I’ve got an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB connected as an eGPU over Thunderbolt. umbrelOS detects it (it shows up as GPU 2, “GB206 (GeForce RTX 5060 Ti)”, in Settings → Device info). However, apps like Ollama can’t use it, because the NVIDIA driver fails to initialise the card.
Setup
umbrelOS 2.0.0 (stable; I checked Beta too and there’s no newer build)
Intel Core i5-1240P mini PC, 101 GB DDR5
RTX 5060 Ti (GB206, PCI ID 10de:2d04) in a Thunderbolt eGPU enclosure
Ollama 0.35.0 from the App Store
What the system log shows (repeats every few seconds):
NVRM: The NVIDIA GPU 0000:2f:00.0 (PCI ID: 10de:2d04)
NVRM: NVIDIA 550.163.01 driver release.
NVRM: Please see ‘Appendix A - Supported NVIDIA GPU Products’
nvidia 0000:2f:00.0: probe with driver nvidia failed with error -1
NVRM: The NVIDIA probe routine failed for 1 device(s).
NVRM: None of the NVIDIA devices were initialized.
What I think is happening
umbrelOS 2.0 ships NVIDIA driver 550.163.01, but RTX 50-series (Blackwell) cards need 570 or newer, and they need NVIDIA’s open kernel modules.
Because the driver never initialises, no /dev/nvidia* devices are created. The GPU section Umbrel generates for Ollama only includes /dev/dri (the Intel iGPU), so Ollama falls back to the Iris Xe through Vulkan.
Restarting the Ollama app doesn’t change anything. The enclosure and Thunderbolt link seem fine, since the card enumerates on PCIe.
Questions
Is a newer NVIDIA driver (570+ / open kernel modules) planned for umbrelOS, so that RTX 50-series eGPUs are supported?
Has anyone got a Blackwell card (RTX 5060/5070/5080/5090) working on umbrelOS 2.0, and if so, how?
Is there a supported way to update the driver myself in the meantime without breaking OTA updates?
The 2.0 release notes mention eGPU support for Ollama and Jellyfin, so I’m hoping this is just a driver-version gap. Happy to provide more logs if useful.
Yeah, your diagnosis looks right. The 550 driver is too old for the 5060 Ti, so restarting Ollama or changing its GPU settings won’t fix this. Showing up in Device info only means the card is detected, not that the NVIDIA driver can use it.
One small detail: umbrelOS 2.0 already includes NVIDIA’s open kernel modules, so it’s the version that needs updating rather than switching module types. Also, not every 570 release supports the 5060 Ti. NVIDIA explicitly lists your card in 570.153.02: Appendix A. Supported NVIDIA GPU Products
I can’t speak to the team’s plans, but an updated driver bundled with umbrelOS would be the cleanest fix. I’d be cautious with generic apt/DKMS instructions in the meantime, since direct base OS changes are reset on reboot.
There is a persistent pre-start hook for custom setup, but it’s a DIY route rather than a supported driver updater: 1.7 FS changes is being reset after reboot · Issue #2124 · getumbrel/umbrel · GitHub. If you want to experiment, I’d get a compatible driver working for one boot and confirm Ollama actually uses the card before trying to automate it.
The 50 series cards have been out for quite some time at this point. I was very excited to try UmbrelOS 2, but this seems like quite the oversight. What am I missing here? I know this comes across like I’m being a jerk, but my intention is to understand the technical reason why it would ship with such an outdated driver. 550.xx came out in 2024
I was excited by their YouTube extolling the eGPU functionality, wiped my ZimaOS setup to switch over. Hopefully they will update the driver soon but strange omission on Umbrel’s part not to have the latest driver in place before you start marketing the eGPU feature.
Hey @ijd65@lonerangir we’ve got an umbrelOS update with the newer NVIDIA driver your card needs. This would be included in the upcoming umbrelOS 2.1 update but if you’d like to use it right now:
In umbrelOS, go to Settings > Advanced settings > Terminal > umbrelOS.
Copy and paste this command, press Enter, and enter your Umbrel password if/when asked:
cd /tmp && FLOW=$(sudo rugix-ctrl system info | jq -r .boot.bootFlow) && case $FLOW in mender-grub) B=umbrelos-amd64-legacy.update ;; *grub*) B=umbrelos-amd64.update ;; *) echo Unsupported boot flow: $FLOW && false ;; esac && echo Installing $B... && curl -fLO https://download.umbrel.com/public-nvidia-595/$B && sudo rugix-ctrl update install --reboot yes --insecure-skip-bundle-verification $B
It downloads the right update for your device, installs it, and restarts your Umbrel automatically.
Once it’s back up, your RTX 50-series card should show up in Live Usage when an app like Ollama/Jellyfin, etc uses it. Please let us know how you get on!
I was running into the same issue with my 5080, and came across this post. I tried the commands as shown above and after replacing the double quotes after copy/paste, it worked! Thank you for those commands!