Strange nvidia driver problem, need suggestions

[mvidberg]

I am having a very strange problem with the "nvidia" driver for xorg. I recently (about 2 weeks) installed Kubuntu and everything was working fine, the nvidia module loaded and my 3D games (tremulous, secondlife, UT2004, etc) would run fine... then the other day I rebooted and Xorg didn't come back up. The moment xorg starts to load it just hard freezes the entire computer (can't do Ctrl-Alt-Delete or Ctrl-SysReq keys). I have to log in via recovery mode and change the driver in /etc/X11/xorg.conf to "nv" to be able to get back in. No error messages posted in /var/log/Xorg.0.log. Now, it is ok to use the "nv" driver to at least have a usuable computer, but why doesn't "nvidia" work for me anymore?

My computer specs are:
MB = Asus M3A
CPU = AMD Athlon X2 5000+
VC = Asus nVidia 7600GS
LCD = Viewsonic VA2026w (connected via a VGA cable, not DVI)

[dibl]

Re: Strange nvidia driver problem, need suggestions

I have two answers for you.

1. To pursue the "what went wrong" path, you might investigate the logs at /var/log/X.0.log including the older file there.

2. To put yourself in position for fast recovery, when this happens again, download and install the Envy script installer from here. Once you have it installed, you can run it in text mode from the command line, with

sudo envy -t

So, the next time you find yourself looking at a broken driver, you will simply boot recovery mode, do

sudo envy -t

, and be back in business right away.

[mvidberg]

Re: Strange nvidia driver problem, need suggestions

I have two answers for you.

1. To pursue the "what went wrong" path, you might investigate the logs at /var/log/X.0.log including the older file there.

2. To put yourself in position for fast recovery, when this happens again, download and install the Envy script installer from here. Once you have it installed, you can run it in text mode from the command line, with

sudo envy -t

So, the next time you find yourself looking at a broken driver, you will simply boot recovery mode, do

sudo envy -t

, and be back in business right away.

The last two lines of /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old are as follows:
(II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//nvidia_drv.so

As you can see, nothing gets logged once it freezes upon trying to load nvidia_drv.so. The log is no help in this case.

I took your suggestion and installed envy. I let it do it's thing and install the latest nvidia driver and modify my xorg.conf. Upon reboot, the same thing, frozen computer upon loading nvidia. So back I come with the "nv" driver. *sigh*

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions.

[klerfayt]

Re: Strange nvidia driver problem, need suggestions

you may find a solution to your problem at nvidida forums

[mvidberg]

Re: Strange nvidia driver problem, need suggestions

So after upgrading to latest kubuntu 8.04, I just tried installing the nvidia driver again 3 different ways... normally via adept, using envy and by directly download and installing the driver from nvidia site. Nothing works. When I boot with "nvidia" (instead of "nv"), I get a black screen on X11 starting and complete system lock-up. I have no idea where to go from here... I guess I just live without 3D (have to resort to my windows box for games) until I change my hardware or the next update of kubuntu that may fix things. Sigh.

[dibl]

Re: Strange nvidia driver problem, need suggestions

Probably you need to configure the xorg.conf file BEFORE you try to log into KDE. Last post here might help:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3094850.0

[mvidberg]

Re: Strange nvidia driver problem, need suggestions

Tried a Sabayon Linux boot DVD (which has nvidia driver built-in) and everything works fine. I know I could spend more time on getting the nvidia card to work in Kubuntu (like it originally did) but I think I'll check out Sabayon for a while ... it's a fairly slick distro. I install the 64-bit version and everything is running smooth, my video games are all working again. Also, it works with a DVI cable to the LCD, where Kubuntu would only work with a VGA cable. Strange quirks.

Note to dibl: I was configuring the xorg.conf file by booting up single user mode and using joe text editor to make modification, then rebooting. I tried different xorg.conf files from various sources and generated by various programs as well. There was just something with the combination of the current kernel in kubuntu and the nvidia driver and my specific card that just didn't jive. This can be the only explanation, as it worked fine initially, it was after a kubuntu update that things broke.

[mvidberg]

OMG

Just an update... I have discovered that the issue is probably not with the software at all. My new motherboard (or then the nvidia card) WILL NOT allow the nvidia driver to load if the computer has been on for a long time and is coming up from a cold boot. The nvidia driver loads perfectly fine after a warm boot... but actually shutting it off and turning it back on does not allow X11 to load with closed-source nvidia driver. The solution is if I have to shutdown completely for some reason, to wait about 15 minutes to let the system cool down, then boot and it works fine. What an extremely odd problem and very frustrating to troubleshoot... hope this helps someone else that may have this issue (unlikely, heh).