HowTo: NViDIA 185.18 Drivers in Ubuntu

[Junkieman]

Hi all,

Has anyone experienced black windows during video playback? VLC, mplayer or xine show a black window instead of a picture. This happens randomly, and video works for the most part. Audio is unaffected.

Restarting X solves this, until it occurs again, I can't recreate it since I'm not sure what triggers it. I'm using version 185 nVidia driver with a 9800GT card. My resolution is perfect, it's just this tiny annoying issue I'd like to fix.

Any tips on tracking it down, would be appreciated

[Norwal]

Did you install the 32bit libraries during install of the driver?

Thanks for the reply Linuxforall. I decided to do a fresh install. Every thing worked from the get go. I guess it was too big a jump from 8.04 to 9.10 to expect a clean transition.

[MongarEric]

I am having the problem of the screen just displaying black with some weird colors at the top when I try to switch to console. When I try to open the menu.lst file, it's just blank so there is nowhere for me to delete the term splash. When I browse to the folder it is supposed to be in, menu.lst isn't there at all. So I don't think that file was created on my system.

I read another user's suggestion to try to boot into recovery mode, and I got to a console that way. When I tried to run the install of the drivers it warned me that the drivers were for a 64 bit machine and it appeared that I am not running the 64 version of Ubuntu. And that is confusing because I downloaded and installed the 64 bit version of Ubuntu.

[erganondorf]

Superb HowTo, Tinivole. GigaThanks.

[LukeKendall]

I searched all the forums and tried lots of plausible tricks, but eventually I had to believe the error messages flagged by "NVRM:" in /var/log/messages, that laid it out quite clearly that my nvidia Geforce 5200 card was not supported by the 185 series driver, and had to be supported via the 173 series. So I removed the nvidia-glx-185 package, installed the nvidia-glx-173 package, and was back in action.

I guess I'll play some videos now and see if the system crashes that occasionally happen watching youtube are due to an irq conflict (maybe sorted by plugging the USB HDD into a different hub), or by the old nvidia drivers.

[LukeKendall]

...

I guess I'll play some videos now and see if the system crashes that occasionally happen watching youtube are due to an irq conflict (maybe sorted by plugging the USB HDD into a different hub), or by the old nvidia drivers.

Well, that didn't take long, it crashed playing a downloaded video
(so it's not network-related).
Maybe one more try, with maxcpus=1.

[LukeKendall]

Well, that didn't take long, it crashed playing a downloaded video
(so it's not network-related).
Maybe one more try, with maxcpus=1.

Okay, that quickly crashed, too. Looks like it's the old 175 series nvidia driver (I've played a video that makes a crash on my desktop on a netbook running 9.10 and Intel's poulsbo driver, and that could play it without crashing the system.

These crashes are hard crashes, BTW. Ctrl-Alt-Del doesn't work, no mouse cursor, display is completely static, even the caps lock light doesn't come on.

Oh, I know, I'll try the nv driver instead of the nvidia one.

[LukeKendall]

Okay, that quickly crashed, too. Looks like it's the old 175 series nvidia driver (I've played a video that makes a crash on my desktop on a netbook running 9.10 and Intel's poulsbo driver, and that could play it without crashing the system.

These crashes are hard crashes, BTW. Ctrl-Alt-Del doesn't work, no mouse cursor, display is completely static, even the caps lock light doesn't come on.

Oh, I know, I'll try the nv driver instead of the nvidia one.

Well, no crash after 8 mins, a new record, by a long margin.
Looks like the bug is definitely in the nvidia glx 175 series driver.

[ibuclaw]

Could you provide logs of the past day(s) ?

Firstly, reproduce the crash.

Then obtain the following logs (if existent):
/var/log/messages
/var/log/Xorg.0.log
/var/log/Xorg.0.log.old
/var/log/Xorg.1.log
/var/log/Xorg.1.log.old

Also, run:

sudo nvidia-bug-report.sh

tar them up, and attach to your next post along with the Date/Time of roughly when your system crashed.

And I'll have a look to see if there is a plausible reason outside of defective drivers.

Regards
Iain

[Ayasugi]

I followed your instructions exactly, and everything went smoothly, until i restarted gdm. Then my old issue reemerged. Ive got a supported card (geforce 9500). Every time i boot, Ubuntu forces me into low graphics mode and i get a dialog that reads "cannot find video device" or "failed to initialize nvidia graphics device on 1:0:0". When i open Nvidia xserver settings, i get a dialog that says "you do not appear to be using the nvidia X driver. Please edit your x configuration file (just run 'nvidia-xconfig' as root), and restart the X server."
Im not an expert, so help is very much appreciated. ive put hours into this so far, and i dont think i have what it takes to find the fix myself. I dont really plan on playing games, i just want my multi-mon capabilities back.

heres the output of grep -i "nvidia\|NVRM" /var/log/syslog

Feb 13 20:07:23 ayasugi kernel: [   11.015814] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 13 20:07:23 ayasugi kernel: [   11.267978] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 13 20:07:23 ayasugi kernel: [   11.267983] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 13 20:07:23 ayasugi kernel: [   11.268139] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  180.44  Mon Mar 23 14:59:10 PST 2009
Feb 13 20:07:34 ayasugi kernel: [   24.964852] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:07:34 ayasugi kernel: [   24.964857] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:07:41 ayasugi kernel: [   32.133073] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:07:41 ayasugi kernel: [   32.133078] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:07:48 ayasugi kernel: [   39.287775] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:07:48 ayasugi kernel: [   39.287779] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:09:33 ayasugi kernel: [   12.609818] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 13 20:09:33 ayasugi kernel: [   12.862490] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 13 20:09:33 ayasugi kernel: [   12.862497] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 13 20:09:33 ayasugi kernel: [   12.862782] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  180.44  Mon Mar 23 14:59:10 PST 2009
Feb 13 20:36:40 ayasugi kernel: [   11.603590] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 13 20:36:40 ayasugi kernel: [   11.855854] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 13 20:36:40 ayasugi kernel: [   11.855862] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 13 20:36:40 ayasugi kernel: [   11.856169] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  180.44  Mon Mar 23 14:59:10 PST 2009
Feb 13 20:36:51 ayasugi kernel: [   25.576833] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:36:51 ayasugi kernel: [   25.576837] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:36:58 ayasugi kernel: [   32.617546] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:36:58 ayasugi kernel: [   32.617551] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:37:05 ayasugi kernel: [   39.648353] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:37:05 ayasugi kernel: [   39.648358] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:38:33 ayasugi kernel: [   12.084026] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 13 20:38:33 ayasugi kernel: [   12.336317] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 13 20:38:33 ayasugi kernel: [   12.336330] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 13 20:38:33 ayasugi kernel: [   12.336508] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  180.44  Mon Mar 23 14:59:10 PST 2009
Feb 13 20:38:44 ayasugi kernel: [   25.913740] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:38:44 ayasugi kernel: [   25.913745] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:38:51 ayasugi kernel: [   33.026084] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:38:51 ayasugi kernel: [   33.026089] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:38:58 ayasugi kernel: [   40.150237] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:38:58 ayasugi kernel: [   40.150241] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:40:09 ayasugi kernel: [   12.241086] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 13 20:40:09 ayasugi kernel: [   12.493261] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 13 20:40:09 ayasugi kernel: [   12.493267] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 13 20:40:09 ayasugi kernel: [   12.493472] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  180.44  Mon Mar 23 14:59:10 PST 2009
Feb 13 20:40:20 ayasugi kernel: [   26.012664] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:40:20 ayasugi kernel: [   26.012669] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:40:27 ayasugi kernel: [   33.116765] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:40:27 ayasugi kernel: [   33.116769] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:40:34 ayasugi kernel: [   40.208885] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:40:34 ayasugi kernel: [   40.208889] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:42:46 ayasugi kernel: [   12.238537] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 13 20:42:46 ayasugi kernel: [   12.490926] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 13 20:42:46 ayasugi kernel: [   12.490934] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 13 20:42:46 ayasugi kernel: [   12.491176] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  180.44  Mon Mar 23 14:59:10 PST 2009
Feb 13 20:42:57 ayasugi kernel: [   25.986902] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:42:57 ayasugi kernel: [   25.986907] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:43:04 ayasugi kernel: [   33.070672] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:43:04 ayasugi kernel: [   33.070677] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 20:43:11 ayasugi kernel: [   40.164318] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 20:43:11 ayasugi kernel: [   40.164323] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 21:11:11 ayasugi kernel: [  229.288925] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 13 21:11:11 ayasugi kernel: [  229.543367] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 13 21:11:11 ayasugi kernel: [  229.543377] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 13 21:11:11 ayasugi kernel: [  229.543921] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  190.53  Tue Dec  8 18:51:41 PST 2009
Feb 13 21:12:53 ayasugi kernel: [   21.247083] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 13 21:12:53 ayasugi kernel: [   21.500207] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 13 21:12:53 ayasugi kernel: [   21.500215] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 13 21:12:53 ayasugi kernel: [   21.500485] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  190.53  Tue Dec  8 18:51:41 PST 2009
Feb 13 21:12:57 ayasugi kernel: [   25.694425] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 13 21:12:57 ayasugi kernel: [   25.694430] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 21:13:00 ayasugi kernel: [   29.003356] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 13 21:13:00 ayasugi kernel: [   29.003361] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 21:13:04 ayasugi kernel: [   32.297949] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 13 21:13:04 ayasugi kernel: [   32.297953] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 22:30:10 ayasugi kernel: [   21.208688] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 13 22:30:11 ayasugi kernel: [   21.461182] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 13 22:30:11 ayasugi kernel: [   21.461190] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 13 22:30:11 ayasugi kernel: [   21.461472] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  190.53  Tue Dec  8 18:51:41 PST 2009
Feb 13 22:30:15 ayasugi kernel: [   25.778383] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 13 22:30:15 ayasugi kernel: [   25.778388] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 22:30:18 ayasugi kernel: [   29.091817] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 13 22:30:18 ayasugi kernel: [   29.091822] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 22:30:22 ayasugi kernel: [   32.397074] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 13 22:30:22 ayasugi kernel: [   32.397079] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 22:32:46 ayasugi kernel: [   20.687259] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 13 22:32:47 ayasugi kernel: [   20.939987] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 13 22:32:47 ayasugi kernel: [   20.940007] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 13 22:32:47 ayasugi kernel: [   20.940539] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  190.53  Tue Dec  8 18:51:41 PST 2009
Feb 13 22:32:51 ayasugi kernel: [   25.204528] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 13 22:32:51 ayasugi kernel: [   25.204534] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 22:32:54 ayasugi kernel: [   28.514376] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 13 22:32:54 ayasugi kernel: [   28.514380] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 22:32:58 ayasugi kernel: [   31.821521] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 13 22:32:58 ayasugi kernel: [   31.821526] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 22:50:58 ayasugi kernel: [   21.652573] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 13 22:50:59 ayasugi kernel: [   21.904977] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 13 22:50:59 ayasugi kernel: [   21.904984] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 13 22:50:59 ayasugi kernel: [   21.905243] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  180.44  Mon Mar 23 14:59:10 PST 2009
Feb 13 22:51:03 ayasugi kernel: [   26.163755] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 22:51:03 ayasugi kernel: [   26.163761] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 22:51:10 ayasugi kernel: [   33.407967] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 22:51:10 ayasugi kernel: [   33.407972] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 13 22:51:17 ayasugi kernel: [   40.655731] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 13 22:51:17 ayasugi kernel: [   40.655735] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 21:31:14 ayasugi kernel: [   23.106699] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 16 21:31:15 ayasugi kernel: [   23.359688] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 16 21:31:15 ayasugi kernel: [   23.359695] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 16 21:31:15 ayasugi kernel: [   23.359955] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  180.44  Mon Mar 23 14:59:10 PST 2009
Feb 16 21:31:19 ayasugi kernel: [   27.625075] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 16 21:31:19 ayasugi kernel: [   27.625080] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 21:31:26 ayasugi kernel: [   34.866948] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 16 21:31:26 ayasugi kernel: [   34.866953] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 21:31:33 ayasugi kernel: [   44.088143] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 16 21:31:33 ayasugi kernel: [   44.088148] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 21:52:53 ayasugi kernel: [   21.462979] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 16 21:52:53 ayasugi kernel: [   21.715335] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 16 21:52:53 ayasugi kernel: [   21.715342] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 16 21:52:53 ayasugi kernel: [   21.715608] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  180.44  Mon Mar 23 14:59:10 PST 2009
Feb 16 21:52:58 ayasugi kernel: [   25.865014] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 16 21:52:58 ayasugi kernel: [   25.865019] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 21:53:05 ayasugi kernel: [   33.003150] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 16 21:53:05 ayasugi kernel: [   33.003155] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 21:53:12 ayasugi kernel: [   40.150527] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 16 21:53:12 ayasugi kernel: [   40.150531] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 22:19:08 ayasugi kernel: [   21.469160] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 16 22:19:08 ayasugi kernel: [   21.721545] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 16 22:19:08 ayasugi kernel: [   21.721563] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 16 22:19:08 ayasugi kernel: [   21.721838] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  180.44  Mon Mar 23 14:59:10 PST 2009
Feb 16 22:19:13 ayasugi kernel: [   26.004854] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 16 22:19:13 ayasugi kernel: [   26.004869] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 22:19:20 ayasugi kernel: [   33.283611] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 16 22:19:20 ayasugi kernel: [   33.283615] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 22:19:27 ayasugi kernel: [   40.562388] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1081)
Feb 16 22:19:27 ayasugi kernel: [   40.562392] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 23:12:12 ayasugi kernel: [ 3205.682491] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 16 23:12:12 ayasugi kernel: [ 3205.683780] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  190.42  Tue Oct 20 20:18:32 PDT 2009
Feb 16 23:22:05 ayasugi kernel: [  475.327262] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Feb 16 23:22:05 ayasugi kernel: [  475.581725] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Feb 16 23:22:05 ayasugi kernel: [  475.581735] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Feb 16 23:22:05 ayasugi kernel: [  475.582197] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  190.42  Tue Oct 20 20:18:32 PDT 2009
Feb 16 23:22:10 ayasugi kernel: [  480.017274] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 16 23:22:10 ayasugi kernel: [  480.017282] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 23:22:13 ayasugi kernel: [  483.402948] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 16 23:22:13 ayasugi kernel: [  483.402953] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Feb 16 23:22:16 ayasugi kernel: [  486.746738] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1119)
Feb 16 23:22:16 ayasugi kernel: [  486.746742] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
ayasugi@ayasugi:~$