NVIDIA DRM Modeset Regression (580.65.06)

[PixelHabits]

Hello,

I’d like to suggest an update to the DRM / NVIDIA section of the wiki regarding early KMS setup.

After upgrading to NVIDIA beta driver 580.65.06, I encountered a regression where the driver fails to load properly at boot, breaking DRM handoff and preventing EDID detection. The symptoms look like a compositor issue (monitor shows as Unknown-1), but the root cause is the nvidia-drm module not initializing correctly likely due to modeset=1 not being explicitly set.

While the wiki currently states:

“If you’re on Arch Linux, this step has already been done for you.”

This is no longer accurate in practice at least as of 580.65.06. Manually creating /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf with the following resolves the issue:

options nvidia_drm modeset=1

Only after doing this was the GPU properly bound during early boot, and the monitor/EDID detected

Repo with logs and documentation:
nvidia-580-regression

I have started a bug forum post with Nvidia.

Since it is a simple fix to explicitly set the parameter I would recommend the wiki advise that to avoid potential issues even if the beta is patched.

[PixelHabits]

After more research and based on the discussion started on Nvidia developer forums here's why:

1. NVIDIA modeset=1 default change (6 months ago)
   The Arch / Hyprland Wiki statement came from the fact that the NVIDIA driver package started defaulting to modeset=1 months ago, per this nvidia-utils patch:
   https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/packaging/packages/nvidia-utils/-/commit/1b02daa2ccca6a69fa4355fb5a369c2115ec3e22
   This change meant users didn’t have to set the module parameter manually for Wayland compositors to work hence the wiki’s “already done for you” note.

2. Recent Arch kernel change (last week) alters behavior
   With the recent Arch kernel commit:
   archlinux/linux@e5e142b
   simpledrm is now only skipped if nvidia-drm.modeset=1 is set at boot.
   If the parameter isn’t explicitly set, simpledrm will bind early, and the NVIDIA DRM driver will never take over fbcon during boot.

Impact in practice:
On my system (580.65.06), this results in:
• No early DRM hand-off (fbcon: nvidia (fb0) missing from logs)
• Fallback resolution & missing EDID
• nvidia-smi showing no processes even when the compositor is running

Explicitly setting:

options nvidia_drm modeset=1

in /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf fixes it by ensuring simpledrm is skipped and nvidia_drm binds early.

Suggestion for the Hyprland wiki:
• Remove or reword “If you’re on Arch Linux, this step has already been done for you.”
• Add a special note that, as of the latest Arch kernel, modeset=1 must be explicitly set for the NVIDIA driver to skip simpledrm and initialize properly during boot.