GPU resumes to D0 immediately after ending transition to D3Cold (RTD3)

NVIDIA Open GPU Kernel Modules Version

575.64.03
575.64.05-1
580.76.05

Please confirm this issue does not happen with the proprietary driver (of the same version). This issue tracker is only for bugs specific to the open kernel driver.

• I confirm that this does not happen with the proprietary driver package.

Operating System and Version

Arch Linux

Kernel Release

6.15.7-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu, 17 Jul 2025 21:05:29 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux
6.12.39-1
6.16.3-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat, 23 Aug 2025 15:32:49 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Please confirm you are running a stable release kernel (e.g. not a -rc). We do not accept bug reports for unreleased kernels.

• I am running on a stable kernel release.

Hardware: GPU

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU (UUID: GPU-a0338cc2-52ca-fc18-d87f-0a5df1c5ca22)

Describe the bug

Laptop: Lenovo Legion Slim 5 16ahp9
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS w/ Radeon 780M Graphics

dGPU can enter suspended state and turn off memory but won't stay cold. dGPU is woken up immediately after ending transition to D3cold. Waiting 15s causes GPU to sleep again, only to repeat the cycle. This behaviour persists even after killing all graphical interface (gdm/gnome/wayland/xorg) and no applications are using the GPU.

nvidia_drm module can be removed with modprobe -r when not running gnome (wayland/xorg). After removal the GPU suspends normally. Starting GDM and gnome with nvidia_drm removed works - running apps on dGPU also seems to work. Enabling nvidia-persistenced, nvidia-powerd or modprobing nvidia_drm brings back the bug with 15s turn on/off cycle

Suspending system to ram and waking up the laptop allows the GPU to power down correctly once for indefinite amount of time, until the first wakeup. After the bug manifests as usual.

These look like the same or very similar issues:

• https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-gpu-fails-to-power-off-prime-razer-blade-14-2022/250023/40
• https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/4070-555-and-560-drivers-wont-stay-in-d3cold-lenovo-legion-slim-5/302967
• https://www.markwatkinson.com/knowledge/linux/nvidia-dgpu-power/#known-issues - exactly the same isssue

30.03.2026: Current perfect workaround - https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules/issues/905#issuecomment-4149673427

Best workaround which allows the dGPU to stay in D3Cold although with memory turned on, but in self refresh mode:

options nvidia NVreg_DynamicPowerManagement=0x02
options nvidia NVreg_DynamicPowerManagementVideoMemoryThreshold=0

# Enable runtime PM for NVIDIA VGA/3D controller devices on driver bind
ACTION=="bind", SUBSYSTEM=="pci", ATTR{vendor}=="0x10de", ATTR{class}=="0x030000", TEST=="power/control", ATTR{power/control}="auto"
ACTION=="bind", SUBSYSTEM=="pci", ATTR{vendor}=="0x10de", ATTR{class}=="0x030200", TEST=="power/control", ATTR{power/control}="auto"

# Disable runtime PM for NVIDIA VGA/3D controller devices on driver unbind
ACTION=="unbind", SUBSYSTEM=="pci", ATTR{vendor}=="0x10de", ATTR{class}=="0x030000", TEST=="power/control", ATTR{power/control}="on"
ACTION=="unbind", SUBSYSTEM=="pci", ATTR{vendor}=="0x10de", ATTR{class}=="0x030200", TEST=="power/control", ATTR{power/control}="on"

Windows doesn't have this issue.

To Reproduce

1. Boot into system gdm/gnome (wayland or xorg) (GPU goes into cold state and wakes up during booting into GUI - runtime_suspended_time > 0). If GPU was not d3cold, let it go into d3cold and wake it after up (eg. with nvidia-smi)
2. Wait 15s for GPU to go to sleep.
3. GPU wakes up immediately after suspending.
4. Cycle continues every 15s, gpu can no longer stay d3cold longer than 1s

Bug Incidence

Always

nvidia-bug-report.log.gz

nvidia-bug-report.log.gz

More Info

No response

Start by reading the issue thread and nvidia-bug-report.log.gz, then reproduce the 15-second D3cold wake cycle with nvidia_drm loaded and removed. Compare runtime power behavior with the listed nvidia-persistenced, nvidia-powerd, and DynamicPowerManagement configurations. Done means the GPU remains in D3cold without the recurring wakeup cycle while the graphical session still works.