Serious video problem post 12.04 Updates

[HalationEffect]

A part of me really wants to use the Xorg-Edgers PPA (and the Intel-SNA PPA), in order to eke out as much performance (and enable as many features) as possible from my Sandy Bridge system.

Then I read things like:

"Warning: This is for testing only! Expect to screw up your X if you try this out."

and

To revert to official packages, you can install the ppa-purge package and run "sudo ppa-purge xorg-edgers". Note: This currently has issues in oneiric and later because ppa-purge does not work with multiarch.

and I get very nervous... which is why so far I've only been brave enough to use the X-Swat PPA.

[SteveRiley]

Thanks very much Steve for reminding me of Xorg_Edgers... In my opinion, Xorg-Edgers have done a superb job.

You're welcome! I agree, Xorg-Edgers is great stuff.

A part of me really wants to use the Xorg-Edgers PPA, in order to eke out as much performance as possible from my Sandy Bridge system. Then I read things like... and I get very nervous... which is why so far I've only been brave enough to use the X-Swat PPA.

I've been using Xorg-Edgers on all my machines for over a year now, and can't think of one instance where it's caused a problem. I do install PPA-Purge just to be safe, though. I've tested PPA-Purge and can report that works as advertised.

[HalationEffect]

I've been using Xorg-Edgers on all my machines for over a year now, and can't think of one instance where it's caused a problem. I do install PPA-Purge just to be safe, though. I've tested PPA-Purge and can report that works as advertised.

Being problem-free for more than a year is quite the recommendation! It certainly makes me feel more confident that it's a very low risk (my favourite kind of risk). Also glad to hear that PPA-Purge does work after all.

[Fintan]

I have been using exedgers now for a few days and can only say up until now. My lappy has been completely silent for the first time . Only when I fire up win 7 in vmplayer (which compiled nicely in kernel 3.5) the fan starts to work a bit. Oh and edgers gave me an update to xserver-xorg-video-vmware which finaly enabled 3D in my win7 guest on vmplayer. YEY. Thanks steve for reminding me of this PPA.

[NoWorries]

SOLVED: Nuked my Wife's Computer with Xorg-Edgers

I think it pays to be a little more careful as I was so confident with Xorg-Edgers on my Laptop (ASUS F3Jr) that I decided to do the changes on my Wife's computer which is a Compaq Presario AIO. I used ppa-purge to recover but in the process it wanted to remove a truckload of software which I declined. So I am currently reinstalling 12.04 after my attempt to install 12.10 crashed without giving any information.

So be prepared to redo your installation if you use Xorg-Eggers.

Edit:

After doing the reinstall, I added the ppa for Xorg-Eggers, updated and the reboot was successful. I think the problem was that the ATI Calalyst package was installed previously and it conflicted with the updates from Xorg-Eggers.

I have found only two negative outcomes from this process. The first is that an old Logitech webcam is no longer recognized and the second is that my USB Digital TV receiver (ASUS My Cinema U9000 Mini) does not tune correctly. If I want to change channels, I select the one I want, Exit Kaffeine, restart and it will work on the last selected channel. The Kaffeine device used is DiBcom 7000PC.

[tek_heretik]

I think it pays to be a little more careful as I was so confident with Xorg-Edgers on my Laptop (ASUS F3Jr) that I decided to do the changes on my Wife's computer which is a Compaq Presario AIO. I used ppa-purge to recover but in the process it wanted to remove a truckload of software which I declined. So I am currently reinstalling 12.04 after my attempt to install 12.10 crashed without giving any information.

So be prepared to redo your installation if you use Xorg-Eggers.

If it aint broke, don't fix it. =/ Thank God I dumped Asus for Gigabyte, the bugs and dying USB ports, etc, were getting on my nerves. I had no problem installing 12.04 or with the nVidia driver, then again, I don't own a laptop and don't want one, just something else to get stolen...and I have no need to drag a computer around with me all day.

[NoWorries]

If it aint broke, don't fix it. =/ Thank God I dumped Asus for Gigabyte, the bugs and dying USB ports, etc, were getting on my nerves. I had no problem installing 12.04 or with the nVidia driver, then again, I don't own a laptop and don't want one, just something else to get stolen...and I have no need to drag a computer around with me all day.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I don't take that approach but this one: "If it ain't broke, find out how to improve it.". Your approach is OK if you are very busy and do not have the time to try something else. In my opinion as an Australian, it is also the approach that the US Auto industry took in the past with their development of cars. That is why the Japanese cars became more popular because they introduced improved designs and engineering.

"I don't own a laptop and don't want one, just something else to get stolen...and I have no need to drag a computer around with me all day." I don't drag a laptop around with me all day, but it is useful when I travel for processing photos, connecting back home to check mail, and Skype to friends. For times when I am home, I use it mainly for doing presentations as I find that LibreOffice files converted to Power Point are not as good and it becomes more complicated if videos are included in the presentation. Also, taking the laptop lets others know that Kubuntu is a creditable alternative to MS Windows.

Now back to the problem that I reported about my Wife's Computer. It is now fully functional with all the Xorg-Edgers installed. The problem was that I had installed the ATI Catalyst package which is not open source and the installed software must have conflicted with it. Doing a re-install is very straight forward as I have separate /root and /home partitions. I also have a file with all the steps that I documented when I did the last installation as I have NFS networking as well as a common e-mail package for all machines to setup.

[tek_heretik]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I don't take that approach but this one: "If it ain't broke, find out how to improve it.". Your approach is OK if you are very busy and do not have the time to try something else. In my opinion as an Australian, it is also the approach that the US Auto industry took in the past with their development of cars. That is why the Japanese cars became more popular because they introduced improved designs and engineering.

"I don't own a laptop and don't want one, just something else to get stolen...and I have no need to drag a computer around with me all day." I don't drag a laptop around with me all day, but it is useful when I travel for processing photos, connecting back home to check mail, and Skype to friends. For times when I am home, I use it mainly for doing presentations as I find that LibreOffice files converted to Power Point are not as good and it becomes more complicated if videos are included in the presentation. Also, taking the laptop lets others know that Kubuntu is a creditable alternative to MS Windows.

Now back to the problem that I reported about my Wife's Computer. It is now fully functional with all the Xorg-Edgers installed. The problem was that I had installed the ATI Catalyst package which is not open source and the installed software must have conflicted with it. Doing a re-install is very straight forward as I have separate /root and /home partitions. I also have a file with all the steps that I documented when I did the last installation as I have NFS networking as well as a common e-mail package for all machines to setup.

I am glad you made some progress, good to hear. I am not an admin but I believe the appropriate thing to do now would be to mark this thread 'solved'.

[SteveRiley]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I don't take that approach but this one: "If it ain't broke, find out how to improve it."

Mine is, "If it ain't broke, I'm not doing it right."

[tek_heretik]

Mine is, "If it ain't broke, I'm not doing it right."

I hear that Steve but I am way past 'testing', etc, just want me pooter to work, which it is, very nicely thanks to Kubuntu.

[Cresho]

I expirienced the same problem on my machine. I had decided to pull or shut off all usb related on bios or even unplug usb plugs from my pc. it was running fine. THen It all came down to a sony usb car reader. Replaced it for a pro-55u, now all is fine.

[lmettler]

bad driver or bad update?

Support for the GeForce 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a integrated video goes far back as 2007 ( http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_d...100.14.11.html ). That link is for information only. The first thing I do after a fresh install is install the video driver/update the distro. Try installing the video driver BEFORE updating.

I would expect support for the integrated NVIDIA driver to go back a while. After all, the ASUS board is not a new one.

I tried installing the video driver as per your suggestion. It appears I would have to recompile the kernel to do so. I think I can wait until the problem with the update is properly resolved. Would not the driver in the original 12.04 install be that driver? Or, does it use some generic driver?

I also note that as I have reported if those 7 files listed above are NOT included in the update, the video problem goes away. So I suspect the problem is not with the driver itself anyway, but rather some of those update files. Note that the base install works just fine. It is the normal 'update all' that bricks the system. And that should be attended to. I was lucky enough to have found those seven files. One or more of those update files present the problem.

So until the update is corrected, the choice for me is either to avoid all of the updates. Or, just pick and choose from the list and hope the updates you actually need do not brick the system.

I also tried installing Ubuntu 12.04 but it would not install completely. So while the ASUS board and video has been around for a while, testing that hardware with the 12.04 releases/updates has been omitted.

LinuxMint also had a problem installing. I guess I better try OpenSUSE, Federo, Mandrake or others in order to find a recent distribution that will actually work. Or, as I have stated, avoid the updates. At least some of them.

[tek_heretik]

I would expect support for the integrated NVIDIA driver to go back a while. After all, the ASUS board is not a new one.

I tried installing the video driver as per your suggestion. It appears I would have to recompile the kernel to do so. I think I can wait until the problem with the update is properly resolved. Would not the driver in the original 12.04 install be that driver? Or, does it use some generic driver?

I also note that as I have reported if those 7 files listed above are NOT included in the update, the video problem goes away. So I suspect the problem is not with the driver itself anyway, but rather some of those update files. Note that the base install works just fine. It is the normal 'update all' that bricks the system. And that should be attended to. I was lucky enough to have found those seven files. One or more of those update files present the problem.

So until the update is corrected, the choice for me is either to avoid all of the updates. Or, just pick and choose from the list and hope the updates you actually need do not brick the system.

I also tried installing Ubuntu 12.04 but it would not install completely. So while the ASUS board and video has been around for a while, testing that hardware with the 12.04 releases/updates has been omitted.

LinuxMint also had a problem installing. I guess I better try OpenSUSE, Federo, Mandrake or others in order to find a recent distribution that will actually work. Or, as I have stated, avoid the updates. At least some of them.

Sorry, I just naturally assumed you knew I meant the proprietary nVidia driver. Just how old is the Asus board? You may have to sniff around the nVidia site to see what exactly is supported in their latest stable Linux driver, and you may need to use their 'legacy hardware' driver. This takes some further investigation.

Bingo!... http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-d...59-driver.html This is the 'stable' 64-bit driver, I am not sure what you are using. Click the supported products tab, yours is there (scroll down to GeForce 7 series). Your hardware is also supported in the latest drivers (32 and 64-bit), 302.17.

Full 'Unix' drivers (Linux is there also) listings...http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html

Install Synaptic or use Muon and search 'nvidia'. Even when I was forced to download a Linux driver from nVidia's site, they have always worked, sometimes a little tricky to get installed but nothing new there, lol. The driver I am using was in the repository and it works beautifully, actually quite fantastic.

If you install it through Synaptic or Muon, the headers, etc are installed for you, a simple reboot should suffice after installation, this is actually a very simple procedure, I find installing anything in Linux much less of a headache then in Win-DOHs.

Try this package (kubuntu-low-fat-settings) too afterwards, I found it helped, speeds things up, but it shut just a little too much off for me so I clicked around and turned a few things back on, mostly eye-candy.

The only other things I can think of is the memory needs testing ( http://www.memtest.org/ ), the fans are clogged, etc. AMDs notoriously bog down when overheating, I just cleaned up an AMD machine with a stock CPU heatsink, poor design to say the least.

[lmettler]

Sorry, I just naturally assumed you knew I meant the proprietary nVidia driver. Just how old is the Asus board? You may have to sniff around the nVidia site to see what exactly is supported in their latest stable Linux driver, and you may need to use their 'legacy hardware' driver. This takes some further investigation.

<snip>

The only other things I can think of is the memory needs testing ( http://www.memtest.org/ ), the fans are clogged, etc. AMDs notoriously bog down when overheating, I just cleaned up an AMD machine with a stock CPU heatsink, poor design to say the least.

The ASUS board is not too old. Am running Phenom IIs, etc. And 32 bit. Actually I have four systems running essentially the same board. They may be different versions however. This one is running the base install and is working just fine. Another I can use to run tests, etc. All run through a KVM switch. Which I have found out can be confused with all this toying around. Before long even systems that were running just fine stop booting up. Not nice. But, a power cycle allows the switch to work again.

As much as I would like to see this problem fixed, it does run just fine with the base install. Am tapping this out with it now. Seems fast and quick. And I was able to update all the applications without a problem. I was even able to activate the optional NVIDIA drivers for some enhanced feature set. So I am fine, right?

Yes and no. I see comments above about "ain't broke, don't fix it". But, it would be nice to apply all of the updates. I guess it is hard to understand why the updates require a different driver (but don't provide it). If that is the case. In the meantime, I can just do without the updates. Perhaps when the smart people look at this problem, the updates will get corrected. It is the LTS.

The big question in my mind is whether the problem is with the driver or the updates. As reported, when I disable the update of those 7 files, the problem does not show up. Even with the base driver. I am not convinced the driver needs to be replaced. Although it appears that KDE and the driver get themselves into a loop of some kind after the update. Not easy to ascertain from afar which may be at fault.

[lmettler]

have to admit to being a bit confused here

I have installed Kubuntu 12.04 a number of times with few problems. Actually, I did have a few problems but was able to resolve those issues.

<snip>

I must admit to being a bit confused about updating Kubuntu 12.04.

This problem originally developed because I used the Muon Package Manager to conduct the updates. And you can read all the posts in this thread to follow out that problem.

However, I discovered that if I use the Muon Update Manager instead, the update process completes without error AND most interestingly without any problems being associated with the NVidia drivers. Or, so it seems.

And strangely to me, once I run the Muon Update Manager, the Muon Package Manager also reports that nothing needs to be updated.

So, what if the difference between these two utilities? And why does one turn my system into a brick yet the other brings everything up to snuff?

I could mark this whole thread as fixed. But, I have no idea why. Why the two utilities? Why does it matter which one is run first (or at all)? And why does the Muon Package Manager turn my system into a brick? But, if the Muon Update Manager is run first, everything is fine and up to date plus the Muon Package Manager is not required at all? Nothing left to update.

And, most interestingly, why has not anyone ask me just which utility I ran to brick my system? Maybe I am not the only one confused here?