jockey does not correctly install nvidia 185 driver

[Jack Deslippe]

I just installed Karmic on two computers with nvidia 8000 and 9000 cards. After install, I used jockey (hardware-drivers) utility to install the 185 driver. The driver was downloaded but the install doesn't seem to have finished on either machine. When I reboot the machine, X fails to start and I am left with a blank screen.

Here is the end of my jockey.log for the install:

2009-10-13 14:34:48,006 DEBUG: Installing package: nvidia-glx-185
2009-10-13 14:34:49,121 DEBUG: install progress statusChange dpkg-exec 0.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:49,431 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-kernel-source 0.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:49,433 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-kernel-source 5.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:50,502 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-kernel-source 10.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:50,520 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-kernel-source 15.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:50,584 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-libvdpau 15.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:50,585 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-libvdpau 20.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:50,731 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-libvdpau 25.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:50,787 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-libvdpau 30.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:50,867 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-glx-185 30.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:50,869 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-glx-185 35.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:55,423 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-glx-185 40.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:55,482 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-glx-185 45.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:55,557 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-settings 45.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:55,580 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-settings 50.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:55,796 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-settings 55.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:55,851 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-settings 60.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:55,891 DEBUG: install progress statusChange desktop-file-utils 60.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:56,057 DEBUG: install progress statusChange man-db 60.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:56,475 DEBUG: install progress statusChange dpkg-exec 60.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:56,621 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-kernel-source 60.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:56,757 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-kernel-source 65.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:57,058 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-kernel-source 70.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:57,097 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-libvdpau 70.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:57,115 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-libvdpau 75.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:57,150 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-185-libvdpau 80.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:57,306 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-glx-185 80.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:57,339 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-glx-185 85.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:57,720 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-glx-185 90.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:57,756 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-settings 90.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:57,774 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-settings 95.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:57,806 DEBUG: install progress statusChange nvidia-settings 100.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:57,847 DEBUG: install progress statusChange libc-bin 100.000000
2009-10-13 14:34:58,149 DEBUG: Selecting previously deselected package nvidia-185-kernel-source.
(Reading database ... 113499 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking nvidia-185-kernel-source (from .../nvidia-185-kernel-source_185.18.36-0ubuntu5_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package nvidia-185-libvdpau.
Unpacking nvidia-185-libvdpau (from .../nvidia-185-libvdpau_185.18.36-0ubuntu5_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package nvidia-glx-185.
Unpacking nvidia-glx-185 (from .../nvidia-glx-185_185.18.36-0ubuntu5_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package nvidia-settings.
Unpacking nvidia-settings (from .../nvidia-settings_180.25-0ubuntu1_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up nvidia-185-kernel-source (185.18.36-0ubuntu5) ...
First Installation: checking all kernels...
Directory for kernel not found in /lib/modules
Adding Module to DKMS build system

Setting up nvidia-185-libvdpau (185.18.36-0ubuntu5) ...

Setting up nvidia-glx-185 (185.18.36-0ubuntu5) ...

Setting up nvidia-settings (180.25-0ubuntu1) ...

Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place

2009-10-13 14:34:58,149 ERROR:
Error! Invalid number of arguments passed.
Usage: add -m <module> -v <module-version>

2009-10-13 14:34:58,332 WARNING: modinfo for module nvidia failed: ERROR: modinfo: could not find module nvidia

2009-10-13 14:34:58,408 DEBUG: XorgDriverHandler device sections ({0: ['\tIdentifier\t"Default Device"\n', '\tOption\t"NoLogo"\t"True"\n', '\tDriver\t"nvidia"\n']})

----------------------

I think the error about invalid number of arguments is probably the relevant part of the report.

When I reboot the machine, Here is the relevant lines from my XOrg.0.log:

(EE) NVIDIA: Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module. Please check your
(EE) NVIDIA: system's kernel log for additional error messages.
(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
(II) Unloading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//nvidia_drv.so
(EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module-specific error, 0)
(EE) No drivers available.

-----------------------

So, some how Jockey is not loading the module correctly or something.

I believe Bugs 450493, 449202 are symptoms of this. But, since I don't know for sure, I am creating a new report.

[Mirco Müller (macslow)]

I've the same issue here with my GeForce 8800 GTS.

Doing...

find /lib/modules -name "*nvidia*" -print

... on my system I get this list as results:

/lib/modules/2.6.31-13-generic/updates/dkms/nvidia.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.31-13-generic/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia
/lib/modules/2.6.31-13-generic/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia/nvidiafb.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.31-13-generic/kernel/drivers/video/backlight/mbp_nvidia_bl.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.24-21-generic/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko

Like Jack mentioned the new nvidia.ko for my kernel 2.6.31-13-generic was not compiled. Jockey fails to activate it, although I also see it in the list of availabe drivers. Trying to insmod /lib/modules/2.6.31-13-generic/updates/dkms/nvidia.ko results in the error:

insmod: error inserting '/lib/modules/2.6.31-13-generic/updates/dkms/nvidia.ko': -1 Invalid module format

Pure guess work follows. Can this be an issue of some shell-script form nvidia used for the compilation not be able to deal with /bin/dash, which is used under Karmic as default shell-interpreter for scripts?

[Kerry Hatcher (kerry.hatcher)]

I've been trying to narrow down the issue myself. When installing the other two drivers (v. 174 and 94) Jockey works just fine, but the drivers make my laptop super slow (as in it is almost imposable to use terminal it is so slow). When I install the 185 driver from the command line (sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx-185) it get this error:

Setting up nvidia-185-kernel-source (185.18.36-0ubuntu5) ...
First Installation: checking all kernels...
Directory for kernel not found in /lib/modules
Adding Module to DKMS build system

Error! Invalid number of arguments passed.
Usage: add -m <module> -v <module-version>

Setting up nvidia-glx-185 (185.18.36-0ubuntu5) ...

So i'm thinking it is an issue with the package / DKMS. Not necessarily Jockey

[inneas (inneas)]

I think the probleme with jockey here is not the not correctly installed driver (there was a bug in the package: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers-180/+bug/450493).

Its the missing error eessage/ warning when installing the driver with the jockey-gtk.
I made a bug report about this problem:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/jockey/+bug/451305

[Kerry Hatcher (kerry.hatcher)]

I would agree that this is not really a jockey issue

Well maybe that jockey doesn't report the error and then installs a broken driver.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/jockey/+bug/451305

So if it isn't really a Jockey issue then where should the bug report go?

[Marco Cimmino (cimmo)]

Happened also here, tried to install nvidia-185 driver via jockey, no error messages, rebooted and X was down, good job!

[Marco Cimmino (cimmo)]

@Kerry Hatcher

Is not really a jockey issue? I use jockey to install software not to screw up my X, this I can do it also. If it can manage to install software properly should give up, not modifying randomly important config files.

What are you talking about!

[Sense Egbert Hofstede (sense)]

Thank you for helping with making Ubuntu and Jockey better by reporting this bug. It is indeed a duplicate of bug #451305, I'm marking it as such.
Please follow the discussion over there from now on.