Mdthbs

I'm trying to install the most up-to-date NVIDIA driver in Debian Stretch. I've downloaded NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-390.48.run from here, but when I try to do

sudo sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-390.48.run

as suggested, an error message appears.

ERROR: An NVIDIA kernel module 'nvidia-drm' appears to already be loaded in your kernel.  This may be because it is in use (for example, by an X server, a CUDA program, or 

         the NVIDIA Persistence Daemon), but this may also happen if your kernel was configured without support for module unloading.  Please be sure to exit any programs    

         that may be using the GPU(s) before attempting to upgrade your driver.  If no GPU-based programs are running, you know that your kernel supports module unloading,   

         and you still receive this message, then an error may have occured that has corrupted an NVIDIA kernel module's usage count, for which the simplest remedy is to     

         reboot your computer.

When I try to find out who is using nvidia-drm (or nvidia_drm), I see nothing.

~$ sudo lsof | grep nvidia-drm

lsof: WARNING: can't stat() fuse.gvfsd-fuse file system /run/user/1000/gvfs

      Output information may be incomplete.

~$ sudo lsof -e /run/user/1000/gvfs | grep nvidia-drm

~$

And when I try to remove it, it says it's being used.

~$ sudo modprobe -r nvidia-drm

modprobe: FATAL: Module nvidia_drm is in use.

~$ 

I have rebooted and started in text-only mode (by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2 before giving username/password), but I got the same error.

Besides it, how do I "know that my kernel supports module unloading"?

I'm getting a few warnings on boot up related to nvidia, no idea if they're related, though:

Apr 30 00:46:15 debian-9 kernel: nvidia: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel.

Apr 30 00:46:15 debian-9 kernel: nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.

Apr 30 00:46:15 debian-9 kernel: Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint

Apr 30 00:46:15 debian-9 kernel: NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module  375.82  Wed Jul 19 21:16:49 PDT 2017 (using threaded interrupts)

I imagine you want to stop the display manager which is what I'd suspect would be using the Nvidia drivers.

After change to a text console (pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2) and logging in as root, use the following command to disable the graphical target, which is what keeps the display manager running:

# systemctl isolate multi-user.target

At this point, I'd expect you'd be able to unload the Nvidia drivers using modprobe -r (or rmmod directly):

# modprobe -r nvidia-drm

Once you've managed to replace/upgrade it and you're ready to start the graphical environment again, you can use this command:

# systemctl start graphical.target

lsof lists any files that are in use by userspace processes. But nvidia_drm is a kernel module, so lsof won't necessarily see whether or not it is actually in use. (The module file won't be open because the kernel has already completely loaded it into RAM. But the module might be providing services to the userspace or other kernel components, and that is what prevents the unloading of the module.)

Run lsmod | grep nvidia.drm and see the numbers to the right of the nvidia_drm module name. The first number is simply the size of the module; the second is the use count. In order to successfully remove the module, the use count must be 0 first.

If the X11 server is running and using the nvidia driver, then the nvidia_drm kernel module will most assuredly be in use. So you'll need, at the very least, switch into text console and shutdown the X11 server. Usually this can be done by stopping whichever X Display Manager service you're using (depends on which desktop environment you're using).

As the error message said, if you are running nvidia-persistenced, you'll need to stop that too before you can unload the nvidia_drm module.

I had a similar problem.

*Reason: nvidia.drm package was in use

I fixed it by purging all NVIDIA packages.

Remove all previous NVIDIA installations with these 2 commands:

$ sudo apt-get purge nvidia*

$ sudo apt-get autoremove

Module should be removed.

Reboot and go forth.

You report in comments that stopping the systemd-logind service takes you back to the graphic login. If you have a graphical login then X is running, so the video driver is loaded and in use. This very likely explains in part why the nvidia-drm module is in use.

Additionally, you betray an apparent misconception when you say

I have rebooted and started in text-only mode (by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2
before giving username/password), but I got the same error.

Pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2 switches to a virtual terminal #2, which may well be configured for text-mode login, but that's a far cry from "starting in text mode". If you had a graphical login screen on the default virtual terminal then X is running, and switching to a different VT doesn't change that. You're just logging in to a non-X session.

The first and easiest thing to try is to actually shut down the X server. The old-school way to do this would be to log in to your text-mode session and execute the command

telinit 3

to switch to runlevel 3. That should work with systemd, too, but the native systemd way would be to instead run

systemctl isolate multi-user.target

Both of those require privilege, of course, so you'll need to use sudo or make yourself root.

If that doesn't remove the module, or at least make it possible for you to do so manually, then your next best bet would be to boot the system directly into runlevel 3 (multi-user target), or maybe even into runlevel 1 (rescue target). I usually do this by adding "3" (or "1") to the end of the kernel argument list at boot time via the bootloader. You can also change the default boot target as described in this article.

Do also note that the nVidia driver is available in pre-built packages for most Linux distros. Few include those packages in their own standard repos because the driver is, after all, proprietary, but you can surely find a reputable 3rd-party repo that has it. I strongly recommend using such packages instead of running the installer directly, but to get there from where you are now, you may need to first manually uninstall the driver.

Had the same problem with Debian Stretch when trying to install the Nvidia drivers. When in text mod my only solution was to remove the driver, reinstall gdm and gnome-shell. I know it's a clumsy solution, but I remember I first tried fixing the gnome-shell and only removing Nvidia driver and reinstalling GDM. Turned out it was much easier to just reinstall the whole shell.