Last update broke graphics

[metacell]

After today's Ubuntu update, my computer couldn't boot. It fails with the message

[ 61.591428] uvcvideo: Failed to query (GET_INFO) UVC control 2 on unit 1: -32 (exp. 1).

When I selected an older kernel (5.4.0-42), the computer booted, but Vulkan had stopped working:


Using a Pegasus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER, an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 @2500MHz, and Xubuntu 20.04.

[Autodave]

What driver do you have installed for the GPU and where did you get it from?

[metacell]

What driver do you have installed for the GPU and where did you get it from?

The standard proprietary nVidia driver, through the official Ubuntu repositories.

After the update it was set to version 450 (in software-properties). I tried changing it to version 440-server, 435-server, and noveau, but the results were the same. With kernel 5.4.0-48, Ubuntu failed to boot, and with kernel 5.4.0-42, Ubuntu booted normally, but Vulkan was disabled.
[EDIT: I mean I tried changing to 450-server, 440-server, and Nouveau]

I also unplugged my USB webcam (since it seems to use the uvcvideo driver). That made the error message at boot disappear; instead, boot stalls at an empty screen, with only a blinking cursor.

[CatKiller]

instead, boot stalls at an empty screen, with only a blinking cursor.

Yep, that is a symptom of not having the Nvidia driver properly installed. The nouveau driver struggles to set the resolution correctly: you can use the nomodeset kernel parameter as a temporary workaround to allow you to boot.

The Nvidia driver needs a shim to go between the GPL'd kernel and the proprietary driver module. That's either kernel-version-specific (meaning it breaks every time the kernel updates) or it uses DKMS (meaning it needs to be compiled every time the kernel or driver get updated). Recently my other half's computer ended up without a compiler, so DKMS couldn't make the shim, so the Nvidia driver failed. I don't know whether that is widespread or was specific to the history of that machine, but make sure that you have build-essential installed.

The other thing is that the Nvidia driver sometimes doesn't upgrade cleanly between driver branches. The existence of stuff from the old branch stops the new branch from installing, so you end up with neither working. The package maintainers seem to be pushing everyone from the 440 branch to the 450 branch. The easiest way to deal with it is to purge all the Nvidia stuff (note that apt-get supports globbing like "nvidia*" but apt doesn't) and then install just the driver branch that you want.

[mastablasta]

yes, sometimes update just doesn't work. i had similar issue. in my case driver was set to 4.40 and just didn't work. but it was resolved when i moved it to 4.50 - which essentially meant that 4.50 was installed. in other words if switching doesn't help, remove and reinstall via CLI or just remove/uninstall, boot with nouveau and then install using the additional drivers application. that should fix it.

i experienced this on my kids GTX 1650. on my GT 730 i decided to stay on LTS kernel, so i have same kernel & driver, just security updates and i never saw this issue. then again i think that card/chip is now already legacy anyway.

[webaake]

I had problems with kernel 5.4.0.48 too. No sound from Nvidia HDMI with Nvidia's driver, so I activated 5.4.0.47.

If you're bothered by troublesome automatic kernel updates you can change the defaults in grub to always boot from the last good kernel (that you chose). Default on Ubuntu install is to boot the last installed kernel (newest), which can lead to problems. I mean, if you're in for a nice evening of Netflix and you have to hack on your kernel and drivers instead, it's a bummer!

Here's how to do it: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1486...default%2Fgrub.

(Yes, I know, you CAN miss out on kernel security updates. But you can, with these Grub settings, decide yourself when to try out new kernels and drivers for that kernel. In your own time)

[metacell]

Thanks for the suggestions.

My system doesn't boot with Nouveau either (on kernel 5.4.0.-48).

I changed the video driver to Nouveau using software-properties. Then I did

sudo apt-get remove *nvidia*

... but there were no nvidia packages installed.

Rebooting yielded the same empty screen with a blinking cursor as before.

I can still boot with kernel 5.4.0.-42 just fine, whether I have the Nouveau or the proprietary nVidia driver enabled.

[CelticWarrior]

sudo apt-get remove nvidia*

There are no packages starting with '*nvidia'...

[metacell]

sudo apt-get remove nvidia*

I tried it, and got the same result. All nvidia packages were already gone because I switched to Nouveau.

[metacell]

And now I noticed another error. VirtualBox' kernel driver also stopped working:



I have both build-essential and virtualbox-dkms installed -- I just checked.

When I do modprobe vboxdrv, I get the error:

modprobe: FATAL: Module vboxdrv not found in directory /lib/modules/5.4.0-42-generic

Maybe the problems are caused by a failure to load kernel modules (not with the graphics driver as such)?