Nvidia driver messed up again (Solved)

[eddieg780]

I did an update today and there was an nvidia current update. After the update and restart my computer screen locks on the kde start up screen just when the K is being highlighted. The start up music plays and I have wireless internet access. I can go to ctrl+alt-f2 and log in but how do I revert back to the previous working video driver? Thank you.

[ardvark71]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

Hi....

I'm not sure if this will address your problem but you can try the command line codes from post #2 here.

If that doesn't work, you can try the code from post #2 here.

Regards...

[eddieg780]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

I'll try these shortly. In Windows now, yuk!!! The nvidia driver is updated through kpackagekit or synaptic because I added x-swat ppa. So when this updates it I get the update. It's worked flawlessly for months except this time. I want know if there is a way to revert back to the previous driver. It appears the updated driver is beta and if I had known that I would not have updated it.

Also how can I remove a repository from sources in CLI?

[eddieg780]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

It appears that there is a problem with the driver from ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates. It says it's version 270.18 but nvidia's version is 260.19. I installed 260.19 the old way and now I have a normal display. I haven't restarted my machine yet but it works from sudo service kdm start. Any ideas guy what might be going on? Thanks

[eddieg780]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

Ok. Upon start up this morning the nvidia driver failed to load. I'm now in low graphics mode again. Where is the log file so I can maybe post it so we can figure this out. Thanks in advance.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

Where is the log file so I can maybe post it so we can figure this out.

/var/log/Xorg.0.log

I am running the 270.18 driver that was installed by nividia-current, with no apparent problems.
This is a beta release driver.

Check your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and make sure it didn't get changed somehow.

[eddieg780]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

I had to remove all nvidia entries and uninstall 270.18 drivers in synaptic. Disable ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates in sources. Then restart machine. Go back into synaptic and saw nvidia 256.52 and installed it, went in terminal and ran nvidia-xconfig to create xorg file, which nvidia-settings told me to do when I checked to see what driver I was using, it said there was no driver installed to run nvidia-xconfig to fix that and rebooted machine using this driver and all looks normal. I have to put option "coolbits 5" in my etc/x11/xorg.conf file to stop the screen flashing that I experience without it. Do you think the coolbits 5 option messed with the new driver? I have been updating nvidia-current for months with coolbits in the xorg.conf file without problems, until now. I suppose since it's beta that this could be the problem because 260.19 worked fine. I would like to know what caused this problem. I looked in my /var/log/xorg.0.log but don't know what to look for.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

I am also using the "coolbits 5" option for fan control. As far as I know, it only enables the overclocking and fan control options in nvidia-settings, and does not change the driver's operation otherwise.

The first thing to look for in the Xorg.0.log is at the beginning, where it is parsing the xorg.conf file. Look for any obvious problems there, like "device not found".
Then there should be a whole bunch of NVIDIA lines in it. If your driver is not loading, one of those lines might tell you why.

Of course that is irrelevant if you have removed the offending driver. You can look through the older Xorg.#.log files for one that was from the old driver, and it might give you some clues.

It may actually have been a compilation error, which is fixable by recompiling. I sometimes get that kind of error when updating, and I find doing a dpkg-reconfigure on the new kernel will get the driver to compile properly the second time around. I think the problem is that there is something squirrley in the package management system, that tries to install the kernel before installing the headers package, which is required to compile the nvidia driver.

Broken video drivers are no fun. Glad you are back and running.

[eddieg780]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

I went to launchpad and downloaded nvidia-current_260.19.29-0ubuntu1~xup~lucid4_i386.deb and installed it and all went fine. There was a kernel upgrade today, I wonder if this is what I needed in order to have upgraded to 270.18 without problems. Curious...

[rfakhrai]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

It sounds like you don't mind if you have the bleeding edge beta driver. In that case, have you look at #3 in this tutorial? A lot of the problems I was having with the driver involved nouveau conflicts. Blacklisting and installing, carefully, the way that is said in the tutorial gave me a consistently well-running graphics environment.

Also, I always keep the .run driver installer around in case an update breaks the driver. Just thought I'd suggest it since there seem to be many ways to "skin a cat" with these drivers but this way is the most thorough and reliable.

[eddieg780]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

Yes, I have dibl's install printed out. Been using his instructions for a while now. Oh yes, nouveau has been a nightmare. I really don't understand why it's been put in at all. I have had no problems with the nvidia installing since using the ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates until 270.18 was updated on the 23rd. I keep the .run file as well in case of emergency. I have done the blacklisting and all that a while ago and all was well till 270.18. I still wonder since the kernel update today if the nvidia-current 270.18 from ppa would work now? Now I'm to chicken to find out . I don't like beta at all so when the certified driver comes available I will try it then . How do you update your nvidia driver?

[rfakhrai]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

I think you might be running into the issue of duplicate nvidia installs by using the xswat ppa and manually installing the driver. I had this issue too when I 1) installed via dibl's method #3 and 2) enabled the xswat ppa.

So, to answer your question, I don't regularly update my video driver because it seems like non-beta drivers come out only "every so often." Rather, I keep an eye on the NVIDIA website every month or so and download the new non-beta .run and install it (which automatically removes the old driver)

I'm hoping someone can chime in here but, in my experience, you'd be better off choosing either the xswat ppa or the manual .run installation. I've never had any luck using both. Hope this helps!

[eddieg780]

Re: Nvidia driver messed up again

Thanks for all your help guys. I never download and manual install unless the update from xswat ppa messes up which it didn't until 270.18. I suspect it was because it's beta or my kernel had not updated yet. Either way I will wait until the certified driver comes out to try it again. Thanks again.