Updates as of 5/6/2010 broke the gui

[robertsaron]

Well there were some updates on 5.6/2010 and now no longer have a gui, it is command prompt only. How do I get my gui back?

I am running 10.04 Lucid Lynx. When I do the command sudo kdm it goes right back to command prompt after asking me for password.

I really do not want to reinstall. Should I uninstall Kubuntu, and then reinstall it, or is there a simpler solution?

PLEASE HELP!!!

[robertsaron]

Re: Updates as of 5/6/2010 broke the gui

I think it is a problem with the nvidia drivers. How do I remove them, then get the gui working again? I can always reinstall them later.

[Shaikailash]

Re: Updates as of 5/6/2010 broke the gui

Probably the new kernel? What kind of graphic drivers are you using?

[robertsaron]

Re: Updates as of 5/6/2010 broke the gui

It is the new kernel. It is an nvidia 5800 FX.

below is a screenshot of the error when I try to start X.



Based on the error it seems the xorg.conf needs to be modified but what changes to make?

Thanks for the help.

[mfabry]

Re: Updates as of 5/6/2010 broke the gui

Find section "Device" in xorg.conf and change driver from "nvidia" to "nv". Save changes and restart kdm. You should get GUI but no 3D support (and no desktop effects).

[robertsaron]

Re: Updates as of 5/6/2010 broke the gui

that did it thanks. I even tried purging all the Nvidia drivers.

So happy it worked.

[robertsaron]

Re: Updates as of 5/6/2010 broke the gui

Now my screen is kind of squished funny, I know there is a file some where, that allows manually changing of the display. Where is that located or called?

Also when searching for the hard ware drivers up, it tells me no hard ware detected, am I going to have to manually download/install the nvidia drivers?

EEDIT NM I think I fixed it.

[mfabry]

Re: Updates as of 5/6/2010 broke the gui

Try installing nvidia drivers 173.x series manually (from repo). Jockey in Lucid is weird. I use nvidia-current drivers and every time I start the hardware drivers i get a message that nvidia-current is installed but not in use, which is total BS.

[robertsaron]

Re: Updates as of 5/6/2010 broke the gui

I am guessing I need go into the xorg.conf and change the NV back to nvidia now that the drivers are installed from the repos. Just waiting to hear back for sure. Do not want to break system again.

Thanks for the tip. How does one configure jockey? Never heard of it until today.

[mfabry]

Re: Updates as of 5/6/2010 broke the gui

jockey-kde - otherwise known as "Hardware Drivers" in System section of K menu. If you want to check nvidia driver:
1. kill X server and use console
2. try modprobe -vv <module name> [1] as root and look if there are any errors
3. if everything is ok (no errors) edit xorg.conf and change nv to nvidia
4. start X server again
Even if something goes wrong the damage won't be permanent. You can change back to nv anytime. You can also remove the module using rmmod command.
[1] in my case it's nvidia-current, 173.x will be probably named nvidia

If:
1. you don't need 3D
2. nvidia still doesn't work
3. nv looks like crap
4. and you are desperate enough
you can also install and test nouveau driver (xserver-xorg-video-nouveau package).