Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

[ubersoft]

It appears that the Ubuntu developers are hell-bent on forcing nvidia users to use the nouveau drivers. This is the only explanation I can think of, because every time Lucid gets a new kernel it becomes increasingly more difficult to get the nvidia binary drivers to install.

The last time I had this problem (http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3110577.0) I had to modify grub with the "nomodeset" option to get the binary drivers to install. Now I can't even get that to work. I am nearly gnashing my teeth with frustration.

I don't know why ubuntu is planning to release a Long Term Support version of Ubuntu that not only defaults to drivers with no 3d support, but also actively works against people who try to switch to the drivers that support 3d. It's counter-intuitive. Other than that Lucid seems like an excellent distro, but... that's a pretty big issue.

[dibl]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

Everything you need is here: http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3107406.0

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers

Apparently, the nouveau drivers as well, as some of their dependencies are (still) not updated.

If you are using the drivers downloaded from the NVIDIA website, yes, it's true.

Supposedly, if you install the nvidia-current package from the nvidia-ppa

deb [url]http://ppa.launchpad.net/nvidia-vdpau/ppa/ubuntu[/url] lucid main

then it should take care of itself. But since the nvidia-current package attempts to install the 195.36.15 driver, which completely crashes my system, I can't say from experience.

I dislike reading negative comments on these boards; after all, they are here for us to help each other, not complain. And I think that testing new software is a major responsibility of open source users -- instead of spending millions on in-house testing, and passing that on to the users, open source developers rely on feedback from users to accomplish the same end.
That being said, I would think that an LTS release implies a level of stability that should not include these kinds of problems. I like testing new software, but these video problems are not new. Having spent the last 3 or 4 weeks struggling with video driver problems, and apparently no end in sight, I have to say it's wearing pretty thin at this point. I really hope they can get this together before the official release, but that's only a month away.

I apologize for venting my frustration with this.

[dibl]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

Really?

After I stripped out Noveau (as per the note in my guide) I have no issues running the proprietary 195-36-15 driver. Had to reinstall it after the kernel upgrade the other day, of course, but other than that it is 100% trouble-free. What kind of trouble are you having?

[assettt]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

I had so much trouble trying to install the proprietary nvidia 195 driver on my alpha 10.04 that finally in desperation I let Ubuntu do it for me. I'm glad really because I don't have to reinstall after every kernel update and after latest update I'm now running 195.36.15. Works really well and even issues of compositing getting delayed have all but disappeared.

[ubersoft]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

I agree with doctordruidphd -- I don't like leaving negative comments on the board. I find that, on the whole, the ubuntu/Kubuntu team does one thing per release that really gets under my skin, and it's either usually resolved by the time its released or I learn to cope.

However, the nvidia situation is different. As Doc notes, this is supposed to be an LTS release, and I don't see how they can justify an LTS release that forces a large piece of the user population (nvidia is not an uncommon card, after all, especially on laptops) to settle for no 3d support on an incomplete driver.

I will go into the specifics of what I'm getting later tonight when I can get in front of my laptop and capture specific error messages. But it's generally similar to the problem I got in the following post:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3110577.0

Note that I am now getting this problem after applying the fix suggested in that thread, which solved the problem at the time.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

What kind of trouble are you having?

In my case, the nvidia 195.36.15 driver either won't install, or crashes the system. This is after removing all traces of both older nvidia drivers (I have never used nv) and nouveau.

If I try to install the .pkg2 driver (this is amd_64), the install goes to the "Install 32 bit compatibility opengl" (words to that effect) screen, and crashes the whole system. Requires unplugging to get out of it. There is nothing written to the nvidia-installer-log, presumably the crash occurs before the write cache gets flushed. The nvidia.ko module does not get installed.

If I try to install using either "nvidia-current" or "nvidia-glx-185" (which is, at this point, actually 195.36.15) the installation appears to go without errors, but the system crashes on reboot, after the udev error stuff. Again it's a hard crash that needs unplugging to fix, and no logs are being written.

Thing is, the 190.xx driver installs and works perfectly, both the pkg2 and, in the case of Karmic, the nvidia-glx-190 from the repository.

Almost as much fun as Sidux, which opens yet another can of vormen. But that's 2.6.33 -- what we have to look forward to...

[claydoh]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

Folks, this happens with every pre-release version. It is unfortunate, but as these drivers are not open, and the creators of the drivers may not support each new kernel version, breakages will happen until both Nvidia and Ubuntu kind mesh up and breakages are patched.

Often you can substitute ati for nvidia for this as well.

[ubersoft]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

It doesn't happen with every release. During the Karmic Alpha and Beta I didn't have to wrestle with drivers that actively prevented me from installing the binary drivers. Karmic had an entirely different problem for me, but it had a workaround. The workaround for this seems to be "just use nouveau and go without 3D support in your graphics driver." Or maybe "just use nouveau and add the experimental partial 3d support from the ppa libraries." Though I have to say, if the support was so experimental they didn't feel comfortable adding it to an alpha release I can't say I feel good about it...

[dibl]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

My experience with 10.04 was that the proprietary Nvidia driver installer crashed and burned, until I did:

sudo apt-get remove --purge linux-backports-modules-nouveau-`uname -r`

Afterward the proprietary installer has had no difficulties.

@DD, do I recall correctly that you have a SLI setup? Have you tested it with only a single card installed? Your hard crash/lock almost smacks of some hardware issue.

[ubersoft]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

I had to go to extraordinary lengths, but I have the binary driver working again.

What lengths? Wipe / and re-install Lucid (/home is in a separate partition, so this is not as drastic as it sounds). It smacks of windows, I know, but I decided I had tried so many different ways to solve the problem that I needed to approach the problem from a blank slate. It's working now, for the moment.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

sudo apt-get remove --purge linux-backports-modules-nouveau-`uname -r`

That's been done. All traces of nouveau have been removed from the system.

that you have a SLI setup?

Correct. But I have tried removing the slave video card, and the problem persists.

Your hard crash/lock almost smacks of some hardware issue.

There is something weird here, more than just the operator. The live cd's won't boot, apparently hanging with video issues, and now the latest driver won't install, no matter what the source. What makes it odd is that this is nvidia video hardware, and an nvidia system board. One would think it would all percolate together fairly well, especially with drivers from nvidia.

Wipe / and re-install Lucid

Yeah, well that's another issue, and as yet unresolved bug -- can't boot or install from live or alternate cd's. It would be the ideal test to run.

[dibl]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

Are there any updates available for your BIOS? You might want to take a quick trip through the BIOS, and verify that you haven't inadvertently left something set "wrong" for your present usage. You have SATA modes, IDE channel modes, video memory sharing (maybe), etc. etc. -- you might have inadvertently left something in a setting that is not working for you present purposes. (just guessing, of course)

[claydoh]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

It doesn't happen with every release. During the Karmic Alpha and Beta I didn't have to wrestle with drivers that actively prevented me from installing the binary drivers. Karmic had an entirely different problem for me, but it had a workaround. The workaround for this seems to be "just use nouveau and go without 3D support in your graphics driver." Or maybe "just use nouveau and add the experimental partial 3d support from the ppa libraries." Though I have to say, if the support was so experimental they didn't feel comfortable adding it to an alpha release I can't say I feel good about it...

Add 'for the moment' to those options. I personally have had Nvidia breakages in the pre-release versions at least once for Feisty, Gutsy, Hardy, and Intrepid (even into the Beta stages). Usually the problem was fixed within a day or to at the most. I got into the habit of waiting a day or so to apply updates if my systems were running fine, and monitoring Ubuntu/Kubuntu forums for updated info on possible problems.

Now that I have 100% ati video hardware, I had long-term breakages in Karmic's development up till nearly the final release. I had to use the open drivers until then.

Lucky for me, the open drivers for ati, at least for my video card, has 3d and audio over hdmi support out of the box in Lucid

[ubersoft]

Re: Every kernel update breaks the nvidia binary drivers.

Believe me, my next laptop will have an ati card in it... unless nouveau is ready for 3d by then. But I'm not going to spend 1.5K on a new laptop just to fix this problem.