ubuntu 9.10 (64 bit) on Alienware m17x

[afbase]

Could somebody explain to me how they got their wifi working?


datman's explanation didn't work for me.

[afbase]

Could somebody explain to me how they got their wifi working?


datman's explanation didn't work for me.

Ok I figured out the wifi this morning. Here is my issue: I followed datman's instructions in this thread in kernel 2.6.31-14-generic. I upgraded to kernel 2.6.31-17-generic. My Nvidia drivers won't in 2.6.31-17-generic. This is the error in my /var/log/xorg.log

(II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//nvidia_drv.so
(II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
        compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
        Module class: X.Org Video Driver
(EE) NVIDIA: Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module. Please check your
(EE) NVIDIA:     system's kernel log for additional error messages.
(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
(II) Unloading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//nvidia_drv.so
(EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module-specific error, 0)
(EE) No drivers available.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
         at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.

 ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log

Are there any solutions to my issue?

I see there are two files of interest in the /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/ folder. I have nvidia_drv.so and nv_drv.so I'm assuming I want to have Xorg load the nv_drv.so instead of the nvidia_drv.so. Is this correct? and how can I do it?

[[Neurotic]]

afbase - if you upgrade your kernel, you have to manually recompile your drivers each time.

APT usually takes care of this for you, but if you are setting up manual drivers, then you have to take care of this yourself.

Its a bit of a pain, but it works.

The only thing that is still driving me crazy on the m17x is the random bootup to black screen. Is anyone else getting this?

It seems to be related to a DMESG message of:

[  601.040078] Corrupted low memory at ffff8800000017a8 (17a8 phys) = e1b700000000
[  601.040084] Corrupted low memory at ffff880000001e00 (1e00 phys) = e1b700000000
[  601.040087] Corrupted low memory at ffff880000001e58 (1e58 phys) = e1b700000000
[  601.040090] Corrupted low memory at ffff880000002450 (2450 phys) = e1b700000000
[  601.040093] Corrupted low memory at ffff880000002880 (2880 phys) = e1b700000000
[  601.040098] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[  601.040107] WARNING: at /build/buildd/linux-2.6.31/arch/x86/kernel/check.c:134 check_for_bios_corruption+0xe5/0x100()
[  601.040111] Hardware name: M17x          
[  601.040112] Memory corruption detected in low memory

And it only happens randomly on first boot. If I shut down the laptop, and then boot again, it comes up just fine. The 2x boot is starting to drive me crazy though. I would love to have a workaround if anyone has one?

[drbcladd]

This is a fun thread to read; I got most of the elements working (including sound: I purged pulse-audio and updated the alsa drivers and the sound card worked). I, too, am getting the random crashes with low memory corruption. The system log contains

Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040149] Corrupted low memory at ffff8800000029e0 (29e0 phys) = e1b700000000
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040171] Corrupted low memory at ffff8800000039e0 (39e0 phys) = e1b700000000
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040188] Corrupted low memory at ffff880000005dc0 (5dc0 phys) = e1b700000000
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040199] Corrupted low memory at ffff880000005e10 (5e10 phys) = e1b700000000
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040210] Corrupted low memory at ffff880000005f80 (5f80 phys) = e1b700000000
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040219] ------------[ cut here ]------------
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040247] WARNING: at /build/buildd/linux-2.6.31/arch/x86/kernel/check.c:134 check_for_bios_corruption+0xe5/0x100()
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040258] Hardware name: M17x          
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040265] Memory corruption detected in low memory
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040273] Modules linked in: binfmt_misc ppdev snd_hda_codec_idt snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec snd_hwdep snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss bridge snd_pcm snd_seq_dummy stp snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi bnep snd_rawmidi snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq snd_timer snd_seq_device lib80211_crypt_tkip snd soundcore coretemp wl(P) uvcvideo iptable_filter sdhci_pci videodev ip_tables ricoh_mmc snd_page_alloc psmouse i2c_nforce2 sdhci lib80211 lp btusb v4l1_compat nvidia(P) v4l2_compat_ioctl32 led_class serio_raw x_tables parport joydev dm_raid45 xor usbhid ohci1394 video output ieee1394 forcedeth
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040451] Pid: 15, comm: events/0 Tainted: P           2.6.31-20-server #58-Ubuntu
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040462] Call Trace:
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040484]  [<ffffffff8105e538>] warn_slowpath_common+0x78/0xb0
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040501]  [<ffffffff8105e5cc>] warn_slowpath_fmt+0x3c/0x40
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040517]  [<ffffffff810366a5>] check_for_bios_corruption+0xe5/0x100
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040532]  [<ffffffff810366c0>] ? check_corruption+0x0/0x30
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040545]  [<ffffffff810366c9>] check_corruption+0x9/0x30
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040564]  [<ffffffff810731f5>] run_workqueue+0x95/0x170
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040578]  [<ffffffff81073374>] worker_thread+0xa4/0x120
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040593]  [<ffffffff81078500>] ? autoremove_wake_function+0x0/0x40
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040608]  [<ffffffff810732d0>] ? worker_thread+0x0/0x120
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040621]  [<ffffffff81078116>] kthread+0xa6/0xb0
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040636]  [<ffffffff8101312a>] child_rip+0xa/0x20
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040649]  [<ffffffff81078070>] ? kthread+0x0/0xb0
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040662]  [<ffffffff81013120>] ? child_rip+0x0/0x20
Mar 22 10:04:26 BigRedTwo kernel: [ 5461.040671] ---[ end trace 5362289327b42f7e ]---

After this morning's reboot. The crashes seem to trace to the use of the NVidia drivers (may be the SLI). I will try disabling SLI and see if that fixes anything.

Thanks to everyone who posted progress; happy to pay back if there are any questions.

-bcl

[f4ded_glory]

Has anybody found a fix for the hybrid graphics on the M17x? Is it possible to boot with all three video card enabled?

[[Neurotic]]

Has anybody found a fix for the hybrid graphics on the M17x? Is it possible to boot with all three video card enabled?

The only way I've found to do it, is disable the nvidia driver

Not so great an idea though!

[drbcladd]

Similar results: I can boot with 1 NVidia card running high-resolution graphics, I can boot with the on-board graphics after disabling nvidia drivers, and hybrid graphics always seems to screw things up.

Another question: Has anyone succeeded in turning off the BIOS reset to on-board graphics during a non-plugged in boot? That is, whenever I boot the machine and am NOT on an AC adapter, the BIOS enables the integrated graphics. That is after I explicitly turned OFF the integrated graphics (I don't care about battery life right now!) During the boot I can go to Setup (<F2>), go to Advanced | Graphics Settings and turn it off AGAIN but that is getting a little bit old. Doubles the boot time.

[pranaynewton]

Hi,

I have got SLI working on ubuntu its working pretty well. I am posting my xorg.conf file.
I am using the Nvidia CUDA developer driver.

You can download it from this site:

32-bit:
http://developer.download.nvidia.com..._195.36.15.run

64-bit:
http://developer.download.nvidia.com..._195.36.15.run

here's my xorg.conf file:

[f4ded_glory]

I got everything working except the integrated camera, and ofcourse, the hybrid graphics. I'm not even sure where to begin with the hybrid. I'm running CUDA so that why I want all three graphics to run so I can run CUDA jobs on the discrete and the display on the 9400M. I don't need the SLI. Just all three graphic chips usable by the system.

Any idea on how to get the camera working?

I'm using Lenny 64-bit.

[[Neurotic]]

Just want to check if anyone is running Lucid yet?

Any issues with the graphics cards? I noticed lucid is using the nvidia 185.x driver, and there are issues upgrading to 195.x manually.

Figured it was worth asking the question before I upgraded.