Where was the my mistake??

[Nightwalker107]

Something weird had happened with me yesterday morning. And I just would like to know where was my mistake.

I tried to install the driver of the nvidia that I downloaded from the nvidia website. I started kubuntu in recovery mode, since the driver complains of the X server started if I run it into the KDE, and then I went to where the driver where located and run the drive installer with the "sh" command.

The driver was successfully installed (apparently), and it started the KDE. Everything seems to be working fine. I checked with the command "glxinfo | grep rendering" and the response was "yes".

Then I restarded the system, and the splash screen of loging into the KDE didn't appear anymore. It showed to me the login screen of the "console". I tried to give a "telinit 5" and it didn't work. At the end, since I had just installed the Kubuntu, and I hadn't any data to loose, I just installed it again, and installed the driver via apt-get. That way, everything worked fine.

My question is: Have anyone a clue of what happened on my driver installation? (I suspect that the driver installation changed some configuration file).

The second question is: Does anyone already passed through the situation of the Kubuntu only logging into the "console" mode? How could I possibly have solved that issue? (I know that is very difficult to appoint a exact solution, since we don't know how was exactly the cause of the problem,)

I'm just asking that, because I would like to have a idea of what to do when I got into a situation like that, and I think it can occurs with any newby

Thanks!

[penguin.ch]

Re: Where was the my mistake??

O.k., let's try to sort this out: most likely, the installation of the "external" driver software ruined the configuration of your system's X server, while the installation of the "internal" proceeded as expected, thus "only" updating the relevant configuration - which is why I strongly discourage beginners from any attempt to install software from other than the official repositories ... for background: "3rd-party" packages are not preconfigured to blend in the Kubuntu system the way the ones from the internal sources are, thus potentially jeopardizing the operability of the system's concerned parts.

And how to proceed in "case of chaos" ... a generic answer you may find on this page or by searching through this forum, for similar topics have been discussed more than once ... the problem, however, is this (from my experience, at least): in order to find a helpful answer, you must learn to ask the correct question - or, in other words: the first step towards a solution is the right definition of the problem ...

In your case, for example, it would have proven helpful to know that Linux is essentially a non-graphical system, with a graphical interface "sittin' atop" of it ... thus, with the console at your hand, the system is actually up and running - merely missing the cream of the crop, so to speak ... in short: no reason to panic, but to manually reconfigure the X server, for example.

--

Postscript: reference updated

[arochester]

Re: Where was the my mistake??

the splash screen of loging into the KDE didn't appear anymore. It showed to me the login screen of the "console"

When this happens you don't have to reinstall. I found Psychocats very helpful. Read " Troubleshooting X" at http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/nox particulary the section "You have a graphical environment, but it won't show the way I want it to" At the prompt input:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

As it says -"This will pop up a text-based graphical "wizard" that will ask you questions about your keyboard, your mouse, your graphics card, and your monitor. Answer the questions as best you can. If you don't know the answer to a question, just go with the default and press Enter."

On the subject of video driver: I had big trouble. My computer had in the past Nvidia drivers, then Nvidia beta drivers, I had glx, Beryl then Compiz - then catastrophe - and I couldn't install Nvidia drivers at all. I posted on the Ubuntu Forum and got no real help. Then I tried the updated script "Envy" (available from my repositories) which downloads and installs either Nvidia or Ati. Problem solved. I had a bit of trouble initially deciding whether X should be on or off during the install, and the Nvidia splash screen does not flash up - but hey it's there.

[Nightwalker107]

Re: Where was the my mistake??

Hi,

Yes, my question refer exactly to this, what do I have to do when my system is on chaos.

I read the links and probably if I knew of that informations, the reinstall would not be necessary (but since there was no information to loose, it was not a big deal).

Thanks a lot for the informations, it can be very helpful with sure.

Just a comment, I think the big problem of the system get into chaos, is that sometimes you don't have a chance of access it to fix it. So really if you access the "live CD" is very helpful on these situations. And really, know how to use the console is even more helpful.

[pwright2]

Re: Where was the my mistake??

for Arochester,

Your script 'Envy' sounds like the piece of magic I need. Or, at least, I am willing to grasp at such a straw. I've followed the different threads and guides on installing fglrx so far without success. VESA works perfectly - but at a snails pace. Would you be willing to reveal how I could satisfy my Envy needs?

-----Paul-----

[monte48lowes]

Re: Where was the my mistake??

Installing the nvidia drivers in recovery mode did not work well for me either. Someone who knows better feel free to correct my errors here... The recovery mode does not load the same kernel and/or modules that the normal kernel does.
The proper way to install the nvidia drivers (which has worked for me several times) in basic steps:

1) Ctrl-Alt-F1 to a console
2) Login as user
3) sudo /etc/init.d/kdm stop (this stops kdm aka the x-server)
4) Run the nvidia installer
5) sudo /etc/init.d/kdm start (starts kdm aka the x-server)

There are some additional packages related to the kernel headers etc that have to be installed prior to using the nvidia installer. Additionally it is a good idea to remove the nvidia packages if you have installed them.

Mike