Having installed NixOS on my fresh SSD I wanted to get my GPU (NVIDIA GT 635M) working. I have thus far failed, even after reading through the wiki page and multiple posts here on Discourse.
The current state of the machine (I am on Wayland, running Niri as my compositor):
# hardware config
# Slightly altered and reorganised hardware config
# for my Asus K75VJ laptop
{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }: {
# Kernel
boot.kernelPackages = pkgs.linuxPackages_6_12;
boot.initrd.availableKernelModules = [ "xhci_pci" "ehci_pci" "ahci" "ums_realtek" "usb_storage" "usbhid" "sd_mod" ];
boot.kernelModules = [ "kvm-intel" ];
# These are likely not needed(?)
# They are leftovers from my attempts to fix this issue
boot.initrd.kernelModules = [ "nvidia" "nvidia_modeset" "nvidia_drm" "nvidia_uvm" ];
boot.kernelParams = [ "nvidia-drm.modeset=1" ];
# Bootloader
boot.loader.limine.enable = true;
boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables = true;
# Networking and file system stuff here
# ...
# Hardware
hardware.enableRedistributableFirmware = true;
hardware.graphics.enable = true;
hardware.nvidia = {
open = false;
# The latest driver supporting my GPU
package = config.boot.kernelPackages.nvidiaPackages.legacy_390;
nvidiaSettings = true;
prime = {
sync.enable = true;
intelBusId = "PCI:0@0:2:0";
nvidiaBusId = "PCI:1@0:0:0";
};
};
services.xserver.videoDrivers = [ "nvidia" ];
# Audio. Also not working but this is a topic for another post
# ...
# CPU
nixpkgs.hostPlatform = "x86_64-linux";
hardware.cpu.intel.updateMicrocode = lib.mkDefault config.hardware.enableRedistributableFirmware;
}
$ lspci -nnk | grep -A2 -e VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:0166] (rev 09)
DeviceName: Onboard IGD
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:10bc]
--
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GF108M [GeForce GT 635M] [10de:0de3] (rev a1)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:10bc]
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
$ nvidia-smi
Tue Sep 22 11:24:47 2026
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 390.157 Driver Version: 390.157 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 GeForce GT 635M Off | 00000000:01:00.0 N/A | N/A |
| N/A 45C P8 N/A / N/A | 0MiB / 1985MiB | N/A Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: GPU Memory |
| GPU PID Type Process name Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| 0 Not Supported |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
As seen above, nvidia-smi does detect my GPU, and yet declares most of the readings N/A. Running nvidia-settings doesn’t display the GUI, instead exiting after
$ nvidia-settings
ERROR: Unable to find display on any available system
$ inxi -Gx
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915
v: kernel arch: Gen-7 bus-ID: 00:02.0
Device-2: NVIDIA GF108M [GeForce GT 635M] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia
v: 390.157 arch: Fermi bus-ID: 01:00.0
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.24 compositor: niri driver:
gpu: i915,nvidia resolution: 1600x900~60Hz
API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: crocus platforms: active: wayland,x11,surfaceless
inactive: gbm
API: OpenGL v: 4.2 vendor: intel mesa v: 26.1.5 glx-v: 1.4
direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2)
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.341 drivers: intel,llvmpipe surfaces: N/A devices: 2
Info: Tools: api: eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi x11: xprop,xrandr
Any and all help would be greatly apppreciated
