13.10 Headless x11vnc nvidia EDID.bin Black screen.

[Metallinut]

OK. I know there are posts out there on this. I've seen every single one of them. But I'm still stuck. But I think I'm close.

13.10 64 bit client, nvidia, x11vnc.
I followed the steps here, while connected to a legit monitor to create an EDID.bin and all the rest.
I can boot up the machine with no monitor attached, connect with a VNC client, and see the logon screen in all of its glory. When I log in, I get a black screen with an 'X' cursor. I do actually get legitimate graphics though. I get a popup window like this: Screen Shot 2014-02-27 at 8.18.11 PM.jpg This makes me think it's *kind of* working.

Whether I click 'Cancel' or 'Report problem...' the result is the same: Nothing. Just the black screen with the X cursor.

Here is my xorg.conf:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 319.60  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-09)  Wed Sep 25 15:12:13 PDT 2013

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
    Modeline "1920x1080R"  138.50  1920 1968 2000 2080  1080 1083 1088 1111 +hsync -vsync
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    Option         "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP-0"
    Option         "CustomEDID" "DFP-0:/etc/X11/edid.bin"
    Option         "IgnoreEDID" "false"
    Option         "UseEDID" "true"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"
    Option         "DynamicTwinView" "False"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option         "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection

Here are the contents of /etc/init/x11vnc.conf:

start on login-session-start
script
/usr/bin/x11vnc -xkb -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -noxrecord -noxfixes -noxdamage -rfbauth /etc/x11vnc.pass -forever -bg -rfbport 5900 -o /var/log/x11vnc.log
end script

Unfortunately I don't know enough to tinker with much in here to make it work, but this is driving me crazy! Everything works as expected if I leave the monitor plugged into the computer at boot time. But this machine is down in the basement! I never need to go sit at it; I always SSH or VNC in to do anything.

Please help!!!

[papibe]

Hi Metallinut.

Could you run these commands and post back its results?

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 vga

dpkg -l | grep nvidia

lsmod | grep -E 'nvidia|nouv'

Regards.

[Metallinut]

Thank you for the quick reply! Outputs as follows:

$sudo lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 vga
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation C77 [GeForce 8200] [10de:0849] (rev a2)
	Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation K10N78FullHD-hSLI R3.0 GeForce 8200 [1849:0849]
	Kernel driver in use: nvidia

$ sudo dpkg -l | grep nvidia
rc  nvidia-310                                310.44-0ubuntu2                           i386         NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library
ii  nvidia-313-updates                        319.60-0ubuntu1                           i386         Transitional package for nvidia-313-updates
ii  nvidia-319-updates                        319.60-0ubuntu1                           i386         NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library
rc  nvidia-settings-310                       310.44-0ubuntu1                           i386         Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii  nvidia-settings-319-updates               319.60-0ubuntu1                           i386         Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

$ sudo lsmod | grep -E 'nvidia|nouv'
nvidia               8520590  29 
drm                   242400  2 nvidia

[papibe]

Thanks.

Have you tried to use the Nvidia open source driver 'nouveau'? Respectfully, and IMHO, you card is a little old. You may have more stability using the open source driver. Just my opinion.

Could you post the content of this file:

/var/log/Xorg.0.log

Please paste it here: paste.ubuntu.com, and post back the link.

Regards.

[Metallinut]

I'm up for trying anything. I'll change to that driver - I assume it's just change the driver call out in xorg.conf?

In the meanwhile, here's the pastebin of Xorg.0.log using the proprietary nvidia driver.

Thank you for the help!!!

UPDATE: Changed the driver to nouveau...hopefully correctly. Same result. Here is the Xorg.0.log using that driver. PASTEBIN

[papibe]

Thanks.

Unfortunately that did not work,as the nvidia driver took control of the card regardless.

To try the open source driver do this:

Remove the nvidia driver:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia-*

Then move the current X config file:

sudo mv -iv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia.old

Then restart your computer.

I hope that helps. Let us know how it goes.
Regards.