Public bug reported:
Package: nvidia-utils-590
Version: 590.48.01-0ubuntu0.24.04.4
Affects: Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble) / Linux Mint 22
## Bug description
The nvidia-powerd binary is installed correctly at /usr/bin/nvidia-powerd
by the nvidia-utils-590 package, but no systemd service file is included.
As a result the daemon never runs, and mobile NVIDIA GPUs are permanently
capped at their conservative default TGP rather than their rated maximum.
On an RTX 5090 Mobile this means the GPU is stuck at 95W instead of 175W
— a loss of nearly half the GPU's performance — with no indication to the
user that anything is wrong.
## Steps to reproduce
1. Install nvidia-driver-590-open on Ubuntu 24.04 / Linux Mint 22
2. Verify binary is present:
$ find / -name "nvidia-powerd" 2>/dev/null
/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd
3. Check for service file:
$ systemctl status nvidia-powerd
Unit nvidia-powerd.service could not be found.
4. Check GPU power limit:
$ nvidia-smi -q -d POWER | grep "Power Limit"
Current Power Limit : 95.00 W
Requested Power Limit: 95.00 W
Default Power Limit : 95.00 W
Min Power Limit : 5.00 W
Max Power Limit : 175.00 W
## Expected behaviour
nvidia-powerd should start automatically at boot as a system service,
allowing the GPU to negotiate its full rated TGP with the system firmware.
## Actual behaviour
nvidia-powerd binary is present but never runs. The GPU defaults to its
conservative minimum TGP with no way for the user to override it via
nvidia-smi (nvidia-smi -pl returns "not supported" for mobile GPUs).
## Workaround
Manually creating the missing service file resolves the issue
immediately:
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/nvidia-powerd.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=NVIDIA Power Daemon
After=network.target
[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/nvidia-powerd
Restart=on-failure
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now nvidia-powerd
After starting the daemon:
$ nvidia-smi -q -d POWER | grep "Power Limit"
Current Power Limit : 175.00 W
Requested Power Limit: 175.00 W
Default Power Limit : 95.00 W
Min Power Limit : 5.00 W
Max Power Limit : 175.00 W
## Fix required
The nvidia-powerd.service systemd unit file should be included in the
nvidia-utils-590 package. The binary, code and daemon are all working
correctly — only the service file is missing from the package.
## System information
Machine: Alienware 18 Area-51 AA18250
BIOS: 1.10.1 (12/10/2025)
OS: Linux Mint 22.x (Ubuntu 24.04 Noble base)
Kernel: 6.14.0-37-generic
Driver: 590.48.01 (nvidia-driver-590-open)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile (GB203M)
CUDA: 13.1
Installed package:
nvidia-utils-590 590.48.01-0ubuntu0.24.04.4 amd64
## References
This issue has been reported across multiple GPU generations since 2021:
https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/has-anyone-been-able-to-run-an-rtx-3060-laptop-gpu-at-more-than-80w-on-linux/192959
https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules/discussions/871
** Affects: nvidia-graphics-drivers-590 (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2144603
Title:
nvidia-utils-590: nvidia-powerd binary installed but systemd service
file missing — mobile GPU TGP capped at 95W
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