I have re-run the downgrade program again and this time found the local stored files.
One important thing to note is that the downgrade program only downgrades: nvidia & nvidia-utils
it did not offer to downgrade lib32-nvidia-utils which is why I couldn’t get steam to work previously.
You’ll also need to add lib32-nvidia-utils to the IgnorePkg line in pacman.conf manually as the downgrade script doesn’t do that.
A steam post said “Downgrading of the nvidia driver should be done to all these 4 packages:
nvidia-dkms nvidia-lts nvidia-utils lib32-nvidia-utils”
But you’ll only have nvidia-lts if you’re running the lts kernel.
Steam is working fine now on the older driver for me, no flicker.
To add little more info I had time to check one of my older machines on nvidia 530.41.03 and it doesn’t have this problem. So I am guessing it is likely the 20x series cards that are not playing nice with the new driver like svepp suggested above.
This may not be the same thing but I to had screen flicker with Nvidia no matter the OS/DE/WM I really only use openbox since I don’t like the weight of a lot of the DE’s out. I have an Nvidia GTX 1600 and i installed nvidia-settings I added this line to my autostart file for openbox nvidia-settings --assign CurrentMetaMode="HDMI-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {ForceCompositionPipeline=On}, DP-4: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0 {ForceCompositionPipeline=On}" &
This stopped my flickering problem. Updates have not broken this so it may be something useful or may not.
hi thefrog, thanks for the response. I just tried setting force composition pipeline in the nvidia-settings (run as root) and rebooted. I’m not sure if it’s my imagination but the flicker is less noticeable, but it isn’t gone.
So then I tried the force full composition pipeline option and that also still flickers for me.
As I said not sure if it what you need but it did work for me. Sorry it didn’t work completely for you
are you using the 20-nvidia.conf config in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d ? I ask because this didn’t work for me I kept getting screen tearing. It wasn’t until i put the command in my autostart file that it actually started working. maybe add the parameters to your xinitrc file or create a bash and stick it in ~/.config/autostart if the autostart folder doesn’t exist you can simply create it mkdir -p ~/.config/autostart
I do apologize for not being a little more clear. its been a few months since I did this.
no, I don’t have the 20-nvidia.conf file on my system.
The nvidia-settings program saves the file to /etc/X11/xorg.conf
but I find sometimes it says it’s still trying to save the file if I try to close the program.
No idea why it isn’t saved instantly.
Within nvidia-settings I usually go advanced → save to X configuration file → preview → save. Then reboot.
As I said it did seem to make a difference, the flicker was less pronounced but it wasn’t completely gone.
I think at this stage it’s just going to be easier to wait for the next driver iteration tbh.
yeah i forgot that is the way that nvidia is doing it. I believe I read somewhere you should change it to 20-nvidia.conf under /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d but as I stated this didn’t work for me.
I ran the nvidia-xconfig and all it did was back my xorg.conf file.
Can I just copy the (:screen: monitor: device:) sections of the xorg.conf file to 20-nvidia.conf??
The wiki shows a basic configuration with only the device section listed but later mentions metamodes etc
Also are you saying that the newer driver looks to 20-nvidia.conf and ignores xorg.conf? or that it merely prioritizes the former? thanks
dammit
literally as I was gonna type “hey it worked” my screen flickered again
I copied the three sections I mentioned above into /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf
I added the Option “ForceFullCompositionPipeline” “on” and thought it worked but no.
Maybe I could try to help with the confusion .
Xorg is configured from Arch devs as to work OOTB for the majority of hardware, whatever video GPU/drivers are on the system. These settings use heuristic methods to find the best active video configuration. It’s all in system package files at /usr/....
The local admin (standard user) may add specific directives (in xorg conf files) in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/, with a minimal content (usually posted in relevant Archwiki pages) and any Option keys/values the user may need. There is no need for a complete Xorg file.
For this to work as designed, /etc/X11/xorg.conf should not exist, because it overrides every other conf file (it’s deprecated legacy path).
For nvidia settings, you should try any options provided by the GUI Nvidia Settings. If you can’t fix your issue, look at the full list of xorg config options, and maybe try whatever you find possibly helpful.
If you find a solution with the GUI, save it to a local path, and examine the file, to find what is non-default, so you can add it in Xorg path/file, as explained above, using minimal content.
Read more about this in Archwiki and man xorg.conf.
Well here’s an odd thing.
I created the 20-nvidia.conf file as suggested and my system deleted xorg.conf.
not me mind you, my system.
This caused me to boot to a black screen. It went through GRUB and loaded the OS, but the screen was black. Luckily having also run nvidia-xconfig previously I had a backup file and could arch-chroot from my archlinux USB
lsblk
to list the partitions
mount the root partition as /mnt
sudo mount /dev/nvme0n1p3 /mnt
mount the boot partition as /mnt/boot/efi
sudo mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot/efi
arch-chroot
cd /etc/X11
mv backup.xorg.conf xorg.conf
reboot
That fixed the black screen but not the flickering.
In the end I decided to reinstall the OS and I’m now running 530.41.03 with no flickering whatsoever!!
exact same hardware.
.