I'm looking to switch from Windows 11 to Linux on my old Razer Blade Stealth laptop, which has an Nvidia GTX 1650 GPU. So far, I've tried three different distributions: Mint, CachyOS, and ZorinOS. Mint worked for a bit, but I ran into issues with fractional scaling, so I moved on. CachyOS seemed good during the live session, but after installation, I only got a black screen after the splash screen. I managed to boot using -nomodeset, but the graphics performance was terrible. With ZorinOS, I couldn't get past the splash screen without using some boot options, which brought me to the desktop but resulted in laggy performance and a non-functional touchpad. Now, even Mint is giving me a black screen after an update. I'm not very experienced with Linux, but I'm eager to try commands if needed to fix this. Can anyone help?
4 Answers
Here's a checklist that usually helps: Disable the nouveau driver, install the official Nvidia driver and then enable PRIME hybrid graphics. These steps can solve a lot of issues with graphic performance.
I've been using Debian for years with various Nvidia cards. If you follow the official Wiki instructions, you'll set everything up correctly without issues.
I totally get the struggle! I've had similar issues with my old media PC. It turns out that updating the OS sometimes breaks the old Nvidia drivers. I switched back to an older kernel version, and things have been much smoother since. I learned not to upgrade just because the system suggests it; it's best to keep a stable setup if it's working for you.
If you're open to trying different distros, I recommend MX Linux. They've got a simple Nvidia driver installer that usually works like a charm. Plus, you can choose any Desktop Environment you want; I personally like KDE.
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