Solved: modprobe: FATAL: Module nvidia is in use.
In this post, we will see a common issue while installing module nvidia.
Lets see the error message and its solution below.
I. Error Message
When we try to run the installer, it failed.
[root@ngelinux001 userA]# ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-450.80.02.run Verifying archive integrity... OK Uncompressing NVIDIA Accelerated Graphics Driver for Linux-x86_64 450.80.02................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ ### And then we have tried to unload the nvidia module, and encountered the error message. [root@ngelinux001 userA]# modprobe -r nvidia modprobe: FATAL: Module nvidia is in use.
II. Analysis
Check out the open files by nvidia device and its process IDs.
[root@ngelinux001 userA]# lsof /dev/nvidia* COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME lim 5410 root 5u CHR 195,255 0t0 11522 /dev/nvidiactl lim 5410 root 6u CHR 195,0 0t0 11523 /dev/nvidia0 lim 5410 root 9u CHR 195,1 0t0 58971 /dev/nvidia1 lim 5410 root 10u CHR 195,2 0t0 58972 /dev/nvidia2 lim 5410 root 11u CHR 195,3 0t0 60176 /dev/nvidia3 lim 5410 root 12u CHR 195,4 0t0 16261 /dev/nvidia4 lim 5410 root 13u CHR 195,5 0t0 62194 /dev/nvidia5 lim 5410 root 14u CHR 195,6 0t0 678 /dev/nvidia6 lim 5410 root 15u CHR 195,7 0t0 62195 /dev/nvidia7 lim 5410 root 16u CHR 195,0 0t0 11523 /dev/nvidia0 lim 5410 root 17u CHR 195,0 0t0 11523 /dev/nvidia0 lim 5410 root 18u CHR 195,1 0t0 58971 /dev/nvidia1 lim 5410 root 19u CHR 195,1 0t0 58971 /dev/nvidia1 lim 5410 root 20u CHR 195,2 0t0 58972 /dev/nvidia2 lim 5410 root 21u CHR 195,2 0t0 58972 /dev/nvidia2 lim 5410 root 22u CHR 195,3 0t0 60176 /dev/nvidia3 lim 5410 root 23u CHR 195,3 0t0 60176 /dev/nvidia3 lim 5410 root 24u CHR 195,4 0t0 16261 /dev/nvidia4 lim 5410 root 25u CHR 195,4 0t0 16261 /dev/nvidia4 lim 5410 root 26u CHR 195,5 0t0 62194 /dev/nvidia5 lim 5410 root 27u CHR 195,5 0t0 62194 /dev/nvidia5 lim 5410 root 28u CHR 195,6 0t0 678 /dev/nvidia6 lim 5410 root 29u CHR 195,6 0t0 678 /dev/nvidia6 lim 5410 root 30u CHR 195,7 0t0 62195 /dev/nvidia7 lim 5410 root 31u CHR 195,7 0t0 62195 /dev/nvidia7 ### Lets see the process ID which file is used by the process. [root@ngelinux001 userA]# ps -ef | grep -i 5410 root 5410 1 6 23:20 ? 00:00:11 /grid/sfi/farm/server01/10.1.8/linux3.10-glibc2.17-x86_64/etc/lim root 5826 5410 0 23:21 ? 00:00:00 /grid/sfi/farm/server01/10.1.8/linux3.10-glibc2.17-x86_64/etc/melim root 6608 5410 0 23:23 ? 00:00:00 /grid/sfi/farm/server01/10.1.8/linux3.10-glibc2.17-x86_64/etc/pim root 6665 5617 0 23:23 pts/2 00:00:00 grep --color=auto -i 5410
III. Solution
Now kill the process ID which is using the nvidia.
[root@ngelinux001 userA]# kill -9 5410 [root@ngelinux001 userA]# ps -ef | grep -i 5410 root 6703 5617 0 23:23 pts/2 00:00:00 grep --color=auto -i 5410
And now try to install the nvidia graphics driver and it will be installed fine.