Graphics Resolution- Upgrade /Blank Screen after reboot

[johnthei]

thanks. missed that.

looks like I should only blacklist

blacklist vga16fb
blacklist rivafb
blacklist rivatv
blacklist nouveau
blacklist lbm-nouveau

[MAFoElffen]

Reading the list of instructions from post 280, I see this below but I have version 96.42.13 that nvidia says is correct for MY PC. If I blacklist it as instructed, I am very concerned the new version to install won't work or I wont be able to install it correctly
shouldn't I just try to blaklist the items ABOVE the nvidia items?

Next we want to check and update our blacklist to make sure any files and modules that we know of can cause conflicts are in there.
Code:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

We want to make sure they have these lines... Some of these wouldn't be on a fresh install but would be a problem if it was updated from a previous version. Add these lines and save:
Code:

blacklist vga16fb
blacklist rivafb
blacklist rivatv
blacklist nouveau
blacklist lbm-nouveau
blacklist nvidiafb
blacklist nvidia-173
blacklist nvidia-96

And if you read the paragraph right after that, it says:

The important part an a fresh install, is that nvidia and nouveou do not like each other!!! They cannot coexist. The nvidia-X listed above would be if you were going with whatever was current for a Goeforce 6100 and above nvidia card.(You could remove those lines if you wanted.)

And re-enforced again in post #284:

You will also have to pay attention to my note on "your" Blacklist. If the driver you need is earlier or legacy, then it should NOT be listed in your blacklist (eg- nvidia-173, nvidia-96, etc.)

Which translated even more should mean--> Please use common sense. You can see that those instructions were written for the 270 version (or current) drver. I tried to make those instructions adaptable for other drivers and noted where those changes would/might be.

Yes. You are correct. Common sense says that if you need the 96 version driver, then it wouldn't be in nor belong in "your" blacklist.

[johnthei]

since I will be doing this in 10.10, what effect would these changes have in 11.04? If I make these in 10.10 and then upgrade to 11.04, how would this effect the upgrade, won't it over-write the 10.10 instructions on which video source to use?

[MAFoElffen]

since I will be doing this in 10.10, what effect would these changes have in 11.04? If I make these in 10.10 and then upgrade to 11.04, how would this effect the upgrade, won't it over-write the 10.10 instructions on which video source to use?

It's supposed to keep the video info and if it was proprietary, keep what is there (on normal distribution upgrades). The proprietary drivers from nvidia (rather than getting them from/through Ubuntu, are installed and updated through their own package called nvidia-installer, which uses a different route than the Ubuntu drivers for their drivers. It should keep all those changes. During normal updates, this installer also does things like checking to see if the xorg.conf file was editted with custom entries, to determine not to make it's own changes of that file on an update...

Months ago, I would have told you this is the way it worked and has always worked== and could assure you that would be the way it "will" happen. after the past few months <> no guarantees.

I am no longer 100% sure about these things. This is how they have and should work. My new philoshy on that is be flexible, adapt, adjust and modify. (And keep a sense of humor.)

Most of these problems "here" occurred with people going from 10.10 to 11.04. In that time and between those versions, there was major grub, kernel and xorg changes. There was also a problem in the repo's somewhere along the way that had to do with missing kernel header files... and those graphics driver failed because of that...

So if you were asking me if you installed these drivers in 10.10, would there be "NO" problems going to 11.04? I would be surer telling you that if you installed this in 11.04, that you would have a success in 11.04. If installed in 10.10 you are going to have success in 10.10. But if you install it in 10.10, would you "not" have any problems with it in 11.04? I don't call odds... but if I did, I'd say the odds were pretty even each way.

Remember what I said about kernel resources? Somehow, that really mattered between these 2 versions... along with a few other things all at the same time. I do say that the odds of success may be better.

[johnthei]

i will try this weekend. if it fails, i may end up waiting for 11.10 and HOPE all these problems are resolved by then....

thanks for your help for all these folks having problems.

[NerdWermz]

Hello,

First thanks for this thread, it has been very helpful. Sadly however I have been on this problem to no avail, for 4 days, and im not sure where to go from here. I don’t think it should be this much work to replace a video card.

Running 10.10 (I love it, rock solid for over a year now with no major issues. Not going to upgrade)

My GeForce 8600 GTS Nvidia card died, so I replaced it with a Radeon HD 5750 I had lying around. This is when the black screen started. I immediately tried fail safe graphics mode and that is a black screen as well and continues to be. I have only been able to get into a command prompt from a recovery boot until I tried step 2.

Always had grub.
When I press “e” and temporarily edit the kernel boot line, I do successfully get a command terminal. But this is what happens when I try and start gdm.
gnome:~$ sudo service gdm start
gdm start/running, process 2119
Here is the output of my hwinfo. Doesn’t seem like a complete list compared to everybody else’s output, as stated before it is a Radeon HD 5750.
gnome:~$ hwinfo --short | more
graphics card: ATI VGA compatible controller
I have uncommented both the timeout statement and gfxmode=680x480

How do I find the package name of the driver I need? I’ve tried installing generic fglrx drivers from the command line but it tells me that there is nothing there that can use it.

I cannot get a graphics mode for anything. I know the card is working on this mobo cause sadly my Windows 7 drive saw the new card and made the changes, and was up and running in 5min.

I guess I'm at this point at the moment, but i'm not really clear as to what to do.

Another thing you can try is to drop down the the grub CLI (command line interface) via pressing "c" while in the grub menu... While you are in the Grub CLI, you can use it to test the variable setting, set them to other settings and to see what modes your video supports.-- instead changing things (hard edits) and rebooting to see if it worked... Just just "set" and "unset" viables to change your environment variable from the command line. Such as to set the screen resolution, you should set the variable $vbe_mode before loading vbe and/or gfxmterm (default mode is 0x101 i.e. 640x480 8bpp) Test your graphics... What I last said translates to
Code:
set gfxmode=640x480 load_video insmod gfxterm

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[NerdWermz]

I guess i'm just grasping at straws now but i just tried this. (Didn't work)
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troublesho...from%20scratch

At this point i have gone through the entire checklist and I'm going to start experimenting with the different graphics modes. (although i'm still not sure entirely how to do this!)

#1 Have grub menu = Yes
#2 Does the Linux Kernel Boot = Yes, if i do the Grub menu edit.
#3 From the Grub Menu, try to boot in Rescue mode/low graphics= No as per directions go to 4.
#4 Can you boot a graphical Xsesion from a text console session? From the command line type=No. always tells me it is already running. Stopping and starting has no effect.




Should i just get another Nvidia based graphics card at this point. Although i'm sure ive done so much damage now that that will not work. lol.


Edit: I just tried the nomodeset option at the Grub one time edit mode. just went into a cli. same as #4 above.

[pssturges]

Okay now: I'm sorry if this start to get on the verge of a Geek-Alert, but here we go...

Here is the error that 2 of you are getting in your xorg logs:

(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to load NVIDIA kernel module!
(EE) NVIDIA(0): *** Aborting ***
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration

If you look in your sys log's, this error is usually

ERROR: Unable to load the kernel module ‘nvidia.ko’.

This happens most frequently when that nvidia kernel module was built against the wrong or improperly configured kernel sources, with a version of gcc that differs from the one used to build the target kernel, or if a driver such as rivafb/nvidiafb is present, conflicts and prevents the NVIDIA kernel module from obtaining ownership of the NVIDIA graphics device(s), or NVIDIA GPU installed in this system is not supported by this NVIDIA Linux graphics driver release. This can also mean that the header files for the linux kernel where not present for the nvidia kernel to build correctly. Another possibility is that the kernel module is being loaded in the wrong order.

I am going to try to provide a few different solutionns to try to cover all the bases on this.

Solution Step I
Possible problem may be that the nvidia package you are using through ubuntu is not building correctly for "your" Linux kernel.

1.) First we'll do some cleanup, prep and make sure everything is there for any deoendencies.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential gcc-4.4 g++-4.4 libxi-dev libxmu-dev freeglut3-dev
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-'uname -r'
sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia-*

2.) Next we want to check and update our blacklist to make sure any files and modules that we know of can cause conflicts are in there.

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

We want to make sure they have these lines... Some of these wouldn't be on a fresh install but would be a problem if it was updated from a previous version. Add these lines and save:

blacklist vga16fb
blacklist rivafb
blacklist rivatv
blacklist nouveau
blacklist lbm-nouveau
blacklist nvidiafb
blacklist nvidia-173
blacklist nvidia-96

The important part an a fresh install, is that nvidia and nouveou do not like each other!!! They cannot coexist. The nvidia-X listed above would be if you were going with whatever was current for a Goeforce 6100 and above nvidia card.(You could remove those lines if you wanted.)

4.) Download Newest Nvidia drivers from here:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index5.aspx?lang=en-us
Please write down the filename and where you saved it to.

5.). Reboot your computer into a text console, however your can...

6.) Login and cd to the directory where you saved your file. (Remember you wrote that down.)

7.) Mark the downloaded file as executible.

sudo chmod a+x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-270.41.19.run

You may have to substitute the name of the "runfile" filename to the one that you downloaded for your card. (Remember you wrote that down.) This command will mark this file as executale.

8.) Install drivers

    sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-270.41.19.run

You may have to substitute the name of the "runfile" filename to the one that you downloaded for your card. (Remember you wrote that down,) This will install and run the nvidia-installer. You have to have a working Internet connection to run this installer.

9.) Some versions of the installer miss this step (configure X), if it did skip it, then

sudo nvidia-xconfig

9.) Start GDM

sudo service gdm start

Hopefully it will now load. At least if you did all this, we are pretty sure that the correct current drivers are built for your current linux kernel.

Solution Step II
If it still deosn't load, then we came try to load the nvidia kernel before the other modules... We can do that by creating a file called /etc/udev/rules.d/90-modprobe.rules and put a line in it saying:

RUN+="/sbin/modprobe nvidia"

The files in this directory, execute before the files in /etc/modeprobe,d... So this would give it a chance to load before a file that would conflict/prevent it from loading (such as nouveou).... whereas creating a file such as /etc/modprobe.d/nouveau-kms.conf, saying

options nouveau modeset=0

To turn off Nouveou, would execute after that time. That "/etc/modprobe.d/" patch suggested by Ubuntu, but didn't work in any consistent manner. The one in /etc/udev/rules.d/ is preferred. Then to pick up those changes evern earlier, run this:

sudo update-initramfs -u

What the update-initramfs script does id manages your initramfs images. It keeps track of the existing initramfs archives in /boot.

The initramfs is a gzipped cpio archive. At boot time, the kernel unpacks that archive into a RAM disk, mounts and uses it as an initial root file system. All finding of the root device happens in this early userspace. The "-U" option updates the existing image. What we are doing by this is loading that module as soon as we possibly can.

Enough information? Hope this is not too intimidating and helps. Please ask any questions if unclear anywhere.

Once again, sorry to take so long to get back. I haven't had a lot of time to work on this lately and when I have it's been particularly frustrating! All the more so, because I'm sure we are getting very close.

My main problem has been being able to get any sort of a terminal in any consistent manner. The real frustration is the consistency part. What works on one reboot doesn't work the next, but works again 3 later!

Ok, so when I have been able to get one, this what I have been able to work out.

I'm certain that I have 2 separate problems. 1st is that I don't have the right drivers for my video card and therefore they won't load. Second is my monitor not being detected correctly.

I tried installing the 173 drivers from "Additional Drivers". The system would not come up after a reboot, however when I checked the xorg log, the drivers appear to load correctly but then complained about the monitor not being there and tried to set it to a res that my monitor is not capable of (1280x800). So I think if we can work around the monitor issue and use the 173 drivers, I would have a working system. Of course, the latest drivers would be best. Here's that log:

[    13.947] 
X.Org X Server 1.10.1
Release Date: 2011-04-15
[    13.947] X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[    13.947] Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.24-29-server i686 Ubuntu
[    13.947] Current Operating System: Linux phil-laptop 2.6.38-8-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 11 03:31:50 UTC 2011 i686
[    13.947] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=0019f026-77a4-4fd5-9360-7af4ed4e59f5 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
[    13.947] Build Date: 19 April 2011  03:33:17PM
[    13.947] xorg-server 2:1.10.1-1ubuntu1 (For technical support please see http://www.ubuntu.com/support) 
[    13.947] Current version of pixman: 0.20.2
[    13.947] 	Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
	to make sure that you have the latest version.
[    13.947] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
	(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
	(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[    13.947] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Wed Jun  8 14:38:39 2011
[    13.947] (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
[    13.947] (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[    13.966] (==) ServerLayout "Layout0"
[    13.966] (**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0)
[    13.966] (**) |   |-->Monitor "Monitor0"
[    13.966] (**) |   |-->Device "Device0"
[    13.967] (**) |-->Input Device "Keyboard0"
[    13.967] (**) |-->Input Device "Mouse0"
[    13.967] (==) Automatically adding devices
[    13.967] (==) Automatically enabling devices
[    13.967] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.
[    13.967] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[    13.967] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/" does not exist.
[    13.967] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[    13.967] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/" does not exist.
[    13.967] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[    13.967] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi" does not exist.
[    13.967] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[    13.967] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi" does not exist.
[    13.967] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[    13.967] (==) FontPath set to:
	/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc,
	/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1,
	/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType,
	built-ins
[    13.967] (==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/extra-modules,/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[    13.967] (WW) Hotplugging is on, devices using drivers 'kbd', 'mouse' or 'vmmouse' will be disabled.
[    13.967] (WW) Disabling Keyboard0
[    13.967] (WW) Disabling Mouse0
[    13.967] (II) Loader magic: 0x81ffde0
[    13.967] (II) Module ABI versions:
[    13.967] 	X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.4
[    13.967] 	X.Org Video Driver: 10.0
[    13.967] 	X.Org XInput driver : 12.3
[    13.967] 	X.Org Server Extension : 5.0
[    13.968] (--) PCI:*(0:1:0:0) 10de:0425:0000:0000 rev 161, Mem @ 0xce000000/16777216, 0xd0000000/268435456, 0xcc000000/33554432, I/O @ 0x00002000/128
[    13.968] (II) Open ACPI successful (/var/run/acpid.socket)
[    13.968] (II) LoadModule: "extmod"
[    13.969] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libextmod.so
[    13.969] (II) Module extmod: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[    13.969] 	compiled for 1.10.1, module version = 1.0.0
[    13.969] 	Module class: X.Org Server Extension
[    13.969] 	ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 5.0
[    13.969] (II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
[    13.969] (II) Loading extension XFree86-VidModeExtension
[    13.969] (II) Loading extension XFree86-DGA
[    13.969] (II) Loading extension DPMS
[    13.969] (II) Loading extension XVideo
[    13.969] (II) Loading extension XVideo-MotionCompensation
[    13.969] (II) Loading extension X-Resource
[    13.969] (II) LoadModule: "dbe"
[    13.970] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdbe.so
[    13.970] (II) Module dbe: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[    13.970] 	compiled for 1.10.1, module version = 1.0.0
[    13.970] 	Module class: X.Org Server Extension
[    13.970] 	ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 5.0
[    13.970] (II) Loading extension DOUBLE-BUFFER
[    13.970] (II) LoadModule: "glx"
[    13.970] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/extra-modules/libglx.so
[    14.819] (II) Module glx: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[    14.819] 	compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
[    14.819] 	Module class: X.Org Server Extension
[    14.819] (II) NVIDIA GLX Module  173.14.30  Thu Apr 14 09:20:02 PDT 2011
[    14.819] (II) Loading extension GLX
[    14.819] (II) LoadModule: "record"
[    14.819] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/librecord.so
[    14.819] (II) Module record: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[    14.819] 	compiled for 1.10.1, module version = 1.13.0
[    14.819] 	Module class: X.Org Server Extension
[    14.819] 	ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 5.0
[    14.819] (II) Loading extension RECORD
[    14.819] (II) LoadModule: "dri"
[    14.820] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri.so
[    14.820] (II) Module dri: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[    14.820] 	compiled for 1.10.1, module version = 1.0.0
[    14.820] 	ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 5.0
[    14.820] (II) Loading extension XFree86-DRI
[    14.820] (II) LoadModule: "dri2"
[    14.820] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri2.so
[    14.820] (II) Module dri2: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[    14.820] 	compiled for 1.10.1, module version = 1.2.0
[    14.820] 	ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 5.0
[    14.820] (II) Loading extension DRI2
[    14.820] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
[    14.820] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/extra-modules/nvidia_drv.so
[    14.878] (II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[    14.878] 	compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
[    14.878] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[    14.888] (II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver  173.14.30  Thu Apr 14 08:56:42 PDT 2011
[    14.889] (II) NVIDIA Unified Driver for all Supported NVIDIA GPUs
[    14.889] (++) using VT number 7

[    14.890] (II) Loading sub module "fb"
[    14.890] (II) LoadModule: "fb"
[    14.911] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfb.so
[    14.911] (II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[    14.911] 	compiled for 1.10.1, module version = 1.0.0
[    14.911] 	ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
[    14.911] (II) Loading sub module "wfb"
[    14.911] (II) LoadModule: "wfb"
[    14.911] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libwfb.so
[    14.922] (II) Module wfb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[    14.922] 	compiled for 1.10.1, module version = 1.0.0
[    14.923] 	ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
[    14.923] (II) Loading sub module "ramdac"
[    14.923] (II) LoadModule: "ramdac"
[    14.923] (II) Module "ramdac" already built-in
[    14.923] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/extra-modules/nvidia_drv.so
[    14.923] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libwfb.so
[    14.923] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfb.so
[    14.924] (**) NVIDIA(0): Depth 24, (--) framebuffer bpp 32
[    14.924] (==) NVIDIA(0): RGB weight 888
[    14.924] (==) NVIDIA(0): Default visual is TrueColor
[    14.924] (==) NVIDIA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
[    14.924] (**) NVIDIA(0): Enabling RENDER acceleration
[    14.925] (II) NVIDIA(0): Support for GLX with the Damage and Composite X extensions is
[    14.925] (II) NVIDIA(0):     enabled.
[    15.482] (II) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA GPU GeForce 8600M GS (G86) at PCI:1:0:0 (GPU-0)
[    15.482] (--) NVIDIA(0): Memory: 524288 kBytes
[    15.482] (--) NVIDIA(0): VideoBIOS: 60.86.39.00.ae
[    15.482] (II) NVIDIA(0): Detected PCI Express Link width: 16X
[    15.482] (--) NVIDIA(0): Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU
[    15.482] (--) NVIDIA(0): Connected display device(s) on GeForce 8600M GS at PCI:1:0:0:
[    15.482] (--) NVIDIA(0):     Nvidia Default Flat Panel (DFP-0)
[    15.482] (--) NVIDIA(0): Nvidia Default Flat Panel (DFP-0): 330.0 MHz maximum pixel
[    15.482] (--) NVIDIA(0):     clock
[    15.482] (--) NVIDIA(0): Nvidia Default Flat Panel (DFP-0): Internal Dual Link LVDS
[    18.487] (II) NVIDIA(0): Assigned Display Device: DFP-0
[    18.487] (==) NVIDIA(0): 
[    18.488] (==) NVIDIA(0): No modes were requested; the default mode "nvidia-auto-select"
[    18.488] (==) NVIDIA(0):     will be used as the requested mode.
[    18.488] (==) NVIDIA(0): 
[    18.488] (II) NVIDIA(0): Validated modes:
[    18.488] (II) NVIDIA(0):     "nvidia-auto-select"
[    18.488] (II) NVIDIA(0): Virtual screen size determined to be 1280 x 800
[    19.508] (--) NVIDIA(0): DPI set to (101, 101); computed from "UseEdidDpi" X config
[    19.508] (--) NVIDIA(0):     option
[    19.508] (==) NVIDIA(0): Enabling 32-bit ARGB GLX visuals.
[    19.509] (--) Depth 24 pixmap format is 32 bpp
[    19.512] (II) NVIDIA(0): Initialized GPU GART.

So following your instructions, when I plug my video card details into the nvidia website it says i need the 180 drivers. Which does seem strange as my card is listed as being compatible with the latest drivers. Ok, so I tried to install the 180's using the instructions above. All goes well until I when I'm running the 180 installer and it complains about stuff missing on my system. I'm sure I'll need to install a package or 2 but I'm not entirely certain which ones. Here is the installer log:

nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Fri Jun 10 10:25:58 2011
installer version: 1.0.7

option status:
  license pre-accepted    : false
  update                  : false
  force update            : false
  expert                  : false
  uninstall               : false
  driver info             : false
  precompiled interfaces  : true
  no ncurses color        : false
  query latest version    : false
  OpenGL header files     : true
  no questions            : false
  silent                  : false
  no recursion            : false
  no backup               : false
  kernel module only      : false
  sanity                  : false
  add this kernel         : false
  no runlevel check       : false
  no network              : false
  no ABI note             : false
  no RPMs                 : false
  no kernel module        : false
  force SELinux           : default
  no X server check       : false
  no cc version check     : false
  force tls               : (not specified)
  X install prefix        : (not specified)
  X library install path  : (not specified)
  X module install path   : (not specified)
  OpenGL install prefix   : (not specified)
  OpenGL install libdir   : (not specified)
  utility install prefix  : (not specified)
  utility install libdir  : (not specified)
  doc install prefix      : (not specified)
  kernel name             : (not specified)
  kernel include path     : (not specified)
  kernel source path      : (not specified)
  kernel output path      : (not specified)
  kernel install path     : (not specified)
  proc mount point        : /proc
  ui                      : (not specified)
  tmpdir                  : /tmp
  ftp mirror              : ftp://download.nvidia.com
  RPM file list           : (not specified)

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface
-> License accepted.
-> Installing NVIDIA driver version 180.29.
-> No precompiled kernel interface was found to match your kernel; would you li
   ke the installer to attempt to download a kernel interface for your kernel f
   rom the NVIDIA ftp site (ftp://download.nvidia.com)? (Answer: Yes)
-> No matching precompiled kernel interface was found on the NVIDIA ftp site;
   this means that the installer will need to compile a kernel interface for
   your kernel.
-> Performing CC sanity check with CC="cc".
-> Performing CC version check with CC="cc".
ERROR: Unable to determine the version of the kernel sources located in
       '/lib/modules/2.6.38-8-generic/build'.  Please make sure you have
       installed the kernel source files for your kernel and that they are
       properly configured; on Red Hat Linux systems, for example, be sure you
       have the 'kernel-source' or 'kernel-devel' RPM installed.  If you know
       the correct kernel source files are installed, you may specify the
       kernel source path with the '--kernel-source-path' command line option.
ERROR: Installation has failed.  Please see the file
       '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details.  You may find suggestions
       on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux
       driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

So, I have a terminal at the moment and I'm at the point where the installer failed. I'll try to avoid powering it of or rebooting until I hear back!

Thanks again for you patience!

Phil

[bogan]

Originally Posted by johnthei since I will be doing this in 10.10, what effect would these changes have in 11.04? If I make these in 10.10 and then upgrade to 11.04, how would this effect the upgrade, won't it over-write the 10.10 instructions on which video source to use?

With due respect to The Guru, MAFolffen, - and I write that in all sincerity, - johnthei, from my quite appalling experience of the last 12 days,,,, oMg !!........ it seems like 20 at least, and i've had to go to the doctor for help. - You would be far better off, and a great deal more protected, to install the believed correct drivers in 10.10; check them out thoroughly, and then, and only then, if you still want to, install your new version of Ubuntu into a new partition, or better yet into a separate internal or external HDD, or a USB Flash unit, but from rhe latest version of a LiveCD.. Though I gather there are doubts about the certainty and security, with the latter ( the USB ) in both 10.10 and 11.04 .
You then have a reasonable certainty ( provided you do not go the Update-Manager/Update route ) of having 10.10 still available to fall back on, and even to safely correct, or install drivers in the 11.04, booted from the 10.10 installation, even if the worst that can happen does so.
Attention of MAFolffen and Blasphemist, inter alia:
I have attached some files to this Post for your attention, additional to the ones attached to another Post, as there are so many, and of such length - take you a week to read them all - so I have given them, weird titles to give you some idea of their contents. eg: '.xconferr-sess2'. Be aware, due to all the chopping about and re-saving to reconstitute them, the date stamps, after noon, Jun 3rd, are pretty meaning-less, and there may well be some duplicates under different titles. They include some draft Posts that never got sent, due to crashes, or to Ubuntu Forums saying I was not booked-in when I tried to 'Submit Post', when it said, right there:" Logged in as bogan", and the top showed 'LOG OUT', as the option: then leaving me with a hung-up white Blank Screen!! Actually a hung-up Firefox Blank Window: so I LOST MY LAST MOMENT EDITS –again!!.
A couple of quick points, well a few:
1. Is it not significant that

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

run from v10.04, does not return the same errors as when run in 11.04, as it does ( for me, and a lot of others, it would seem) but instead:

"(gedit ; (1548) Gtk-  :  WARNING!  **:  cannot open display ".

With

 hwinfo --framebuffer

I got a similar result ,though the message was:

 "...WARNING -**  : Unable to open screen

"; but nevertheless, both still opened a gedit screen, and continued with a normal terminal prompt, when the gedit screen was closed.
2. I know why

 “lspci -nn | grep vga”

did not work,and I can make, what I think probable, an explanation for why mdwm and I, both using Medion computers, could not get hwinfo to give any output. Do You? And can you?
3. Please, Please! give me a way to tell whether I am in a Normal ( whatever that might be, ) a Gnome, or a Unity mode or Screen. I can see the differences, but can not tell which is which, as I gather the xorg system decides what to display, regardless of how the default is set-up
4. Strangely, the main difference I see, is that one makes a WiFi connection in 4 to 9 seconds from the authorization/ permission being granted, ( about that many sweeps in the Icon,) whereas the other can take as many as three failed attempts, signaling " Wireless network Disconnected, or something like that, before it finally comes up with:”CYBERGRANS Connected.”; as used to happen in Ubuntu 9.1.
5. [Sorry for the indentation – oOo playing about]. OOPs, it does'nt show here! in the try-out.
6. There are/is about 15 'xxxtrashinfo' files; are they of any interest to you,? ... 1.33Kb in total, but a lot of work to fix them as an attachment. I am assuming there is no easy way to Post folders and sub-folders. I suppose I could put them onto the web, as an e-mail attachment, and give you a Link, somehow, but I don't have a clue how to set about it.
7. Talking of which, Item 5, above, I take a very dim view of listing oOo, in Software Manager, but without any warning, until after it is done, if selected, installs LIBREoFFICE instead. In fact there does not seem, to me, to be anyway at all ,to install openOffice.org now. A Feature well worthy of MicroSoft excesses
Good Fault-Finding and Trouble-Shooting, and Good Luck.
Chao! bogan.
I am the one with Vista, Ubuntu 11.04 and 10.04 on the same HDD, with Ubuntu10.10 and Windows7 in another Medion Desktop, with Ubuntu in a separate removable HDD. I could not install 11.04 in that computer's internal HDD, even if I was so propelled towards a self-imposed living-death, ( which I am not, at my age a real one is quite near enough, thanks very) as some twit formatted it with sda0, a WinBoot partition of nearly a Terabit, and three other System partitions: so Ubuntu says it can not install itself, as there are already four partitions, and Windows will not allow more.
| I cannot make a logical partition; ( and I am exceedingly grateful to the Installer that it refused) without scrapping one of the small system partitions.
TotHert! bogan.
I am the one with Vista, and Ubuntu 11.04 & 10.04 on the internal HDD, in separate partitions, with Ubuntu 10.10 on an external removable HDD on another Medion i3 530 powered Desktop. Or am I so tired I am rtepeating myself?
PS: the attached files are the only useable ones of real current interest, all the others, that I tried, were rejected as: 'Invalid File':
| I'm totally ignorant as to what makes a File valid or not, for attachment. Is it, perhaps, that all Files must have an approved '.xxx' suffix, such as ".txt"?
Or is it to do with the actual file format.
Windows also makes a great fuss about the file format; pretending it does not know what top do with them, as Executable text Files, or some such Jargon; although Wordpad handles them without any problems I can see.
| Perhaps transferring them back and forth, between Linux and Windows7, Via a USB Stick, is messing things up.
. However, I have such a sense of sheer triumph, in having at last managed to get to this point -- even if a large part was done on the ******* System, that I am Posting what is currently available.--- I'm sorry Lads, ( I am assuming that you are not Lassies, perhaps wrongl ) but I have not started up the Linux computers all day, though the last time I ran Ubuntu 11.04, I purposely left it running all night; ( to try and reproduce the worst crash) it went into a Screen-Saver displaying my Prompt line, for a short time, and then went into a Black Blank Screen!!
| In the morning, I touched the Mouse unintentionally, thinking it had crashed, and it came immediately back to life, with all five windows that I had left open, ready for business; at exactly the same moment as the Dell awoke on demand.!! So something is going right.
TotKijk! bogan.

[edfast]

Not quite sure I am at the right thread, but this is what happened: I have been happily running natty on a macbook 2,1; no major issues. After last update (june 9) I had difficulties shutting down, so I forced the system down (maybe this was a mistake) through an 'American reboot' as it's known in Europe, ie; by pulling the plug. On restart, I get the message 'no bootable device, pls insert boot disc' and have tried since to go via various acrobatics in the terminal of the disk-booted system to try and get at what's on the SSD, but no such luck. So what are my options now? Is there any known way by which I can restore my original system, rescue the drive or even just retrieve my data (not much)? Most of the programmes were canonical, in addition I ran Skype beta, Gmediaplayer, PlayDownloader through Java, Spotify preview, an OpenVPN utility that I never got to working properly. The last update installed updates for Chrome and possibly Skype, other than that I'm not quite certain. Ideas?