11.10: Need help with nvidia driver install from terminal.

[pJansson]

Hi everyone!

I'm no good with the terminal and i need help to resolve a GPU issue I have...

I run a dual-boot ubuntu/WinXP and i recently got a new graphics card: Geforce gt 430.
At first i ran ubuntu 10.04, but the only two drivers available from the jockey was nvidia-173 and nvidia-current. nvida-current didn't work so i decided to unistall it and upgrade to 11.10 (read on the forum there was different drivers available to 11.10). While upgrading i was presumably using the noveau driver.

My problem is that i cannot launch an X session. If i boot normally i only get to the login in terminal-mode and if i boot recovery-mode i get a terminal as root-user. I then tried to install the nvidia-current byf ollowing this: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...050&postcount=
I did so cause with 10.04 i could at least run an x-session from recoverymode. But this didn't help.

Question 1: When i typed this line:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-'uname -r'

i got the response that ubuntu was unable to find 'uname -r'. Does 'uname -r' stand for the current kernel i'm running or should this command be typed exactly as it says?

Question 2: Can anyone tell me what drivers package i need to install for a geforce gt 430? I have no way of checking this and on the forum some say the nvidia-280 or nvidia-290. Are the called plainly so, or is it nvidia-280.11 / nvidia-290.11?

Question 3: When i ran nvidia-xconfig i got a message that "a line for 8400GS could not be found." The 8400GS is the GPU i used to have, so it seems my system still believes i have that graphics card. Is this an issue or should an succesfull installation of an correct driver to my gt 430 resolve this?

Hope I can get some answers... Thanx.

[crazy bird]

Why making it so difficult when there's x-swat PPA.

- open a terminal
- type the following command: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
- press Enter and if required, type your password
- then type this command: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

This will let you install the latest stable upstream x.org components

[mcduck]

Question 1: When i typed this line:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-'uname -r'

i got the response that ubuntu was unable to find 'uname -r'. Does 'uname -r' stand for the current kernel i'm running or should this command be typed exactly as it says?

The uname -r is supposed to be surrounded with backticks, not single quotes ( ` instead of ' ).

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`

The section surrounded by backticks will be executed as a separate command, and then replaced by the result from that command. So this will run uname -r to figure out the current kernel version you are using, and then run the apt-get command using that kernel version in the package name.)

edit: if you can't find the backtick key, or you happen to use a keyboard layout that doesn't even have one, the currently recommended syntax for command substitution is actually a bit easier:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

[sadaruwan12]

Why making it so difficult when there's x-swat PPA.

- open a terminal
- type the following command: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
- press Enter and if required, type your password
- then type this command: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

This will let you install the latest stable upstream x.org components

This is the easiest way to get new nvidia drivers other wise you can down load it from the web site but this is a painful processes 'cos nvidia installer never runs with Nouveau drivers installed on the system.

And the other thing is that after updating the kernel you have to re-run the installer to rebuild the header files but once you get the hang of it it's not that bad I use this method all the time.

But if you don't want to go through all that trouble you can use the above method. But if you wish to follow the other path the links listed below might help you. About the driver version according to my experience the newer the better.

1. Link 1
2. Link 2

Hope this helps.

[pJansson]

Thanx for all responses everyone... Here's my update:

I first tried to add the repo crazy bird suggested using exactly the code he posted. Everything seemed to install ok, but it didn't change anything: When i boot i only get a command terminal, regardless of recoverymode or not. I get the ubuntu splash screen when loading but at login all i have is a terminal mode. No graphics at all.

I then tried to repeat the process from the link in the OP (you where right mcduck, backticks was the problem), but the result was exactly the same.

I really no good with this and i can only wildly speculate what the problem is. Here's what i want to try next:

I want to make sure that nouveau isn't interfering with the nvidia drivers and then try to reinstall the nvida drivers from the x-swat repo. I don't want to try and install the drivers from the nvidia site cause that's way over my league achieving by only using the terminal (thanx anyways sadurawan).

Here's what i need help with:

1. Can someone post the terminal code for editing the blacklist.conf step by step including terminal commands for saving and exiting the edited blacklist.conf? I'm not presuming I' ll have nothing but command-lines to work with you see...

2. Can someone post the terminal code for installing/reinstalling the x-swat repo drivers after the blacklist.conf has been edited?
I guess it's a good idea to purge all the nvidia packages before reinstalling, but i'm not sure when to do it in the process.

Consider my computer skills at grandma-level

Anyone? Help would be great!

[MrSpike16]

There is no reason to edit blacklist.conf unless you are manually installing the driver (directly from Nvidia). The Nvidia install creates its own blacklist file.

Purge the Nvidia drivers which re-enables the Nouveau driver:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*

Reboot and you should go into your desktop. If you don't, then you will need to look at the kern.log and Xorg.0.log found in the /var/log folder. One or both will show you what is failing.

[pJansson]

There is no reason to edit blacklist.conf unless you are manually installing the driver (directly from Nvidia). The Nvidia install creates its own blacklist file.

Purge the Nvidia drivers which re-enables the Nouveau driver:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*

Reboot and you should go into your desktop. If you don't, then you will need to look at the kern.log and Xorg.0.log found in the /var/log folder. One or both will show you what is failing.

Yes this seems to be it. After i purged nvidia the splash screen looks much more better. I STILL cannot access the x session however due to an previous unresolved GRUB issue.
But i guess i need to start an different thread for that issue.

I'll get back with an update as soon as i worked out my grub issue. Thanx for all the support.

[crazy bird]

I normally use the PPA of x-swat, but i have 1 question related to the manual installation of the Nvidia drivers:

If you follow the steps as described here and especially step 3, will these drivers updated when there's an update available? OR do you need to install the drivers again manually?

[pJansson]

Sorry to cut away from your question crazy bird, but i have a burning question... Here's my update on my problem:

I solved my problem with grub, but i still cannot seem to launch an x-session at all!

When i boot normally, ubuntu just freezes at the loading screen.
If i boot recoverymode, all i get is an terminal-line as root.

I've created an 11.10 live usb, and i can launch an x-session from there. So my system SHOULD be able to do it.

Does anyone have any pointers to some repair options from the live usb that i might use?

[MrSpike16]

You need the logs I mentioned in my previous post. Boot normally (freezes) and then reboot into the live USB.

Click on the Home Folder icon. In Nautilus click on the Ubuntu hard drive partition below "Devices".
Don't click on File System under "Computer" as this is your current OS that is running!!.

You can post those logs using code boxes for easy viewing. These two logs are the recordings of the booting process and should reveal the failure.