Nvidia-driver on 64bit Ubuntu 12.10 fails to show Unity-desktop.

[moma]

hello,
I have made two (2) separate installations of 64bit Ubuntu 12.10 on this laptop. The installation completes correctly and the Nouveau-driver works pretty well and shows correct Unity-desktop. But if I activate the NVIDIA-driver, the desktop displays only a low-resolution wallpaper, without Unity-desktop or icons. The desktop is missing. I have tried both the stable NVIDIA and the experimental driver. Both fails. I have activated the driver via [Additional Drivers] page on software-properties-gtk dialog. Also did the same from command line. See the attachment (log file).

This laptop is: Toshiba Satellite L755.

$ sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-current-dev nvidia-settings

Installed packages:
$ dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia
ii nvidia-current 304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library
ii nvidia-current-dev 304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver development files
ii nvidia-settings 304.51-0ubuntu2 amd64 Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

This laptop has Nvidia GeForce graphics driver (lspci -v):
$ lspci -v
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 0dec (rev a1)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 0dec (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
 Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device fc50
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
 Region 0: Memory at c2000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
 Region 1: Memory at b0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
 Region 3: Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
 Region 5: I/O ports at 3000 [size=128]
 Expansion ROM at c3080000 [disabled] [size=512K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidiafb
--------

Also the Unity-desktop and eg. LibreOffice text has artifacts (white painted areas and stripes) on the display under the default Nouveau-driver.

Please help!

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: nvidia-current 304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-17.28-generic 3.5.5
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-17-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Tue Oct 23 15:51:23 2012
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: quantal
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus: nvidia-current, 304.43: added
GraphicsCard:
 NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:0dec] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Toshiba America Info Systems Device [1179:fc50]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.5)
MachineType: TOSHIBA SATELLITE L755
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-17-generic root=UUID=462fb8fd-b96e-40a4-888b-ba074eb9af37 ro quiet splash
SourcePackage: nvidia-graphics-drivers
UnitySupportTest:
 Error: command ['/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test', '-p', '-f'] failed with exit code 5: Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
 Error: GLX is not available on the system
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/31/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: INSYDE
dmi.bios.version: 2.80
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: Base Board Product Name
dmi.board.vendor: Intel Corp.
dmi.board.version: Base Board Version
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: OEM Chassis Manufacturer
dmi.chassis.version: OEM Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnINSYDE:bvr2.80:bd10/31/2011:svnTOSHIBA:pnSATELLITEL755:pvrPSK2YE-0RN00GEP:rvnIntelCorp.:rnBaseBoardProductName:rvrBaseBoardVersion:cvnOEMChassisManufacturer:ct10:cvrOEMChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: SATELLITE L755
dmi.product.version: PSK2YE-0RN00GEP
dmi.sys.vendor: TOSHIBA
modified.conffile..etc.modprobe.d.nvidia.current.hybrid.conf: [deleted]
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.8.4-0ubuntu3
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.39-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 9.0-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 9.0-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.13.0-0ubuntu6
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.3-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.99.99~git20120913.8637f772-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.20.9-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.2-0ubuntu3

[moma (osmoma)]

Terminal-window activated via Cntr + Alt + T.

[moma (osmoma)]

Insytallation-log of:
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-current-dev nvidia-settings

[RaduStoica (radumstoica)]

Hi,

  This looks similar to bug #1070427. According to that report, installing linux-headers-generic and then reinstalling the nvidia proprietary drivers fixes this.

  Maybe you could try to do this.

[moma (osmoma)]

Hi and thank you very much.
Your advice worked well and the Nvidia's driver now flashes its logo and the Unity-desktop performs well too.
I did:

$ sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic
$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall nvidia-current nvidia-current-dev nvidia-settings
$ sudo reboot
(The nvidia-current-dev package is my own idea...it's not really needed. ok?)

$ dpkg -l | egrep "headers-generic|nvidia"
ii linux-headers-generic 3.5.0.17.19 amd64 Generic Linux kernel headers
ii nvidia-current 304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library
ii nvidia-current-dev 304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver development files
ii nvidia-settings 304.51-0ubuntu2 amd64 Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

Installation log attached.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[moma (osmoma)]

In reference to bug #1070427.
I had no internet-connection (either wifi or cabel) during the installation.
I can make a new test of the entire installment if required. Just ask ;-)

[RaduStoica (radumstoica)]

Glad to hear it helped. I'll mark this as a duplicate of #1070427 then.

[tom-erik paulsen (tom-erik)]

Tanks moma. That worked for me.

[Graham Poulter (grahampo)]

Installing linux-headers-generic then reinstalling nvidia binary driver resolved the issue.

[sterpauno (sterpauno)]

Thanks Moma, your tip wrote on 2012-10-23 solved my problem with nvidia drivers on my Qosmio g50 !