OM Welcome and Kmail emails are blank windows after Nvidia package is installed

Jellybean · May 5, 2025, 4:38am

Hello,

Operating System: OpenMandriva ROME 25.04
KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.13.0
Qt Version: 6.9.0
Kernel Version: 6.14.2-desktop-3omv2590 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 16 × Intel® Core™ i7-10875H CPU @ 2.30GHz
Memory: 31.2 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor 1: Intel® UHD Graphics
Graphics Processor 2: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super

I am new to OpenMandriva. I have not used this distro before. Therefore, I have had to read up and learn some things with this distro that are different from Debian, which is what I was using for a little while. I wanted a change, try something new, rpm-based, and possibly rolling. After looking at the different rpm-based distros and their websites, I decided to give OpenMandriva a try. So far, in the short time I have been using it, I really like this distro. It has been running great on my computer. However, it is different from Debian, I have to get used to KDE and the package installation/update procedure. And, I miss “synaptic.”

Although, I have just started with this distro for a couple weeks now, it has been a very good experience. Kudos to all of those that make this distro happen.

I do have one problem that I hope someone can help solve for me. Everything has been working great, except for this one thing:

After I have installed the “nvidia” packages and then rebooted, when I open the OM Welcome window, it is blank, as well as Kmail when I open a email to read. The windows look the same, all blank. Whereas, before I had installed the “nvidia” packages, the OM Welcome window and Kmail email messages opened fine and were viewable. Then, when I uninstalled the “nvidia” packages and rebooted, the OM Welcome window and Kmail email messages were viewable again.

I tried to include a screenshot of the blank OM Welcome window in this topic, but I received a message stating that I couldn’t do that. Sorry.

Hopefully, I have explained this well. Any assistance with this matter would be greatly appreciated so I can install and use the nvidia graphics without the blank windows issue.

Thank you kindly.

WilsonPhillips · May 5, 2025, 11:28am

Welcome @Jellybean. We are glad to see you and hope that you decide to make this your home.

I set it so that you can attach images.

Did you install just nvidia, or did you install the open modules as well?

Nvidia Open kernel module (Call for testing, ROME or Cooker) Your card is supported.

sez11a · May 5, 2025, 3:53pm

Hey @Jellybean ; welcome!

It looks like you have a laptop with hybrid graphics, since you have both Intel and Nvidia graphics. I found that just installing the Nvidia drivers in this case isn’t enough; you have to get the thing into hybrid mode to get it to work properly.

I solved it by going here: GitHub - bayasdev/envycontrol: Easy GPU switching for Nvidia Optimus laptops under Linux

I followed the instructions to install it from source, rebooted, and enabled Hybrid mode.

Once that’s done, you can add a widget for this to your KDE Plasma desktop: right click on a panel, select Add or Manage Widgets → Get New, and search for Optimus switcher.

When you install it, you’ll get an error, because it’s looking for the CLI utility in /usr/bin. Right click on it (it should be in your system tray) and change the path for the CLI utility to /usr/local/bin/[whatever else is there], and reboot again.

Now it should be set up correctly, and you have a handy-dandy way to switch graphic modes whenever you need to.

Hope this helps!

Jellybean · May 6, 2025, 1:07am

Hello @WilsonPhillips and @sez11a

Thank you for responding to my post with possible solutions for my nvidia issue.

@WilsonPhillips I tried the nvidia-kmod-open-desktop package that was suggested in the post you linked. However, that didn’t resolve the issue. I still couldn’t view the contents in the OM Welcome window, nor the Kmail email window.
This is what it looks like:

In addition, after I installed the “nvidia open” package, when I rebooted and logged in, shortly thereafter, I was presented a black screen with the cursor blinking in the top left-hand corner. So then, I had to do a lot of searching, reading, and trial and error to get back into and stay in the desktop environment while the nvidia package was still installed. I finally resolved that issue by disabling the sddm and enabling gdm. Ugh

@sez11a After having to deal with the new issue above, I tried your recommendation. I did everything both you and /bayasdev at github said to do. However, I still have the blank OM Welcome and Kmail windows. And, even after running “python ./envycontrol.py -s hybrid” successfully and rebooting, the widget still has errors. I tried to configure the widget like you said ( /usr/local/bin/envycontrol -s ) but that location is an empty folder. So, I did a search and couldn’t find any location that would work for the widget.

So, I guess I won’t be able to get things to run correctly while the nvidia packages are installed. Which is disappointing because I was really liking this distro. I didn’t have this issue on Debian. Everything worked fine there with the nvidia packages installed.

I am open to any other suggestions I can try to get this issue resolved.

Thank you kindly for your help. Much appreciated.

sez11a · May 6, 2025, 3:40am

Sorry; I think I gave you the wrong instructions. If you follow the instructions below the ones I mentioned, it should work:

Install globally as a pip package

From the root of the cloned repository run sudo pip install .
Now you can run sudo envycontrol -s <MODE> from any directory to switch graphics modes.

Sorry about that. That should place the utility properly in /usr/local/bin, and then the widget should work.

uro · May 6, 2025, 7:43am

The envycontrol package is already in the Rome/rolling package repositories since 2 weeks ago.

Using the sudo dnf install envycontrol --refresh command with the extra repos enabled should be all it takes to install it.

$ dnf info envycontrol
Last metadata expiration check: 0:06:56 ago on Tue 06 May 2025 08:35:11 BST.
Available Packages
Name         : envycontrol
Version      : 3.5.2
Release      : 1
Architecture : noarch
Size         : 15 k
Source       : envycontrol-3.5.2-1.src.rpm
Repository   : rolling-znver1-extra
Summary      : Easy GPU switching for Nvidia Optimus laptops
URL          : https://github.com/bayasdev/envycontrol
License      : MIT
Description  : Easy GPU switching for Nvidia Optimus laptops

sez11a · May 6, 2025, 2:03pm

Oh wow, that’s awesome! It definitely wasn’t there when I was looking for it.

Sorry folks, nothing to see here, please disperse.

WilsonPhillips · May 6, 2025, 2:35pm

It’s new. I was a bit behind posting the notices though.
New entries in OpenMandriva repositories - #66 by WilsonPhillips

Jellybean · May 6, 2025, 3:21pm

Thank you to everyone for your assistance. I did get envycontrol working using the dnf package @uro posted.

However, that did not resolve my issue with the blank windows and not being able to see the contents in the OM Welcome window, nor the emails in Kmail, while the nvdia packages are installed. But, when I uninstall the nvidia packages, I can once again see the OM Welcome contents, along with the emails in Kmail. So, it must have something to do with the nvidia software.

I did try the Rock iso to see if that corrected the problem, but to no avail, Rock did the same thing as Rome once the nvidia drivers were installed.

So, I guess my nvidia card doesn’t play nicely with OpenMandriva.

Once again, thank you kindly for the assistance.

WilsonPhillips · May 6, 2025, 3:28pm

Is this a laptop or a desktop. On a laptop this would not be feasible, but on a desktop, you can turn off the integrated graphics in the bios. That has worked for others.

Jellybean · May 6, 2025, 3:38pm

It’s a laptop

WilsonPhillips · May 6, 2025, 4:20pm

OpenMandriva has a hard time with hybrid graphics. Some have managed to get it working and some have not.

stephane · May 6, 2025, 4:38pm

can you report nvidia mobile card ?

sez11a · May 6, 2025, 6:48pm

You can find the info on the card in System Settings → About This System. It should look like this (this is my work machine running OM):

I have OM working fine with the NVidia drivers and the Envy Control utility I mentioned above on the hardware shown above.

Jellybean · May 6, 2025, 6:49pm

Hello again,

Update…
I got to thinking that possibly I messed something up with nvidia and the OS when I was trying to get things working correctly, so I did a fresh install of Rome, and then before doing anything else I immediately did updates, installation of nvidia packages, along with envycontrol, then rebooted.

Envycontrol works and I can switch between “nvidia” “hybrid” and “integrated”. However, when the “nvidia” and “hybrid” settings are active, the OM Welcome window is blank with no contents to view like before. But, now when the “integrated” setting is active, the OM Welcome window is viewable again. This didn’t work in the previous installation. So, I’m happy to see that this works using the “integrated” setting. Now, I can switch back and forth when I need to use nvidia for content creation and games when I need it, and use “integrated” for the other things. Awesome!

@stephane The following is a screenshot of the nvidia card info you requested. I hope this is what you are wanting.

Thank you everyone. I’m happy now I can use OpenMandriva. I’m really liking this distro so far. I’m a newbie to OpenMandriva, and I don’t have much experience with a rpm-based distro, nor KDE. So, I have some learning and familiarity to do, but so far it’s going good. I really like how quickly everything loads. At the moment, as I get more comfortable and familiar with OpenMandriva, and if there are no more hiccups, I’m thinking of switching from Debian and making this my permanent OS. Fingers crossed

Once again, thank you kindly to everyone for your assistance.

WilsonPhillips · May 6, 2025, 8:01pm

Keep asking questions. It is easier to help people do things than it is to fix something broken. You can learn a lot here. We all started as newbies.

I keep forgetting to say, nice avatar.