Linux Good Bye Error - GPU Process Isn't Usable

If you see the error "GPU process isn't usable", it means your system is unable to use hardware acceleration for video processing on NVIDIA GPUs in the TimeChamp application.

To resolve this, ensure that your system has the NVIDIA VA-API driver installed and configured properly.

Note: Please do not install any extra drivers or packages. This solution works only for Linux systems that already have NVIDIA drivers installed. Before proceeding, check if your system has an NVIDIA GPU. 

Step 1: "Clone" – First, run the sudo apt update command to update package lists. Then, clone the NVIDIA VA-API driver source code from GitHub.  

sudo apt update
git clone https://github.com/elFarto/nvidia-vaapi-driver.git

After cloning the repository, navigate to the project directory using the following command:
cd nvidia-vaapi-driver 

Step 2: Install Dependencies – Install the required tools and libraries needed to build the NVIDIA VA-API driver. 

sudo apt install build-essential meson ninja-build libva-dev libegl1-mesa-dev libdrm-dev 

Step 3: Set Up the Build Environment – Prepare the build environment using Meson. 

meson build

Step 4: Compile the Driver – Use Ninja to compile the driver code into executable files.


ninja -C build  

Step 5: Install the Driver – Install the compiled driver onto your system to make it ready for use


sudo ninja -C build install



Step 6 : If your system is running Linux 24, you need to add the required environment variables to ensure proper GPU acceleration. Follow these steps.

Open the ~/.bashrc file in a text editor using the following command : 

nano ~/.bashrc 

Scroll to the bottom and add the following lines 

export LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=nvidia  
export VDPAU_DRIVER=nvidia 

Press Ctrl + S to save, Press Ctrl + X to Exit.

Step 7 : Reboot the System – Before rebooting, save any currently running files to prevent data loss. Then, restart your system using the following command: 

sudo reboot