PDA

View Full Version : [SOLVED] 10.04 > 10.10 upgrade - X won't start (nvidia geforce 8200)



ubanksy
October 31st, 2010, 03:59 AM
I have just upgraded a mythtv server from 10.04 to 10.10.

Upgrade is complete, but X won't start - it drops me to the login prompt. Server is serving mythtv fine - other frontends (FEs) can connect, it's just the local FE that isn't working (because X / xfce isn't)

Here's the details:

Machine has been stable on 10.04 (running mythtv 0.23.1) using nVidia drivers. Just upgraded to 10.10 this weekend.

Upgrade threw up an error, refusing to start stating "E:Couldn't configure pre-dependend x11-common for x11-xkb-utils, probably a dependency cycle". I worked around this by running


sudo apt-get remove x11-xkb-utils

This removed a fair bit of X. I was able to complete the upgrade after this (This resolution, based on google was possibly my first mistake!)

After upgrading, I now get the following appearing during boot:


modprobe: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.35-22-generic/modules.dep: No such file or directory

modprobe: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.35-22-generic/modules.dep: No such file or directory

[ 13.764014 ] saa7164_downloadfirmware() no first image
[ 21.012088 ] starting firmware download(2)
[ 24.800090 ] firmware download complete


The modprobe messages appear to be related to the kernel and I don't think are the problem. The saa7164 messages are related to the HVR-2200 card and I don't think are a problem either. X starts and says:

"Ubuntu us running in low-graphics mode". I choose "Run Ubuntu in low-graphics mode for just one session" > "Stand by one minute while the display restarts" > "OK". X then drops to the console at <server> login:

I have since made quite a few changes with X / nvidia drivers including
-blacklisting nouveau
-upgrading nvidia drivers to latest nvidia.com ones
-editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf to use Driver "vesa" (was Driver "nvidia")
-removing /etc/X11/xorg.conf and Xorg.0.log

At last boot, it updated xorg.failsafe.log - read it here: http://paste.ubuntu.com/523044/

Any ideas on how to get X running in any graphics mode?

ubanksy
October 31st, 2010, 10:44 AM
Update: if I run startx from the command line (after logging in), it gives me a black screen with a functioning mouse cursor, but nothing else. I'm not even sure if this is an X problem, or the next layer (GDM - not sure given it's mythbuntu running xfce) - any idea which log to refer to?

dino99
October 31st, 2010, 10:51 AM
hi,
there is often conflict between old xorg.conf and actual kernel which directly drive X now. So remove or rename xorg.conf then reboot and check driver activation: nvidia-current might be activated

ubanksy
October 31st, 2010, 01:39 PM
Currently xorg.conf is renamed to xorg.conf.1010, so shouldn't be used.

Can you advise how do I check driver activation?

ubanksy
November 1st, 2010, 09:51 AM
I have removed the blacklist.conf entry for nouveau, and re run


sudo apt-get install nouveau*

I still get the login prompt upon boot, and startx after logging in gives me a black screen with a mouse cursor, but nothing to click on, and no responses to obvious keyboard commands (e.g. enter).

Ctrl-Alt-F1, F2 etc gives me the terminals as expected.

I'm not convinced where the problem really lies here, is it X or the system that X then hands over to? Any idea which log file to look in for more information? Xorg.0.log or ... ?

ubanksy
November 2nd, 2010, 11:46 AM
Resolved by running


sudo apt-get install mythbuntu-desktop

which restored some missing packages. It was probably my attempt to kickstart the 10.10 upgrade that removed far too much (my choice to remove x11-xkb-utils to get rid of that cyclic dependency error). Thanks to the crew in #ubuntu on IRC for the help.