Graphics Resolution- Upgrade /Blank Screen after reboot

[PapaNerd]

Tagging my similar problem onto this thread rather than creating a new one.

For the 2+ years I have had three machines running 10.04 LTS and recently successfully installed 12.04.1 LTS on one (M4A87TD, Radeon 4550) system. Using the same DVD, I then attempted an installation on a (A8N-VM CSM, GeForce 6150) system. Each of these were fresh installs on wiped partitions.

The first problem on the second system, a black screen when booting from the 12.04.1 installation DVD, was overcome with a "nomodeset" command line option. The second problem is a black screen on the first reboot after installation. Actually, the screen flashes very dark purple for a fraction of a second, the monitor momentarily complains about a lost video signal, and then the screen goes into a black screen of death (no blinking cursor, nothing), and I cannot switch to the CLI via cntl-alt-f(anything).

I then rebooted from the 12.04.1 DVD, mounted the boot partition of the hard drive and temporarily changed the default in /boot/grub/grub.cfg to boot into recovery mode. On the reboot, I was able to exit from the recovery screen and continue the boot. I then did an "apt-get install nvidia-current" (which claimed to have brought in the nvidia 295.40 driver), a "modprobe nvidia-current" and a "/etc/init.d/lightdm restart" which promptly hung the display manager. Rebooting again brought up a login screen with only some of the graphics working (as in pixelated partial characters). After entering my password in the blind, the desktop that came up was a mix of small text on the top bar along with grossly enlarged icons on the left side. When trying to click on the dash button, all icons began changing sizes on their own, leaving a mix of three sizes on the screen.

Next, I rebooted back through the recovery screen, and did a cntl-alt-f1 into the CLI. I then did an "apt-get remove --purge nvidia*" and an "apt-get install nvidia-173" per another advice posting. After rebooting, I got a normal login screen followed by a diagonally split desktop image with large icons. I again did a cntl-alt-f1 into the CLI, followed by an "apt-get remove --purge nvidia-173" plus a reboot through the recovery screen. This time, both the login screen and the desktop were back to normal, so I brought up a terminal window and changed the default flag in /boot/grub/grub.cfg back to regular (non-recovery) mode. Now when I boot, the Ubuntu splash screen comes up, follow by the black screen of death, and cntl-alt-f(anything) attempts again fail.

Obviously, things are not working too well on this installation, and I cannot seem to find a set of repair instructions that fit my failure scenario. If the OS can be made to work in recovery mode, why not regular mode? Doing a bit of searching, nvidia compatibility problems have been fairly common going back to at least 2005. With over 1100 posts on this thread so far, it would seem that engaging a little Ubuntu developer time to make this whole thing simple and transparent would be in order.

[bogan]

Hi!, PapaNerd,

The Nvidia Linux video driver v295.40, both nvidia-current and Nvidia.com Download, is notoriously bug-ridden with certain video cards, especially the 6xxx series.

'nvidia-173' is a Legacy driver for nvidia cards of the 5xxx FX series and earlier, updated for compatibility with the latest Xorgserver included in Kernel versions from 12.04 onwards.

The latest series of nvidia drivers, v310.xx do not support the 6xxx series cards, and there are reservations about support for 7xxx cards.

With 12.04 or 12.10 Ubuntu your GeForce [?GT?]6150 should [ emphazise: 'should'] work OK, and support Unity 3D, though you may need to use the 'nomodeset' boot option.
There are, however, quite a few Posts, as you noted, that report no success, having to revert to 2D or stuck in a Low Res Screen display.

Please Post:

lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 vga
/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
apt-cache policy nvidia-current

Chao!, bogan.

[PapaNerd]

bogan: Thanks for the bit of tribal knowledge on the nvidia drivers. Except for the bug-ridden ones, such info has been hard to find.

I blew away my 12.04.1 installation attempt last night and have downloaded and attempted a Mint 14.1 (ubuntu 12.10 base, as you likely know) installation. While I am no longer getting the black screen of death, I now get an X server failure message and the system drops into CLI mode. Here is the output of the three commands (on Mint 14.1).

00:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation C51PV [GeForce 6150] [10de:0240] (rev a2)
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. A8N-VM CSM [1043:81cd]
	Kernel driver in use: nouveau
	Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidiafb

Error: unable to open display

nvidia-current:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
     304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/restricted amd64 Packages

I can reload 12.04.1 if it would help to have that for comparison.

[bogan]

Hi!, PapaNerd,

I am afraid my knowledge of Mint is zero, or about how it might affect a Black Screen problem.

What is the actual XServer failure message?

Have you tried editing the grub menu script Linux boot line and adding 'nomodeset' after "ro quiet splash"? [ As you did with 12.04]

Try running:

glxinfo | grep -i opengl

and record any messages, you may have to install glxinfo.

Check out the .xsession-errors file in your home directory: /etc/home/username/.xsession-errors & .xsession-errors.old [ 'Ctrl+h' to show hidden files].

Chao!, bogan.

[PapaNerd]

bogan:

I captured photos of the Mint 14.1 boot errors (there were many and some scrolled by fairly fast), but they are probably irrelevant outside a mint forum. The .xsession-errors file in the user directory wasn't a factor as this problem occurred before the first user login.

I have now blown away the Mint install and have reinstalled 12.04.1 from the DVD. After the black screen of death, I rebooted from the DVD and changed "quiet splash" to "nosplash nomodeset" for the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT entry in the /etc/default/grub file.

Without further tweaking, here is the output you requested:

# lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 vga
00:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation C51PV [GeForce 6150] [10de:0240] (rev a2)
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. A8N-VM CSM [1043:81cd]
	Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidiafb
00:09.0 RAM memory [0500]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP51 Host Bridge [10de:0270] (rev a2)

# /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
OpenGL vendor string:   VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 0x300)
OpenGL version string:  2.1 Mesa 8.0.2

Not software rendered:    no
Not blacklisted:          no
GLX fbconfig:             yes
GLX texture from pixmap:  yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program:        yes
GL fragment program:      yes
GL vertex buffer object:  yes
GL framebuffer object:    yes
GL version is 1.4+:       yes

Unity 3D supported:       no

# apt-cache policy nvidia-current
nvidia-current:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 295.40-0ubuntu1.1
  Version table:
     295.40-0ubuntu1.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/restricted amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/restricted amd64 Packages
     295.40-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/restricted amd64 Packages

# glxinfo | grep -i opengl
The program 'glxinfo' is currently not installed.  You can install it by typing:
apt-get install mesa-utils

I am personally not thrilled with the Unity interface, so classic gnome mode will be fine for this machine. However, I would like to resolve and document the black screen of death issue before moving on so that others can benefit.

[PapaNerd]

And here is the output from the glxinfo command after installing mesa-utils

# glxinfo | grep -i opengl
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 0x300)
OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.2
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.20
OpenGL extensions:

[bogan]

Hi!, PapaNerd,

At least I gather that, with the 'nomodeset' option, you now have a GUI screen, though limited to 2D.
"Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 0x300)" is the equivalent of the previous "Unity-2D", and is invoked by the default nouveau driver, if it considers the hardware inadequate for 3D.

That is probably about the best you can expect from an Nvidia GeForce 6150, which is no longer supported by the latest nvidia drivers.

I would not advise using the nvidia-current 295.40, but later versions up to, but not beyond, v304.xx might do better. You could check what is shown as available to you, in Synaptic Package Manager; otherwise it would need to be an Nvidia.com Downloaded driver.

Chao!, bogan.

[PapaNerd]

Synaptic shows the following options:
96.43.20
173.14.35
295.33
295.40
304.43
304.48
310.14

[NM5TF]

Synaptic shows the following options:
96.43.20
173.14.35
295.33
295.40
304.43
304.48
310.14

you might try going with the 173.14.35 kernel as I had to do after
the kernel upgrade to 3.2.0-34...I had the same problem as you , but
going to the 173 kernel seemed to have "fixed" it...output of above
commands listed here for reference....

tommy2@tommy-Inspiron-531s:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 vga
00:0d.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation C61 [GeForce 6150SE nForce 430] [10de:03d0] (rev a2)
	Subsystem: Dell Inspiron 531 [1028:020e]
	Kernel driver in use: nvidia
	Kernel modules: nvidia_173_updates, nouveau, nvidiafb
tommy2@tommy-Inspiron-531s:~$ /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
OpenGL vendor string:   NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce 6150SE nForce 430/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL version string:  2.1.2 NVIDIA 173.14.35

Not software rendered:    yes
Not blacklisted:          yes
GLX fbconfig:             yes
GLX texture from pixmap:  yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program:        yes
GL fragment program:      yes
GL vertex buffer object:  yes
GL framebuffer object:    yes
GL version is 1.4+:       yes

Unity 3D supported:       yes
tommy2@tommy-Inspiron-531s:~$ apt-cache policy nvidia-current
nvidia-current:
  Installed: 304.64-0ubuntu1~precise~xup1
  Candidate: 304.64-0ubuntu1~precise~xup1
  Version table:
 *** 304.64-0ubuntu1~precise~xup1 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     295.40-0ubuntu1.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/restricted amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/restricted amd64 Packages
     295.40-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/restricted amd64 Packages
tommy2@tommy-Inspiron-531s:~$

good luck with it

Tommy

[bogan]

Hi!, NM5TF,

Your Posted data shows the OpenGL using the nvidia-173.14.35 driver, but apt-cache shows the nvidia-current-304.64 XSwat driver also installed.

This is potentially serious problems. You should have un-installed or remove --purged the first before installing the second.

You should also Purge the XSwat ppa, if you are going to keep the 173 driver.

However, if it aint broke don't fix it.

Chao!, bogan.