missing nvidia kernel module for generic kernel (linux-objects-nvidia-535-6.2.0-25-generic)

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

I can confirm the same issue here.

After updating linux-generic to 6.2.0-25 my screen went black because linux-modules-nvidia-535-6.2.0-25-generic does not exist and hence was not installed.

I went back from nvidia-driver-535 to nvidia-driver-525 and now I can safely apply updates to my system; apt will not update automatically nvidia-driver-525 to nvidia-driver-535 but will update linux-generic to newer versions.

Here are the relevant packages:
https://packages.ubuntu.com/lunar-updates/linux-modules-nvidia-525-generic
currently depends on
https://packages.ubuntu.com/lunar-updates/linux-modules-nvidia-525-6.2.0-25-generic
but
https://packages.ubuntu.com/lunar-updates/linux-modules-nvidia-535-generic
currently depends on
https://packages.ubuntu.com/lunar-updates/linux-modules-nvidia-535-6.2.0-24-generic
and
https://packages.ubuntu.com/lunar-updates/linux-modules-nvidia-535-6.2.0-25-generic
does not exist.

So basically the user must choose between a slightly older Linux kernel (6.2.0-24.24) and or a slightly older NVIDIA driver version (525), keeping in mind that apt will automatically install newer versions of linux-generic.

This is a bit unfortunate because the latest NVIDIA driver version 535 brings some improvements with Wayland and removed annoying glitches in one application I use daily, Beyond Compare. I will have to be patient I guess.
https://9to5linux.com/nvidia-535-54-03-linux-graphics-driver-released-with-better-wayland-support

Another issue with the 6.2.0-25 kernel is in linux-modules-nvidia-525-generic:
Provides: nvidia-dkms-525 (= 525.116.04-0ubuntu0.23.04.1), nvidia-prebuilt-kernel

But nvidia-driver-525 Depends: nvidia-dkms-525 (>= 525.125.06)

So the "dkms replacement" version provided by the pre-built modules package is outdated. So it's currently impossible to install the nvidia-driver-525 package (I'm not sure if that package is strictly needed, it's probably just a metapackage to make updates work correctly) with the prebuilt modules. It will always try to get rid of the prebuilt modules and install dkms instead.

This has been going on for some time now.

It looks like it might be correct in the -proposed packages, but I have only looked at the .deb file contents superficially.

Hello Florian,

This is interesting. I went from nvidia-525 to nvidia-535 and back to nvidia-525 and noticed that DKMS got installed as a separate package and cannot be removed (https://packages.ubuntu.com/lunar-updates/dkms).

DKMS was not installed as a separate package initially on my system (before I went from nvidia-525 to nvidia-535, and probably at the time I was using an older kernel).

So maybe the issue you are pointing is the reason for DKMS getting installed.

Is there any downside to installing DKMS as a separate package?

I believe with dkms, you need a C compiler and related tools, so that the nvidia kernel module can be built on your machine during kernel / driver updates. So that probably means more packages have to be installed. It might also be a bit more error-prone?

I'm not sure if it could affect secure boot in some way, I believe there is some mechanism to self-sign the modules after building them. I don't use secure boot.

So it's not a huge issue. I do prefer using the pre-built kernel modules from linux-modules-nvidia-* though. Currently, I'm on 6.2.0-24 and nvidia-525 which seems to work without dkms and without issues. When a new linux-restricted-modules package like 6.2.0-27.28 is published, I'll try to update to nividia-535.

I think this missing module is likely the root cause of https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-release-upgrader/+bug/2027592

Hello Andrew,

Regarding https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-release-upgrader/+bug/2027592, I personally experienced two different root causes for black screens during kernel updates:

1) apt is holding back linux-modules-nvidia-*-generic.
This happened to me at least three times.
See https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubuntu/comments/12efuxu/nvidia_drivers_regularly_borked_by_phased_updates/.

2) linux-modules-nvidia-535-6.2.0-25-generic does not exist.
This happened to me with the combination of linux-generic 6.2.0-25 and nvidia-driver-535.
See the discussion in this ticket.

I also experienced a black screen during the update from nvidia-driver-525 to nvidia-driver-535.
This was without a kernel update.
See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers-535/+bug/2025640.

Worked again after I upgraded to 6.2.0-26, which does have the relevant linux-objects-nvidia package available.

Same thing here.
I first upgraded to linux-generic to 6.2.0-26 and then installed nvidia-driver-535.
Everything works now.

I experienced a black screen during the update from nvidia-driver-525 to nvidia-driver-535.
This was after (not related to) the upgrade to linux-generic to 6.2.0-26.
I started the Ubuntu driver manager from a X session so even though the screen went black installation was successful.
See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers-535/+bug/2025640.

The nvidia support is still messed up under 6.2.0-26 for those using secure boot. In previous iterations of the nvidia drivers and kernels, one could always count on the linux-signatures-nvidia-6.2.0-26-generic and linux-modules-nvidia-535-6.2.0-26-generic to use pre-signed kernel modules rather than dkms if the Software & Updates panel was used to select the tested nvidia driver. Now they are forcing the installation of dkms with nvidia-driver-535 instead. If you try to removed dkms, it removes nvidia-driver-535 of course which makes all of the nvidia packages marked as unused in 'sudo apt-get dist-upgrade'. Hopefully Ubuntu will fix this regression at some point as it is really annoying.

The linux-modules-nvidia-535-6.2.0-26-generic appears to have been updated to the nvidia 535.86.05 drivers at 6.2.0-26.26+2 so that dist-upgrade in apt-get no longer tries to deinstall the bulk of the nvidia drivers. However it still shows...

The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libpkgconf3 libxnvctrl0 nvidia-prime nvidia-settings pkg-config pkgconf
  pkgconf-bin screen-resolution-extra

due to nvidia-driver-535 not being installed. This still is errornously dragging in a dependency on dkms despite the installation of linux-modules-nvidia-535-6.2.0-26-generic and linux-signatures-nvidia-6.2.0-26-generic.

$ sudo apt-get install nvidia-driver-535
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  dkms nvidia-dkms-535 nvidia-kernel-source-535
Suggested packages:
  menu
Recommended packages:
  libnvidia-compute-535:i386 libnvidia-decode-535:i386
  libnvidia-encode-535:i386 libnvidia-fbc1-535:i386 libnvidia-gl-535:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  dkms nvidia-dkms-535 nvidia-driver-535 nvidia-kernel-source-535
0 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 45.5 MB of archives.
After this operation, 75.6 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

Can we get this unnecessary dependency on dkms reversed? In previous nvidia releases, the Software & Updates Addditional Drivers panel would allow the installation of the signed nvidia drivers on a secure boot Ubuntu machine without dragging in dkms.

Maybe it works without dkms if you attempt to install linux-modules-nvidia-535-generic and nvidia-driver-535 at the same time? The linux-modules-nvidia-* package should be an alternative option to the dkms installation option.

I'm not on the latest -535 release yet, but it seems to have worked fine on the previous 535 nvidia version + 6.2.0-26 kernel. Now the upgrade to the latest nvidia-535 introduces new trouble that I'll have to look into.

AMD experience was much better...

I suspect that building the DKMS module against the 6.2 kernel fails.

The same issue appears for the older 418 driver version, see bug #2029490

Upgraded to linux-image-generic-hwe-22.04 on Ubuntu 22.04 with nvidia-driver-535 already installed and landed in the same situation.
Attempts to re-install the nvidia driver fail to produce a working system, unable to use HWE in 22.04 due to this.