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Dual-Boot Problem - NVIDIA

April 1, 2026#yapping#journey#experiment#linux

Introduction


After setting up a dual-boot system with Windows and Linux, I ran into a major issue: the screen went black every time I booted into Linux.

At first, I had no idea what caused it. If you are curious about my dual-booting process, you can check it here:


Chapter 1: Why did this problem happen?


I use an ASUS TUF Gaming F15 with:

  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
  • Windows 11

After discussing with a friend, we found that the issue was related to the NVIDIA driver. This often happens because NVIDIA drivers are proprietary and are not fully integrated with the Linux kernel by default.


Chapter 2: How to fix the problem?


Here are the steps I used to fix it:

  1. Update the system
sudo dnf update -y

Purpose:

  • Update all packages
  • Synchronize the system with repositories
  • Resolve dependency conflicts

  1. Reinstall KDE Plasma and SDDM
sudo dnf reinstall plasma-desktop sddm -y

Purpose:

  • Reinstall KDE (Plasma desktop environment)
  • Reinstall SDDM (login manager)
  • Fix broken GUI components

  1. Install NVIDIA driver (akmod version)
sudo dnf install akmod-nvidia -y

Purpose:

  • Install NVIDIA driver with akmod support
  • Automatically rebuild the driver when the kernel updates

  1. Rebuild NVIDIA driver
sudo akmods --force

Purpose:

  • Force rebuild NVIDIA driver for the current kernel
  • Ensure compatibility with the installed kernel

  1. Rebuild initramfs
sudo dracut --force

Purpose:

  • Rebuild boot image (initramfs)
  • Ensure NVIDIA driver loads during boot

Conclusion


Initial problem:

  • Kernel and NVIDIA driver were not synchronized.

Solution summary:

  1. Synchronize the system.
  2. Reinstall GUI components.
  3. Install NVIDIA driver.
  4. Rebuild the driver.
  5. Rebuild the boot system.

Simple analogy:

  • Kernel = new engine
  • NVIDIA driver = adapter
  • KDE = dashboard

What happened:

  • The engine was updated.
  • The adapter was not compatible.
  • The dashboard did not work.

What we did:

  • Installed the correct adapter.
  • Matched everything again.
  • Restarted the system.

Why does this happen often?

  • Linux kernel updates frequently.
  • NVIDIA uses proprietary drivers (not native to Linux).

Because of that, manual bridging using tools like akmod is often required.


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