Comment 0 for bug 748320

Binary package hint: xorg

I am testing Natty 20110328 Live Desktop CD for amd64, as part of the Xorg-prop-drivers-testers group.
My notebook is a Sony Vaio VPC Z119GC (Intel Core i7-620M CPU and 4 gigabytes of RAM). The hardware switch above the keyboard on my machine has 2 settings ‘speed’ and ‘stamina’
* When set to ‘Speed’, the machine uses the NVidia GeForce® GT 330M GPU). I always leave it on the Speed setting.
* When set to ‘Stamina’, the machine uses the motherboard’s Intel chipset for graphics.
NVidia proprietary drivers have never installed and run properly on Sony Vaio VPC Z series models when using standard installation procedures (either Desktop Live CD, Alternate CD, 32 bit or 64 bit installers). I have tried and failed to install NVidia proprietary drivers for Karmic, Lucid, Maverick and now Natty. The best you get is a relatively unresponsive blank screen. You never get in to the GUI. The problem likely occurs on all Sonys with model numbers starting in Z11 and Z13 and possibly more, making this a problem that applies to tens of thousands of notebooks.

The following is the list of results I get when I try to go through the steps in the "Installation" mandatory testcase for "Nvidia Proprietary Drivers" using Natty Daily Live CD 20110328:

1. Boot stock system on compatible video hardware, using the appropriate open source driver (or -vesa). By default, Ubuntu boots with the open source driver.
RESULT: No problems.

2. Note the contents of /etc/X11/xorg.conf (or simply note absence of the file)
RESULT: The file is absent.

3. Go to System : Administration : Hardware Drivers

4. Verify that it correctly identifies that a video driver is available for this hardware
RESULT: The system nominates "NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (version -current)" (as is expected/normal)

5. Install the recommended driver.
RESULT: No problem.

6. Verify that a *.ko file is installed properly for the correct kernel(s)
find /lib/modules/ -type f -ls -iname '*.ko' | grep -E "/nvidia-current.ko|/nvidia-173.ko|/nvidia-96.ko|/fglrx.ko"
Check that the timestamp of the file is correct.
RESULT: 133605 13248 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13562440 Apr 2 21:31 /lib/modules/2.6.38-7-generic/updates/dkms/nvidia-current.ko

7. Note new contents of /etc/X11/xorg.conf. It should list the name of the proprietary driver as a minimum.
RESULTING CONTENTS OF xorg.conf:

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Default Screen"
    DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Default Device"
    Driver "nvidia"
    Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

8. Reboot

9. Verify the GUI display comes up
RESULT: FAILURE
After Grub, there is a blank screen. This stays indefinitely. There is no Ubuntu splash screen. I have left it for half an hour or more and it just stays blank.

After a long time, I tried pressing some keys, and got garbled text output in the very top left corner of the screen:
e.g. "^[[B ^[[C"
I can type letters but typing commands or trying to login does not work.
I then pressed Ctrl-Alt-F2, and was able to login as a user to the tty terminal

10. Verify the proprietary driver loaded
 grep -E "LoadModule:.*\"nvidia|fglrx\"" /var/log/Xorg.0.log
RESULT: [ 5.899] (II) LoadModule: “nvidia”
So, it appears that the nvidia driver did in fact load.

After this, I typed:
ls -al /var/crash
This showed an empty directory, i.e. no apport or crash files are there.
I then typed:
apport-cli xorg
so that I could submit this bug accompanied by an apport file.
I answered Yes to allow gdm log files to be included.
I also got this output from the apport-cli command:
cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log.2: No such file or directory

I can get the NVidia proprietary driver to work on Natty (20110328) if I install the following custom hacked kernels and boot from this:
* linux-headers-2.6.28.10-vaioz_2.6.28.10-vaioz-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb
* linux-image-2.6.28.10-vaioz_2.6.28.10-vaioz-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb
You can read about this procedure and download the hacked kernels from:
* http://www.adhocism.net/2010/11/installing-ubuntu-10-10-on-sony-vaio-vpc-z13m9eb/
* http://www.voip-x.co.uk/files/adam/IMPORTANT_README
However this is a dirty hack, not a real fix. Please Ubuntu devs, help all those Sony Vaio users get Ubuntu (legitimately) in Natty. :)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: xorg 1:7.6~3ubuntu11
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-7.39-generic 2.6.38
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-7-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 270.30 Fri Feb 25 14:34:55 PST 2011
 GCC version: gcc version 4.5.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.5.2-7ubuntu1)
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,mousepoll,vpswitch,regex,animation,snap,expo,move,compiztoolbox,place,grid,imgpng,gnomecompat,wall,ezoom,workarounds,staticswitcher,resize,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,scale,session,unityshell]
DRM.card0.DP.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.DP.2:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.HDMI.A.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.HDMI.A.2:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.HDMI.A.3:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.VGA.1:
 status: disconnected
 enabled: disabled
 dpms: On
 modes:
 edid-base64:
DRM.card0.eDP.1:
 status: connected
 enabled: enabled
 dpms: On
 modes: 1600x900
 edid-base64:
Date: Sat Apr 2 22:28:12 2011
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus: nvidia-current, 270.30, 2.6.38-7-generic, x86_64: installed
GdmLog2:

GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0046] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:905a]
 nVidia Corporation GT216 [GeForce GT 330M] [10de:0a2b] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:905a]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Alpha amd64 (20110328.1)
JockeyStatus: xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, In use)
MachineType: Sony Corporation VPCZ119GS
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-7-generic root=UUID=bedfb76a-dd10-47d6-a1cb-e1931085a16b ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/30/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: INSYDE
dmi.bios.version: R3030C3
dmi.board.asset.tag: N/A
dmi.board.name: VAIO
dmi.board.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.board.version: N/A
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: N/A
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnINSYDE:bvrR3030C3:bd07/30/2010:svnSonyCorporation:pnVPCZ119GS:pvrA222GMUK:rvnSonyCorporation:rnVAIO:rvrN/A:cvnSonyCorporation:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: VPCZ119GS
dmi.product.version: A222GMUK
dmi.sys.vendor: Sony Corporation
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4git20110322-0ubuntu5
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu5
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.1-0ubuntu3
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6~3ubuntu11
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu6