I have the nvidia-driver-590-open installed through the Driver Manager GUI, but the NVIDIA driver isn't loading when I boot into Linux Mint 22.3. I have an AMD CPU with integrated Radeon graphics and a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super in a PCI slot. How can I manually get the NVIDIA driver to load, or set it to load on startup? I've run some commands and I'm getting errors with NVIDIA-SMI failing to communicate with the driver. I'm also curious if disabling Secure Boot in the BIOS is necessary, as I've heard it can cause issues with driver loading.
5 Answers
Make sure to check if the nouveau driver is blacklisted as well. If it’s not, you’ll want to add it to the blacklist to avoid any conflicts during startup.
Isn't the 590 driver still in beta? Other distros like Fedora are sticking with the 580 driver for stability reasons. The open-source driver is great for newer graphics cards, but for your GTX 1660, it might not be necessary to use the latest version. NVIDIA tends to recommend using the open driver when possible, though.
Absolutely keep Secure Boot off! It's intended to protect your system, but it can cause a lot of headaches with GPU drivers. Trust me, once you turn it off, you’ll avoid a lot of issues when dealing with custom drivers.
I can confirm that. Secure Boot was a nightmare for me too; once it was disabled, my NVIDIA drivers loaded just fine.
Just a quick tip— when posting for tech help, always mention your Linux distro, hardware specs, and any error messages. It makes it easier for others to assist you!
First off, make sure to disable Secure Boot in your BIOS—it’s a common culprit that prevents NVIDIA drivers from loading properly. I had the same problem, and turning off Secure Boot fixed it for me. Also, consider upgrading your kernel to the latest version, as that could help with compatibility.
Yep, that totally worked for me! Just disabled Secure Boot and everything started up without a hitch. Even DaVinci Resolve runs smoothly now.

Actually, 590 is the latest stable version now, and it supports your card well. Just know that 580 is considered legacy.