PC Worked From LiveCD Failed to reach login screen after install - Nvidia Driver issue

[PC]

Previously asked question at:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/128809/ubuntu-12-04-i386-desktop-pc-worked-from-livecd-failed-to-reach-login-screen-a

Told to report this issue as a bug. hence this bug report.

PC previously been running 10.10 without any issues.

1) Tried Ubuntu 12.04-i386 desktop from live CD and everything worked ok. Could access network, internet etc.

2) Installed 12.04 from live CD (proper new install after partition chnages, not an upgrade). Installation no apparent problems. On reboot grub screen appeared, selected Ubuntu boot continued but then froze with "Orange" background screen, with word "Ubuntu" on and five "orange dots".
Then screen froze. Never reached login screen.

3) Hard reset, used "Ubuntu recovery" option. Failsafe X option from this also failed to boot.

4) Hard reset, used "Ubuntu recovery" option and then "root Drop to root shell prompt".
Looked in /var/log/Xorg.0.log found following lines:
[ 18.914] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 0
[ 18.914] (==) Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 1
[ 18.914] (==) Matched nv as autoconfigured driver 2
[ 18.914] (==) Matched vesa as autoconfigured driver 3
[ 18.914] (==) Matched fbdev as autoconfigured driver 4
[ 18.914] (==) Assigned the driver to the xf86ConfigLayout
[ 18.914] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
[ 18.914] (II) Loading /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/xorg/extra-modules/nvidia_drv.so
[ 18.914] (II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[ 18.914] compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
[ 18.914] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[
.. Above "[" line was last line in file. So nvidia module failed to load?

Ran from terminal:
$ lspci | grep VGA
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G86 [GeForce 8400 GS] (rev a1)

5) Rebooted computer and re-started from Live CD.

$ lspci | grep VGA
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G86 [GeForce 8400 GS] (rev a1)

$ lsmod | grep video
videobuf_dvb 13867 1 saa7134_dvb
dvb_core 94814 1 videobuf_dvb
videobuf_dma_sg 18786 3 saa7134_dvb,saa7134_alsa,saa7134
videobuf_core 25409 3 videobuf_dvb,saa7134,videobuf_dma_sg
videodev 86588 3 tuner,saa7134,v4l2_common
video 19068 1 nouveau

So live CD using nouveau and not nvidia driver.

6) Reboot from harddrive installed Ubuntu, used "Ubuntu recovery" option
To get file system mounted rw had to select entry:
  network Enable networking
and then
  "root Drop to root shell prompt"
To get to the command line.
I don't understand harddrive install trying to use nvidia and not nouveau driver, as I do not recall asking for the binary nvidia driver to be installed during the harddrive install.

To find package nvidia driver was in ran:

$ dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia
ii nvidia-common 1:0.2.44 Find obsolete NVIDIA drivers
ii nvidia-current 295.40-0ubuntu1 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library
ii nvidia-settings 295.33-0ubuntu1 Tool of configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

"removed" nvidia module:

$ dpkg -r nvidia-current

Rechecking nvidia modules now looked like:
$ dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia
ii nvidia-common 1:0.2.44 Find obsolete NVIDIA drivers
rc nvidia-current 295.40-0ubuntu1 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library
ii nvidia-settings

7) Re-booted machine and Ubuntu now worked.

Looked in /var/log/Xorg.0.log found following lines:

[ 14.316] (==) Matched nvidia as autoconfigured driver 0
[ 14.316] (==) Matched nouveau as autoconfigured driver 1
[ 14.316] (==) Matched nv as autoconfigured driver 2
[ 14.316] (==) Matched vesa as autoconfigured driver 3
[ 14.316] (==) Matched fbdev as autoconfigured driver 4
[ 14.316] (==) Assigned the driver to the xf86ConfigLayout
[ 14.316] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
[ 14.316] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module nvidia
[ 14.316] (II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
[ 14.316] (II) Unloading nvidia
[ 14.316] (EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist, 0)
[ 14.316] (II) LoadModule: "nouveau"
[ 14.317] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nouveau_drv.so
... plus lots of output after this about nouveau driver ...

$ lsmod | grep video
videobuf_dvb 13867 1 saa7134_dvb
dvb_core 94814 1 videobuf_dvb
videobuf_dma_sg 18786 3 saa7134_dvb,saa7134_alsa,saa7134
videobuf_core 25409 3 videobuf_dvb,saa7134,videobuf_dma_sg
videodev 86588 3 tuner,saa7134,v4l2_common
video 19068 1 nouveau

So nouveau driver being used in harddrive install and all working ok.

8) Summary

So my summary of the issues are:

i) nvidia binary driver not working with "GeForce 8400 GS"

ii) nvidia binary driver installed even though I did not ask for it

Note I do recall ticking a box that would install resticted codecs, but I do not recall the wording of this suggested binary (restricted) drivers would be installed.

Given that I used the live cd to test for hardware compatibility, I would have thought the safest thing would be for the harddrive install (especially from the live cd environment) to use the same drivers (modules) that the live CD had used. I would hope that way you would be almost 100% certain of having a working system.

I don't know if I am running unity 2D or 3D with the nouveau drivers, but once this hiccup was over, the machine is running smoothly and everything is working very well.

So a good release, thank-you.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: nvidia-current (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.37-generic-pae 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic-pae i686
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,vpswitch,snap,mousepoll,resize,place,move,wall,grid,regex,imgpng,session,gnomecompat,animation,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,workarounds,scale,expo,ezoom,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Tue May 1 19:06:25 2012
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: precise
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 NVIDIA Corporation G86 [GeForce 8400 GS] [10de:0422] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:0741]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release i386 (20120423)
MachineType: MEDIONPC MS-7255
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-24-generic-pae root=UUID=9fc6c485-4526-45f1-9a86-b5e59f37456b ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: nvidia-graphics-drivers
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 06/22/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
dmi.board.name: MS-7255
dmi.board.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: MEDIONPC
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr6.00PG:bd06/22/2007:svnMEDIONPC:pnMS-7255:pvr:rvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:rnMS-7255:rvr:cvnMEDIONPC:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: MS-7255
dmi.sys.vendor: MEDIONPC
modified.conffile..etc.modprobe.d.nvidia.current.hybrid.conf: [deleted]
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.7.6-0ubuntu1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.32-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 8.0.2-0ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 8.0.2-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.11.4-0ubuntu10
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.0-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20111219.aacbd629-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.17.0-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20111201+b5534a1-1build2