NF5288M5: Nouveau Unknown-Chipset / Probe Error -12

Case symptom

An NF5288M5 experienced application stalls. The stored log contains these Nouveau messages; its final line is incomplete:

[    4.967973] nouveau 0000:1c:00.0: unknown chipset(140000a1)
[    4.967983] nouveau: probe of 0000:1c:00.0 failed with error -12
[    4.968102] nouveau 0000:1d:00.0: unknown chipset (140000a1)
[    4.968110] nouveau: probe of 0000:1d:00.0 failed with error -12
[    4.968215] nouveau 0000:1e:00.0: unknown chipset (140000a1)
[    4.968222] nouveau: probe of 0000:1e:00.0

Source CentOS procedure

When installing the NVIDIA driver, first inspect whether Nouveau is loaded:

lsmod | grep nouveau

The source edits /usr/lib/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf. NVIDIA’s distribution guide uses an administrator configuration such as /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf; use the appropriate path for the installed distribution and package workflow.

blacklist nouveau
options nouveau modeset=0

Rebuild the intended kernel’s initramfs. The source’s typographic dash is corrected to two ASCII hyphens:

dracut --force

Reboot in the appropriate maintenance window, verify that Nouveau is not driving the target GPU, then follow the compatible NVIDIA driver installation procedure. Rebuilding initramfs does not immediately unload a driver already in use.

Why this matters

Nouveau is an open-source driver that may bind to the NVIDIA GPU during boot. It must not simultaneously control the GPU intended for the NVIDIA driver. The source’s recommendation to “uninstall Nouveau on every GPU server” is too broad: follow the chosen driver/distribution instructions for disabling and verifying the conflicting driver.