/etc/modprobe.d is not a file

[Dimitri John Ledkov]

/var/log/upstart# cat lightdm.log
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf

Above looks weird... modprobe.d is a directory & why update-alternatives are called?!

This is lightdm 1.10.5-0ubuntu1

[TJ (tj)]

Also happening in 15.10 Wily, with lightdm 1.15.3-0ubuntu3

Repeated 3 times per second constantly for about 15 minutes and then system froze - not sure if this was the cause of the freeze but it was the only logged info immediately before the freeze.

Sep 1 19:23:43 hephaestion lightdm[951]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Sep 1 19:23:43 hephaestion lightdm[951]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]
Sep 1 19:23:43 hephaestion lightdm[951]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf
...
Sep 1 19:35:39 hephaestion lightdm[951]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Sep 1 19:35:39 hephaestion lightdm[951]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]
Sep 1 19:35:39 hephaestion lightdm[951]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf

It also occurs for gpu-manager so this may be caused by systemd-init

Sep 01 19:48:49 hephaestion.lan.iam.tj gpu-manager[784]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Sep 01 19:48:49 hephaestion.lan.iam.tj gpu-manager[784]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Sep 01 19:48:49 hephaestion.lan.iam.tj gpu-manager[784]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Sep 01 19:48:49 hephaestion.lan.iam.tj gpu-manager[784]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
...
Sep 01 19:48:51 hephaestion.lan.iam.tj gpu-manager[989]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Sep 01 19:48:51 hephaestion.lan.iam.tj gpu-manager[989]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Sep 01 19:48:51 hephaestion.lan.iam.tj gpu-manager[989]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Sep 01 19:48:51 hephaestion.lan.iam.tj gpu-manager[989]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Sep 01 19:48:51 hephaestion.lan.iam.tj gpu-manager[989]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf

[TJ (tj)]

Hit this again today with lightdm spamming the logs.

I'd left the PC for about 45 minutes; came back to a backlit but black display and no response to input.

I connected via SSH and found lightdm had TWO instances of X running, one on tty7 and the other on tty8

I could find no clues in any of the logs as to what caused it; no signs of errors or crashes. the Xorg.1.log for tty8 showed the GPU couldn't obtain resources and failed (presumably due to tty7 with the first X instance).

14:43:30 lightdm[1704]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
14:43:30 lightdm[1704]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]
14:43:30 lightdm[1704]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfx
core_conf
14:43:30 lightdm[1704]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
14:43:30 lightdm[1704]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]
14:43:30 lightdm[1704]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf
...
15:25:04 lightdm[1704]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
15:25:04 lightdm[1704]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]
15:25:04 lightdm[1704]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf
15:25:04 lightdm[1704]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
15:25:04 lightdm[1704]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]
15:25:04 lightdm[1704]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf

[TJ (tj)]

Hit this again today; Was working fine until about 05:40 when I locked the session and left. Returned around 12:20, touched the mousepad to wake the monitors, backlights come on but no display. SSH from another host shows a 2nd X server attempts to start on :1 at the time I returned, fails, tries again and fails.

The original X server :0 on tty7 still has a process in memory running with no faults recorded in its Xorg.0.log but it is not possible to find it on the tty.

Log file is full of the spamming messages since the system was locked until lightdm service is restarted.

[Alberto Milone (albertomilone)]

This is not really a bug in ubuntu-drivers-common. Those are just debugging messages (no actual error there). I can probably get rid of them but still that doesn't explain why a second xserver was started. Maybe another user logged into the system from lightdm? Or maybe lightdm is acting funny for some reason.

[Goddard (kinggoddard)]

I got a very similar error when doing

prime-switch nvidia

from intel on my Razer Blade 2015

/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
/etc/modprobe.d is not a file
update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/mesa/ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/x86_64-linux-gnu_GL.conf (x86_64-linux-gnu_gl_conf) in manual mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/mesa/ld.so.conf to provide /etc/ld.so.conf.d/i386-linux-gnu_GL.conf (i386-linux-gnu_gl_conf) in manual mode
update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf

[Pander (pander)]

Duplicate of https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-drivers-common/+bug/1369216 ?

[davidak (davidak)]

Same with 16.04.2 with HWE stack on a Macbook Pro (Retina) with Intel i915 graphic.