[solved] Latest update killed nvidia openGL

[doctordruidphd]

Just when I thought it was all working...
The latest update seems to have killed openGL.
I am using the nvidia 185 beta driver, so I may be asking for it, but today's update stopped all the openGL effects, screensavers, etc from working. The driver itself seems to be there -- the fans shut off, the nvidia-setup utility still works (on everything except openGL settings). The xorg.conf file is still as it was, and the system appears to boot just fine.
Is this an alpha/beta problem, or something to be really concerned about?
Do I need to reinstall the nvidia driver every time there is a kernel update?
Thanks. I'm new to the whole nvidia thing.

[flarson]

Re: Latest update killed nvidia openGL

Kernel modules (like the nvidia driver) are kernel specific (mostly) so yes the driver must be rebuilt for each new kernel. The Kubunut packages usually take care of this so you will not notice.

To know if the driver is loaded into the kernel use
lsmod | grep nvidia
If it shows you nvidia the kernel module has loaded.
dpkg -l | grep nvidia
will show you which nvidia packages are installed. You should have corresponding glx adn kernel packages. You may see others that have more than one version installed but anything that has a version should have one that matches the kernel package.

If the module is not loaded you should look at /etc/X11/xorg.conf to see if it refers to nvidia. If not it needs to be changed.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Latest update killed nvidia openGL

OK, here's the readout from lsmod:

greenman@wolfenstein:~$ lsmod | grep nvidia
nvidia       10145048 36

dpkg -l | grep nvidia returns nothing.

The xorg.conf file has not changed:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder62) Fri Mar 13 03:18:18 PST 2009

Section "ServerLayout"
  Identifier  "Layout0"
  Screen   0 "Screen0"
  InputDevice  "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
  InputDevice  "Mouse0" "CorePointer"  
EndSection                 

Section "Files"
EndSection  

Section "Module"
  Load     "dbe"
  Load     "extmod"
  Load     "type1" 
  Load     "freetype"
  Load     "glx"  
EndSection         

Section "InputDevice"
  # generated from default
  Identifier  "Mouse0" 
  Driver    "mouse" 
  Option    "Protocol" "auto"
  Option    "Device" "/dev/psaux"
  Option    "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
  Option    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" 
EndSection               

Section "InputDevice"
  # generated from default
  Identifier  "Keyboard0"
  Driver    "kbd"   
EndSection          

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier  "Monitor0"
  VendorName  "Unknown" 
  ModelName   "Unknown" 
  HorizSync   28.0 - 33.0
  VertRefresh  43.0 - 72.0
  Option    "DPMS"   
EndSection          

Section "Device"
  Identifier  "Device0"
  Driver    "nvidia"
  VendorName  "NVIDIA Corporation"
  Busid     "PCI:01:00:00"
  Option    "sli" "auto"
EndSection

Section "Device"
  Identifier  "Device0"
  Driver    "nvidia"
  VendorName  "NVIDIA Corporation"
  Busid     "PCI:02:00:00"
  Option    "sli" "auto"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  Identifier  "Screen0"
  Device    "Device0"
  Monitor    "Monitor0"
  DefaultDepth  24
  Option    "Coolbits" "1"
  SubSection  "Display"
    Depth   24
  EndSubSection
EndSection

So, do I re-run the NVIDIA--pkg2.run file?
P.S. I didn't use EnvyNG, I used the .run file from the nvidia site. That's the only way to get this driver version, as far as I know. EnvyNG didn't work - that's what broke the xorg.conf file in the first place.

[dibl]

Re: Latest update killed nvidia openGL

So, do I re-run the NVIDIA--pkg2.run file?

If you install a new kernel, the answer to this question is always "YES".

However, at the end of the driver installation routine, when it asks if you want an xorg.conf file written, the answer is "NO", because you already have a good one. If you didn't have one, then you would answer "YES".

[flarson]

Re: Latest update killed nvidia openGL

No. Maybe. Yes Weird. The fact that the module is loading, as shown by lsmod, indicates that the old module meets the kernels requirements as far as matching both the old and new kernels, mostly because they have the same version number. So the answer should be NO.

But you are having trouble and you don't know what was changed in the kernel so the answer is maybe you should.

Then it can't hurt and it might also fix any error with your installed openGL (part of the driver) so, YES.

So do it, It can't hurt.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Latest update killed nvidia openGL

Thanks again for the help.
Reinstalling from the .run file fixed it.
Now I know.