Ensure that X.org startup failure displays (EE) messages to the user

[Paolo Sammicheli]

Installing proprietary drivers (Case ID xpr-001) it doesnt works because the graphic card need a "NoPowerConnectorCheck" option on screen section.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Feb 16 12:59:30 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha i386 (20100214)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: nvidia-current 190.53-0ubuntu14
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=it_IT.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-13.18-generic
SourcePackage: nvidia-graphics-drivers
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-13-generic i686

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

This sounds like a hardware issue (power cord not plugged in). Can you explain in more detail if it is not a hardware issue?

[Paolo Sammicheli (xdatap1)]

It's not an hardware issue because that model of card doesn't have a power connector to plug, so, to make it working it needs the NoPowerConnectorCheck option to disable this check.

It would be nice to have a dialog box step in package installation that if it detect this card model it show to the user the same statement which appear in the log:

"Your GeForce 8600 GTS graphics card does not have the necessary external power cables attached; X will not start unless this is rectified. Please shut down your computer, open its case, and attach the appropriate power connectors. Your video card may have multiple power connectors. If so, each must be attached to a separate power cable. Please see the documentation provided with your video card for more details. If you think you have received this message in error, you may specify the "NoPowerConnectorCheck" X configuration option in the Screen section of your X config file."

And then the question:

"Would you like to add NoPowerConnectorCheck option to the configuration file? (y/N)

[Paolo Sammicheli (xdatap1)]

Also, I would like to add that the fallback mode it's a mess, and it isn't showed properly. So, the only way to fix it is falling back to textual shell with ctrl alt F1 and logging in again.

[tshirtman (gabriel-pettier)]

same here, everything was ok under karmic, now from time to time X restart in compatilibily mode (with a half a screen stranslation, but it's another issue) and i have to accept to switch to the driver (vesa?), when i go back into my session I re run the nvidia-xconfig utility and enjoy some time with the driver…

also, playing with the bios and rebooting seems to do the same as the fix above… (both are temporary).

i added the aforementioned option in my xorg.conf, hope it will help.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

This seems way overinflated. It's not a new issue/regression, it is specific to a very small set of hardware, and it's a bug in the proprietary driver.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

The best thing we possibly could do is to ensure that the user sees that log message when X fails (i.e . all the (EE) parts of it), as this will be our best bet to see what's failing.

I don't want to set this option by default in the jockey handler, as it is not a configuration option as such, but a kind of "unbreak this driver" quirk.

[Paolo Sammicheli (xdatap1)]

Hello Martin!

Thanks for spending time with this bug. Please note that in this bug the fallback driver doesn't work and all we get it's a dark screen. Changing termina with ALT F1, F2 you get the textual login. Do you think it would be possibile to have the fallback to the free driver?

For any test or whatever check you would need just ask me :)

Thanks in advance!

[Tim (tim-unton)]

Has this been fixed with the 260.19.44 version of the nVidia drivers?

[Paolo Sammicheli (xdatap1)]

@Tim: No, it hasn't been fixed. I also just checked with the newest version (270.30-0ubuntu3) and the problem is still there.

[Tim (tim-unton)]

Paolo,

Do you have the nVidia 8600 GT instead of the GTS? I have an nVidia 8600 GTS and it has a power cable attachment, just like what is seen in the top picture here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2213/4
I have been able to get the drivers to work fine (As you would expect seeing as I do have a separate power cable and it is plugged in)

[Paolo Sammicheli (xdatap1)]

Hello Tim,

I have an nVidia 8600 GTS and it hasn't any power connector, so the driver checking for it gets the error. I'm able to make it working adding Option = "NoPowerConnectorCheck" on xorg.conf.

But the real bug is, IMHO, that without this option the 2d fallback doesn't works and it doesn't show any error message to the user. The only way to find it is logging in with a different tty and checking into the logs.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

The fallback session should be displaying the EE log errors to the user, if they end up in that failsafe mode. I think that's the right place to hook in any workaround options like this.

[bugbot (bugbot)]

We're closing this bug since there has not been a response from the original reporter. However, the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. If you're not the original reporter, we'd prefer you file a new bug report.

Some tips:

  * Report X.org bugs via the command: `ubuntu-bug xorg`

  * Test against the latest development Ubuntu. http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/
    Bugs marked as affecting the development version tend to get priority attention.

  * The `xdiagnose` utility has functionality for enabling debugging and
    analyzing a few common X problems.

  * Tag your bugs with the Ubuntu versions you have reproduced the issue in.

  * See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Reporting for tips on writing good bug reports.

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

oneiric has seen the end of its life and is no longer receiving any updates. Marking the oneiric task for this ticket as "Won't Fix".