Ubuntu 8.10 breaks nvidia drivers

[simonjames]

Binary package hint: linux-restricted-modules-2.6.27-2-generic

When I enable the NVIDIA proprietary drivers (it gives me the options of 96/173/177, they all behave the same), on reboot, I get an error message "cannot detect graphic card nor monitor" and continues using vesa drivers at 800*600 (although "hardware drivers" states that the drivers are "enabled" and "in use", see screenshot). Selecting my graphic card and monitor does not fix the problem as it still loads with vesa drivers at 800*600. The only solution is to use the nv drivers and therefore I can not use compiz fusion. I have a geforce 7 series card, everything worked fine in Ubuntu 8.04.1.

What files are needed to help with this problem?

[Andreas Moog (ampelbein)]

This was an issue with the nvidia-drivers not being compiled for the latest kernel and should be fixed now. Can you confirm?

[jfgordon (jfgordon2)]

The exact same issue just happened to me about an hour ago. There was a whole lot of new updates, including a new kernel (2.6.27.3) and new nvida drivers (177 mostly, it seemed). Prior to the update, my card and graphics were working perfectly, but after the update I'm experiencing the exact same symptoms as described by simonjames. My system was an upgrade from 8.04.1 to alpha 5.

[Andreas Moog (ampelbein)]

Thats the same issue. Todays update rolled a new kernel-package. If you run update again it should work, provided your mirror has synced already with the main-server.

[oss_test_launchpad (oss-test-launchpad)]

Is this bug connected with this one: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/jockey/+bug/263528?

[simonjames (simon-james-gervais)]

It is similar, but the NV drivers work just fine in my case. I haven't had the time to check if it is fixed yet (the new package). Will try over the next weekend.

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Can someone reproduce this bug with a up-to-date intrepid installation? All issues with nvidia and DKMP seem fixed.

[sunbird (sunbird)]

I installed intrepid i386 yesterday and can confirm that this bug has yet to be squashed. Still stuck in low-graphics mode.

[LCID Fire (lcid-fire)]

Did you remove the Rgbpath entry from your xorg.conf? (that screwed my setup)

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

sunbird : Did you install from the Beta LiveCD? It should be fixed with the Beta (however, don't enable restricted driver from the LiveCD before installing, that's another bug that will be fixed for the final release).

[sloan1919 (raydwhite)]

I just upgraded to 8.10 same problem. What can be done to fix it?

Sloan

[Fran (frbastida)]

I also confirm this. I upgraded to 8.10. NV drivers works ok.

My graphic card is NVIDIA FX 5200

When booting system launchs DHMS error loading NVIDIA drivers....

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Can someone reproduce this bug with a fresh intrepid beta install or does this bug only happens when upgrading from hardy? (Initial bug description didn't mention that it was a upgrade).

[MetraDynamix (c-admin-dedicatedlayer-com)]

I can reproduce something very similar. I installed Ubuntu 8.10 - Upgraded and did a Dist-Upgrade.
Enabled the Restricted Hardware Driver for Nvidia 177x

Rebooted, and it drops me to the Terminal.

I have also re-installed completely and attempted to manually install the Nvidia Drivers x_86_64 and have the same problem.
I used Ubuntu 8.10 64bit / with Nvidia 2x Geforce 8800GT

[MetraDynamix (c-admin-dedicatedlayer-com)]

Update:

If I Install a new Installation of Intrepid, complete all of the Upgrades.
Then Enable the Restricted 177 Driver for Nvidia, upon reboot it fails to detect screens.

Hardware: 2x Geforce 8500GT -> Correction from Previous Post

I attempted to delete xorg.conf, and tried various suggestions on the internet and startx always returns "No Screens Found".

Re-Installing Ubuntu 8.10 Detects 1 Video Card and allows me to run dual head. It also properly detects my LG 23" LCDs.

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

Ok so far we have :

1. nvidia fail when upgraded from hardy.
2. nvidia fail when enabled right after updating intrepid.

But can someone test it without updating or upgrading, only after a clean intrepid installation?

[sunbird (sunbird)]

> But can someone test it without updating or upgrading, only after a
> clean intrepid installation?

My original comment may have been unclear, so to clarify - my install was
a clean install. I wiped the drives and installed from the Intrepid Beta
i386 Alternate CD. I am stuck in low-graphics mode. I tried using Envy to
install the right drivers, but each suggested driver fails on reboot. I
can provide more information if required... and sorry if I'm not providing
enough (or too much).

[Morten Minke (morten-amagi)]

I also upgraded from 8.04 and after that I also had issues with the nvidia driver until this week when I finally found out what helped.

When looking in the package manager I found that even though I had selected to use the nvidia 177 driver, the package was not installed.

When I manually installed the package, it also installed the source package and the kernel-headers-rt (real time kernel)!!!!! which off course was not correct. Trying to uninstall the kernel-headers-rt said it had to uninstall the nvidia 177 driver too which I did not want.
In the end I installed the correct kernel source package (kernel-headers-generic) and this triggered dkms to rebuild the nvidia driver.
After a reboot finally the startup (without the splash) showed it succeeded in loading the nvidia kernel driver and from there on I was able to set it up using the 'Hardware Drivers'.

One last thing I needed to do do enable dual monitor setup was to run

sudo nvidia-config
and
sudo nvidia-settings

Hope this helps

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

the initial bug report is already fixed. Can someone open a new bug report for each different bug described in comments? Example :

1. Problem when upgrading from hardy to intrepid
2. Problem when updating kernel
3. Problem when installing driver with envy (possible duplicate of bug 261816 ?)

It will be easier to identify and work on these bugs if they are correctly described in different individual bug reports.

[Eduardo Cereto (dudus)]

Please someone check if this is duplicate:
#281259

Also there seems to be a solution here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=873243

[Te Anton (te-anton)]

Install package linux-headers-rt .

[Unknown 1 (unknown-111-deactivatedaccount)]

I had a similar problem when upgrading, if I use linux-restricted-modules-2.6.27-7-generic it works fine.

I had problems with elder kernels.

Try using grub and choose a newer kernel, install nvidia 177 drivers with it and check if it's solved.

[ljohnson (ljohnson-achieveresearch)]

I just upgraded from Hardy to Intrepid (2.6.27-7 kernel) and I cannot even get to the desktop. After boot, I am kicked out to the console for a login. I have uninstalled the NVidia drivers and am now running in VESA mode 800x600. This is effectively rendering my workstation useless. Has this been moved from this issue to another? If so what is the new issue? If not, any word on a fix? Can I post some information that will help to diagnose this issue? The upgrade was to the full release of Intrepid and not a beta version. I am painfully waiting for a resolution. Thanks for the support...

[ljohnson (ljohnson-achieveresearch)]

I found my problem. After the upgrade my two graphics cards were not detected properly and the xorg.conf file did not include a BusID entry in the Devices section. After performing an "lspci | grep VGA" and adding the appropriate PCI bus ID into the configuration file, my XServer now starts and I can load the proprietary nVidia drivers (v177). The format for the xorg.conf file is BusID "XX:YY:ZZ".

I am not sure if this specific issues should be transferred to another issue or not. This is more of an XServer configuration issue than a nVidia driver problem. However, I did want to post my solution just in case anyone else had a similar problem.

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

ljohnson : The main question is what added this to Xorg.conf.. Because ubuntu does not use static configuration in xorg.conf since Hardy. The only reason why there should be any option enabled in Xorg is for drivers that are not enabled in Xorg by default (such as closed source nvidia). However, BusID and this stuff should all be automatic! Here's a copy of what your xorg.conf should looks like :

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Monitor "Configured Monitor"
 Device "Configured Video Device"
 DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Module"
 Load "glx"
 Disable "dri2"
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
 Driver "nvidia"
 Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

[Saivann Carignan (oxmosys)]

I'm closing this bug report because the initial bug is fixed, and all other comments speaks about different bugs which should be reported individually after verifying that they are not already reported in launchpad.

For people that have wrong configuration in their xorg.conf, searching what added such parameters is a good start to open a new bug report because it will help identifying the source of the problem.

Thanks for your participation in launchpad.