Nvidia 340xx - how to compile?

[Vetun]

Greetings - after using Garuda Linux for about 2 months now as my daily driver on my gaming rig - im blown away. The best distro out there!!

I’d like to run it on my Alienware M15X as well. It’s installed already (KDE Dragonized). I installed plasma x11 session and removed the nouveau driver stuff. I also installed the nvidia 340xx dkms package. According to the AUR page the sources have patches for various kernel versions. i Installed 6.6 lts because the AUR page tells me there is a 6.6 Kernel patch.

How do i compile the drivers now?

Thank you

[Vetun]

System:
Kernel: 6.6.116-1-lts66 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
compiler: gcc v: 15.2.1 clocksource: tsc
avail: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts66
root=UUID=3d9e0a26-c4fa-4b74-8f53-9543d1a3dc11 rw
rootflags=subvol=@ verbose
resume=UUID=feb842c1-8cdf-43b5-bf58-bd9b7bba48d9
loglevel=3 nvidia
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.5.3 tk: Qt v: N/A
info: frameworks v: 6.20.0 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: SDDM
Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Portable System: Alienware product: M15x v: A09
serial: 
Mobo: Alienware model: N/A v: A09
serial:  uuid: 
BIOS: Alienware v: A09 date: 01/05/2011
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 44.3 Wh (100%)
condition: 44.3/57.7 Wh (76.7%) volts: 12.33 min: 11.1
model: DELL W670DILB type: Unknown serial: 
charging: status: full cycles: N/A
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i7 Q 720 bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Nehalem gen: core 1 level: v2 built: 2008-10
process: Intel 45nm family: 6 model-id: 0x1E (30)
stepping: 5 microcode: 0xA
Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 4 cores: 4
threads: 8 tpc: 2 smt: enabled cache: L1: 256 KiB
desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB
desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 931 min/max: 931/1597 boost: enabled
scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: schedutil cores:
1: 931 2: 931 3: 931 4: 931 5: 931 6: 931 7: 931 8: 931
bogomips: 25551
Flags-basic: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2
ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities: 
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA G92M \[GeForce GTX 260M\] vendor: Dell
driver: nvidia v: 340.108 alternate: nouveau non-free:
series: 340.xx status: legacy (EOL\~2019-12-xx) last:
release: 340.108 kernel: 5.4 xorg: 1.20 arch: Tesla
process: 40-80nm built: 2006-2013 pcie: gen: 1
speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s
bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0618 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: Microdia Laptop_Integrated_Webcam_2M
driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 2-1.4:3 chip-ID: 0c45:6412
class-ID: 0e02
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.20 with: Xwayland
v: 24.1.9 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X:
loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa
gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 640x480 s-dpi: 96
s-size: 169x127mm (6.65x5.00") s-diag: 211mm (8.32")
Monitor-1: Unknown-1 mapped: None-1 res: mode: 640x480
hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) size: N/A modes: 640x480
API: EGL v: N/A platforms: active: N/A inactive: x11
API: OpenGL Message: No GL data available.
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.328 layers: 5 device: 0 type: cpu
name: llvmpipe (LLVM 21.1.5 128 bits)
driver: mesa llvmpipe v: 25.2.7-arch1.1 (LLVM 21.1.5)
device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor
gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi wl: wayland-info
x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio
vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:3b56 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.6.116-1-lts66 status: kernel-api
tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.9 status: active with:
1: pipewire-pulse status: active 2: wireplumber
status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack
type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Intel 82577LC Gigabit Network vendor: Dell
driver: e1000e v: kernel port: 1800 bus-ID: 00:19.0
chip-ID: 8086:10eb class-ID: 0200
IF: enp0s25 state: down mac: 
Device-2: Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300
driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
lanes: 1 bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:4235
class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp7s0 state: up mac: 
Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd,
wpa_supplicant
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 489.05 GiB used: 13.87 GiB (2.8%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges
required.
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Crucial
model: CT525MX300SSD1 size: 489.05 GiB block-size:
physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s tech: SSD
serial:  fw-rev: R040 scheme: MBR
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 480.25 GiB size: 480.25 GiB (100.00%)
used: 13.87 GiB (2.9%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda1
maj-min: 8:1
ID-2: /home raw-size: 480.25 GiB
size: 480.25 GiB (100.00%) used: 13.87 GiB (2.9%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
ID-3: /var/log raw-size: 480.25 GiB
size: 480.25 GiB (100.00%) used: 13.87 GiB (2.9%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
ID-4: /var/tmp raw-size: 480.25 GiB
size: 480.25 GiB (100.00%) used: 13.87 GiB (2.9%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60)
cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 7.75 GiB
used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100 comp: zstd
avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 8
dev: /dev/zram0
ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB
used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda2
maj-min: 8:2
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 42.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 8 GiB available: 7.75 GiB
used: 2.78 GiB (35.9%)
Processes: 273 Power: uptime: 43m
states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep avail: s2idle
wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 3.08 GiB
services: org_kde_powerdevil, power-profiles-daemon,
upowerd Init: systemd v: 258 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1206 libs: 312
tools: octopi,paru Compilers: gcc: 15.2.1 Shell: Bash
v: 5.3.3 default: fish v: 4.2.1 running-in: konsole
inxi: 3.3.39
Garuda (2.11.1-1):
System install date:     2025-11-15
Garuda release:          251002
Last full system update: 2025-11-24 ↻
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut garuda-hardware-profile-standard
Windows dual boot:       
Failed units:
— System Health Check Report —
24/26 checks run in 1.78 seconds ⌛
Powered by garuda-health 🦅

— INFO —

* A reboot is pending (update applied since last reboot)

✅ System health check passed. No issues found.

[Duke187]

hi,

Did you installed the Kernel after you install Nvidia 340.108?
If yes it should trigger the rebuild and sort it for you.

Did you just installed the dkms and Settings?

Do you copy and moved the nvidia-20.conf ? ( that you dont get in fallback 640x480) seems like not as seen here

hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) size: N/A modes: 640x480

im not a Nvidia Pro i have a running AMD System but lucky you i did installed the same driver on my Asus laptop with the same GPU. I just sit on my main PC.

I have to start it to can say more clear what i did to get my resolution back on 1440x900.

[Duke187]

important not just the dkms version:

ive installed these packages via the Terminal command (and enter)

paru -S nvidia-340xx-lts-dkms nvidia-340xx-utils nvidia-340xx-settings

before a reboot open the Filemanager with Root Access copy this file found here /usr/share/nvidia-340xx-lts/20-nvidia.conf to this folder /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ (paste inside)

i dont know if its the same on KDE because i use XFCE but i had to remove the xorg config because lightdm would not start and gave me an error.

i did switch to other tty with CTRL+ALT+ F3 login with my user then

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

after it reboot again ( i just restarted lightdm)

sudo systemctl reboot

now it should load with the right resolution.

WHY you want patch it yourself maybe you understand it wrong !

Do You Need to Patch Manually?

• Usually no: If you’re installing via an official or AUR package (e.g., sudo pacman -S nvidia-340xx-dkms or yay -S nvidia-340xx-dkms), the patch is applied automatically during the build. Just reboot after installation, and the modules should load (check with lsmod | grep nvidia or nvidia-smi)

[Vetun]

@Duke - OMFG you made my day!

It was the missing config file for xorg.

Asking myself why this file is not copied to the right place by installing the nvidia driver package to save people a lot of trouble…..

I can even use the latest xen kernel

Had to disable KDE panel colorizer and stuff works .

Thank you a lot !!!

[Duke187]

Im glad it helped you out

pssschh if you get keeping an eye on the Terminal output it tells you to do what i wrote with the config file

Have a good day