[Linux] Problems with nVidia drivers on Kubuntu AMD64

[Michael Beal]

For the record, I've spent time, off and on, trying to solve this
problem for over 5 weeks now.  Read on...

--- kwan@digitalhermit.com wrote:

> Quoting Michael Beal <mlbeal2003@yahoo.com>:
> 
> > I've been battling this problem for a while now so I've pretty
> > much exhausted everything else.
> >
> >
> > The Issue: Upon enabling the proprietary nVidia drivers in
> > xorg.conf and rebooting, screen goes completely black and
> > PCI-E video card goes to sleep.  Keyboard becomes unresponsive.
> > Requires reset to recover.
> 
> Not a fix, but do you have access to a serial console? The idea being
> that you could redirect the console output to the serial device and  
> maybe see something else. Does the box die completely? I.e., can you 
> access via the network?

With a Debian 4.0 (Testing), I got hard lockups; i.e., the system was
totally unresponsive, network gone, telnetd down, sshd down, X couldn't
save logs, etc...

With Kubuntu, I at least get a log that shows everything is working as
expected up to a point and then X crashes hard, taking down kdm with it
and leaving the keyboard and mouse unusuable.

So, yeah, I've tried all that already.  The only thing I haven't tried
with Kubuntu is setting up XDMCP and logging in to X from another box
to make sure X is capable of running in spite of the crashed state.

> > The Setup: Removed nvidia-glx and linux-restricted-modules from
> > system.  Downloaded 169.07 driver from nVidia.  Installed
> > module-assistant and prepped system for compilation.  Retrieved
> > remaining packages for proper compilation.  Ran nVidia's installer
> > and updated xorg.conf accordingly.
> >
> >
> > The Hardware: MachSpeed MSNV-939 mobo with 2GB DDR RAM, PNY Verto
> > 8500GT Video Card, AMD 64 X2 3800+ processor.  No other notable
> > hardware present.
> >
> >
> > The Logs: dmesg shows nvidia kernel module loads at boot like it's
> > supposed to.  Xorg.0.log shows nvidia module loads yet system never
> > makes it to assessing proper ModeLines.  Rolling back to "nv"
> > driver in xorg.conf and rebooting shows /dev/nvidia0 and 
> > /dev/nvidiactl0 are being created as expected.
> >
> >
> > The BIG Question:  What's causing this and how do I fix it?  Any
> > ideas???
> 
> Other things to try:
> 1) Use plain vga console, disable framebuffer console  (edit the  
> grub.conf and make sure there's no "rhgb", vga= or video= lines.

That's not at issue.  The "nv" driver supplied with Xorg 7.2 and up
works with the 8xxx series nVidia GPUs but doesn't allow for use of
accelerated features.  If video were forced at boot, I would have
different issues.

> 2) See the note on the cabling issue below (sorry if you've already
> seen it):
> http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=101140

IIRC, that note applies to DVI cabling, which I am not using.  I never
build out with anything other than tried-and-true standards, so I'm
using a plain old 15-pin VGA connection common to all monitors. My
monitor is a ProView 19" Widescreen, about a year old.

> What distribution are you using?

Kubuntu 7.10 AMD64...

> gcc version?

The one that ships with Kubuntu 7.10 AMD64.  Probably 4.1.1...

> kernel version?

2.6.22(?) (The one that ships with Kubuntu 7.10 AMD64...)

> It shouldn't matter much, but I have noticed some weirdness with the
> NVidia driver and the xen kernel and at one point, a gcc version
> problem.

Yeah, that's a sanity check that nVidia enforces because of changes in
code maturity between different compiler versions.  Although a kernel
module may load, it may not run due to a compiler version mismatch. 
Setting the environment variable "CC" to point to the compiler that
matches the kernel fixes the compiler mismatch issue, per the nVidia
installer.

Michael


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