

Why I am asking here

I am not sure whether this should be handled in Mint Driver Manager, Ubuntu NVIDIA packaging, or both.

From a user perspective, Driver Manager can leave this legacy NVIDIA card in a broken state by pointing at a driver path that resolves to an incompatible 535 branch. Would it be appropriate for Driver Manager to detect GTX 760 / Kepler legacy GPUs and prefer or document the 470-server package path instead?

Activity

  1. nilands55s commented on Aug 1, 2026

    @nilands55s
    nilands55s
    on Aug 1, 2026

    Seems ubuntu 24.04 LTS has the same problem.
    This is from the Ubuntu Handbook. I did this on Mint 22.1 kernel 6.8 (legacy BIOS Boot), HP xw9400 with a Nvidia K5200 PCI card on
    [xw9400 is a water cooled workstation with (Two, Six-Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 2427 × 6 x 2) and 32 GiB RAM].

    (I know these have been around for almost 2 decades but I just can't find anything as powerful for < $ 1500.
    The only draw-back is they like all PC's from that period have the Chinese capacitors known as Capacitor Plague, between 1999 and 2007. Motherboard rework is not beyond my skill set.)

    Method 1: Pinning the Legacy Package (Recommended for Stability)
    This method uses the last available Ubuntu package build before it was converted into a wrapper for the 535 driver. 

      1. Uninstall Current NVIDIA Drivers Remove any existing NVIDIA 470 or 535 packages to ensure a clean state: sudo apt --purge remove '*nvidia*470*' '*nvidia*535*' 
   2. Downgrade the Kernel (Critical Step) Install a supported kernel version (6.11 or 6.8). Do not skip this, or compilation will fail: sudo apt install linux-image-6.11.0-29-generic linux-headers-6.11.0-29-generic Reboot your computer and select the 6.11 kernel from the "Advanced Options for Ubuntu" menu in GRUB. 
   3. Remove Newer Kernels Prevent the system from trying to build modules for unsupported kernels: sudo apt remove --autoremove linux-image-6.14.0-* linux-headers-6.14.0-* 
   4. Create APT Pinning Rule Create a configuration file to block the "updates" channel which forces the 535 driver: sudo nano /etc/apt/preferences.d/nvidia470 Paste the following lines into the file:
     ```
Package: *nvidia*470*
      Pin: release a=noble-updates
      Pin-Priority: -1

      Save (Ctrl+O, Enter) and exit (Ctrl+X).

   5. Install the Pinned Driver Update your package list and install the specific legacy driver: sudo apt update sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r) nvidia-driver-470 Verify the installation candidate is the older build using apt policy nvidia-driver-470.

  2. leigh123linux commented on Aug 1, 2026

    @leigh123linux
    leigh123linux
    on Aug 1, 2026
    Member

    Seems ubuntu 24.04 LTS has the same problem. This is from the Ubuntu Handbook. I did this on Mint 22.1 kernel 6.8 (legacy BIOS Boot), HP xw9400 with a Nvidia K5200 PCI card on [xw9400 is a water cooled workstation with (Two, Six-Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 2427 × 6 x 2) and 32 GiB RAM].

    (I know these have been around for almost 2 decades but I just can't find anything as powerful for < $ 1500.

    The 5700 ryzen zen3 proc is 4-6x more powerful than you current beast and uses a fraction of the power, bundle price £400.

    https://computerorbit.com/products/orbit-ryzen-am4-bundle-32gb-2x16gb-3200mhz-ddr4-ram-asus-b550m-a-prime-wifi-ii

  3. teriodore commented on Aug 1, 2026

    @teriodore
    teriodore
    on Aug 1, 2026
    Author

    @nilands55s You may want to follow the upstream Ubuntu bug thread here:

    https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2155202

    It covers this problem—nvidia-driver-470 being transitioned to 535 and breaking GPUs that still require the genuine 470 driver—and contains several recovery approaches. On my Mint 21.3 system, installing the actual 470-server branch and blocking 535 solved it.

    @leigh123linux The relative price, age, power consumption, or performance of their workstation has nothing to do with this issue. Please keep the thread focused on the NVIDIA packaging and Driver Manager behaviour rather than offering unsolicited hardware-buying advice.

  4. leigh123linux commented on Aug 1, 2026

    @leigh123linux
    leigh123linux
    on Aug 1, 2026
    Member

    @nilands55s Y

    @leigh123linux The relative price, age, power consumption, or performance of their workstation has nothing to do with this issue. Please keep the thread focused on the NVIDIA packaging and Driver Manager behaviour rather than offering unsolicited hardware-buying advice.

    You can't escape the truth, your PC has reached EOL just like nvidia-470.

    Go and bug Ubuntu, they broke it so they can fix it!

  5. nilands55s commented on Aug 1, 2026

    @nilands55s
    nilands55s
    on Aug 1, 2026

    "You can't escape the truth, your PC has reached EOL just like nvidia-470"

    Tried to fallow https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2155202, but there was so much complaining I got so disgusted I did not find any answer.
    And why is it anyone's harm if I like my older equipment. Yet another sanctimonious opinion on what I should find worthwhile. I am sure my two 1955 Chevy's are outdated also. My only purpose was to help someone who might be interested and not someones gripe about what I own!

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