Ubuntu 9.10 Nvidia drivers and black screen after reboot

[mokojin]

Hi

So i just instaled Ubuntu 9.10 and activated the restricted driver that the ubuntu notification system just recommended for my Nvidia card, rebooted and nothind happenend, got a black screen.

Any thought how i may be able to recover my desktop?

Graphic card: Nvidia Geforce 9800gtx


Thanks

[Alfons81]

Hi,

I had the same problem as you using an Nvidia GeForce 8400M GT and running Ubuntu Karmic 9.10 beta. The problem appear when I tried to run the most recent Nvidia driver 185. Then apeared the black screen on boot, I solved it reinstalling and choosing the driver 173.
Actually I'm yet using the recent driver 185 and it's working ok.

I hope it help to you.

[spedoinkle]

same problem here. using nvidia 8800gts sli. this also happened when i was using 9.04 and 8.10 ubuntu. this restricted driver bug has followed me through 3 generations of ubuntu. i really would like to get this fixed so i can once more use compiz fusion.

this is exactly what i did every time over and over. install ubuntu, activated the nvidia restricted driver. (newest one required me to close x server, which i did) restarted the system, and poof x server wont open. before i would get crash errors, now it just gives me a big blank screen of blackness.

here is the same problem, tried all the fixes, none of them worked:

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu...question/68054

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/ubu...nk-screen.html

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/7901

http://www.techenclave.com/open-sour...ia-142804.html

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=410708

if there is a fix out there please help, otherwise here's a bunch of links to try and find the solution.

[spedoinkle]

ooooooooooooooook. so this just blew my mind. this is exactly what i did. i installed the 64 bit of ubuntu this time. i heard that driver 173 was working so i applied it. well, it worked, kind of. it worked terribly and there was no way to change the resolution. so i removed it using the hardware drivers application. i decided it was time to give driver 190 another shot. i did the usual thing. stopped xserver using:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

i went to the area where the driver was located and ran:

sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-190.42-pkg2.run

i rebooted expecting to see the evil black screen of doom. it never happened, i am writing on a system now using driver 190 successfully. i think it must have something to do with an error within jockey, the driver device and when i installed 170 successfully it left something that i was missing before from when i tried installing driver 190 previously. i have a feeling jockey has been screwing up alot and that's why i haven't been successfully installing the nvidia drivers. i don't know, i hope all of this helps...

[nedflenders]

I had similar issue when upgrading from 9.04 to Ubuntu 9.10.
I have a GeForce 9800 GT video card.

A quick fix to get video to work properly is to change your nvidia video driver in your xorg.conf to "vesa" then "startx" (I use KDE)

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
# Driver "nvidia"
Driver "vesa"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 9800 GT"
EndSection

I then uninstalled the new nvidia drivers(185) and installed the older version 173.

sudo rmmod nvidia
sudo aptitude remove --purge nvidia-glx-185 nvidia-185-libvdpau nvidia-185-kernel-source
sudo aptitude install nvidia-glx-173 nvidia-173-kernel-source nvidia-173-modaliases

Make sure to edit your xorg.conf file and replace your driver back to nvidia.
reboot your computer.

Unfortunately, the removal of the nvidia 185 drivers will have some dependency issues, so I had to uninstall mythtv and a few other software.

I will probably try and install the 185 drivers when there is a new revision, until then, I think this will do just fine.

FYI

# uname -a
Linux myserver 2.6.31-14-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 16 14:04:26 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

[kc5hwb]

I upgraded to 9.10 this week and when I did, my screen resolution was HUGE. I ran the Hardware Drivers utility from System->Administration and it showed it was running version 185. So I downgraded to 173 just now, rebooted and it is worked great, my resolution is back where I like it, at 1680x1050. Maybe I will try to jack with the new 190 later, but for now 173 works fine.

[komodo-tux]

@nedflenders Thanks for the clear insructions. Worked for me.

[GolemdX]

This happened when I installed ATI Catalyst on an unsupported card. I didn't realize the problem at first, but booting into recovery mode on an install CD and removing it from there also works great.

[Enginator]

I had the same problem, but am only half way there and could use some suggestions. I have a nVidia 7600GS, which gave me the black screen of death. Using CTRL +/- gave me some faded odd looking screens that were unusable. I had an old ATI 9600XT laying around so I popped that in there and it works just fine. Of course I want to use my 7600GS. Normally the way to install a graphics card is to install the card, then the drivers. Of course if I do that, I'll have black screen and won't be able to install the drivers. I'm a Ubuntu n00b and have a rudimentary understanding of Linux commands. I assume I have to install the card, then boot up and do an ALT+F2 to get a non GUI? Then enter some commands to get the new and working drivers loaded, whatever those are. Can someone help me get the rest of the way?

[nedflenders]

@ Enginator:

In synaptic(package manager), Make sure you have nvidia-glx-new (this is the driver that is recommended for your card [nVidia 7600GS]). installed and see the nvidia driver listed and ticked in System, Administration, Hardware Drivers. also get the Nvidia X Server Settings package so you can change your resolution/etc.

Make sure to change your Device driver to nvidia in the X11 config file [/etc/X11/xorg.conf]

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

reboot.
If all goes well, you should get a GUI.

use Nvidia X Server Settings in System, Administration to make your resolution changes.

Hope this helps.