NVIDIA AI infrastructure relies on a tightly coupled stack involving the GPU driver and theDOCA (Data Center Infrastructure-on-a-Chip Architecture)drivers, which include the OFED stack for InfiniBand. When upgrading from an older version, "residue" from previous installations or custom kernel modules can cause version mismatches or symbol errors, preventing the new drivers from loading. The "100% verified" best practice is to perform a clean installation. This involves completely uninstalling the existing drivers (using apt-get purge or the .run file's --uninstall flag) and ensuring that kernel modules are removed from memory. This prevents conflict between the legacy nvidia.ko and the new version. Once the system is "clean," the new DOCA and GPU drivers can be installed as a matched set, ensuring that features like GPUDirect RDMA function correctly without being hindered by legacy configuration files.