Zimaboard 2 - GPU stop my zimaboard to work

Insight & Feedback
1

Hi everyone,

I recently switched my GPU from my pc to a newer one so I decided to mount the old one to the zimaboard 2.

My GPU is a Zotac Nvidia GTX 1660.

I initially mount the GPU on the external docking GPU that I bought as an add-on from the zimaboard.

Then I followed instructions from another topic

cd /var/lib/extensions/
wget https://github.com/jerrykuku/staff/releases/download/v0.1.3/nvidia-open-kernel-580.105.08-linux-6.12.25.raw -O nvidia-open-kernel-580.105.08-linux-6.12.25.raw
systemd-sysext refresh
install-nvidia-kernel-open

but zimaboard seems to not recognize my GPU.

Also with nvidia-smi command I received the error NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.

I decided to try my last idea:

I removed the external docking and connected the GPU directly to my zimaboard.

After that when the GPU is mounted on the zimaboard, I cannot reach my zimaboard via ssh (I’m using the zimaboard only via ssh or web browser).

I don’t know how to proceed or what log I could check to understand this issue.

Could you help me please?

I’m a newbie on linux and operating system so if I need to provide more info please tell me where to get the infos.

ZimaOS version is 1.4.3

Thank you all.

2

Your Nvidia GTX 1660 doesn’t need that driver; it’s intended for the 50-series graphics cards. You need to uninstall it and use the system’s default driver instead.

3

Hi, I had the same error message as Aixel402 when I run the nvidia-smi command.

How to you install any Nvidia drivers installed by mistake and return to the system’s default driver.

Many thanks for any help.

Gavin Baker.

4

Hi,

Thank you Jerry for your first feedback,

as suggested I uninstalled it with uninstall-nvidia-kernel-open command but connecting the GPU still does not work.

What should I do?
If I should try to connect monitor and keyboard to the zimaboard, should I put the hdmi cable on the GPU or the zimaboard port?

Thank you

5

A GTX 1660 should normally work fine on the ZimaBoard 2, but a few things here stand out.

First, Jerry is correct, the nvidia-open-kernel-580.105.08 sysext was only for newer NVIDIA cards and was not needed for the GTX 1660. Good that you already removed it.

The bigger issue is this part:

“when the GPU is mounted directly to the ZimaBoard, I cannot reach it via SSH”

That points more towards either:

  • power delivery issue,
  • PCIe/riser compatibility,
  • or the system hanging very early during boot.

A GTX 1660 draws much more power than low-profile cards people usually test with ZimaBoard 2. If the external dock or PSU is unstable, the board can lock up during initialization.

At this stage I would avoid installing more drivers until basic hardware detection is confirmed first.

I would suggest:

  1. Connect a monitor and keyboard directly to the ZimaBoard.

  2. Leave the HDMI connected to the ZimaBoard HDMI port first, not the GPU.

  3. Boot the system and see if:

    • ZimaOS fully boots,
    • screen freezes,
    • or kernel errors appear.

Once booted, check whether the GPU is even detected:

lspci | grep -i nvidia

Also check:

dmesg | grep -i nvrm

and:

dmesg | grep -i pci

Post the results back here.

One more important thing:
ZimaOS 1.4.3 is quite old now. GPU support and PCIe handling improved a lot in newer releases, so this could also be related to the older kernel in 1.4.3.