Ubuntu 20.04 video driver issues

[mike430]

Hello. Upgraded to 20.04 and elected the other drivers Nvidia 340.108 to run my GeForce 210 display card in lieu of the Nouveau driver. Worked fine for about a month, then began having issues. The issue began after restart only to pull a black screen and I could only access command line. Was initially able to get the Nouveau driver working by purging all Nvidia stuff. Should have left it at there, but was eager to get Nvidia working again. Come to find out the card I have is not supported beyond kernel 5.4, and I am at 5.8. Not really sure why it worked in the first place. Before knowing this my endless efforts to get Nvidia's drivers working again has led to neither driver loading my desktop.

I think my issue was that at some point I tried directly installing the package from Nvidia's site. It created a Blacklist for Nouveau which I believe I have since fixed and perhaps other things behind the scenes. I am at the point where it appears nothing Nvidia driver wise is installed, and Nouveau does appear to be intalled per the 'lshw -c video' command indicates my 'configuration: driver=nouveau latency=0'.

With that said I feel I am simply a few settings away from getting this working. I appreciate any help in this matter.

Kindly, -Mike

[CatKiller]

. I think my issue was that at some point I tried directly installing the package from Nvidia's site.

Yeah, there are essentially no circumstances where that's a good idea. I believe the installer script does come with an uninstall option, which should be able to undo the things it did. How effective it is, I couldn't say.

[mike430]

Assuming the uninstall option is not effective, any other ideas? In the mean time I'll check Nvidia's site. Thanks for the reply. -Mike

[mike430]

CatKiller, I posted another thread about a reinstallation of ubuntu 20.04 where I probably should of just asked you. I think my mucking up the video drivers as I did throws the idea of quick fix out the window. Mind I ask you?.. can I reinstall ubuntu 20.04 and still retain most of my configuration settings, samba users, and home directory?

I appreciate your time and response to my inquiries. Kindly, Mike

[mastablasta]

try to reinstall without formatting the drive. maybe it will work.

also get version 20.04.1 - it will keep kernel the same, so you can use the nvidia driver for next 4 years
https://releases.ubuntu.com/focal/

make sure you don't use HWE stack (maybe it's enabled in update settings?!). HWE stack brings new kernel to current Ubuntu version, for better hardware support.

i used 18.04.1 like that. i am still on kernel 4.something and receive security patches only.

[Yellow Pasque]

Come to find out the card I have is not supported beyond kernel 5.4, and I am at 5.8.

Yeah, that's the problem. mastablasta suggested comeplete reinstall but that shouldn't be necessary. Show output of:

dpkg -l | grep linux-

[mike430]

Yeah, that's the problem. mastablasta suggested comeplete reinstall but that shouldn't be necessary. Show output of:

dpkg -l | grep linux-

ii  binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu                  2.34-6ubuntu1                         amd64        GNU binary utilities, for x86-64-linux-gnu target
ii  linux-base                                 4.5ubuntu3.1                          all          Linux image base package
ii  linux-firmware                             1.187.7                               all          Firmware for Linux kernel drivers
ii  linux-generic-hwe-20.04                    5.8.0.36.40~20.04.21                  amd64        Complete Generic Linux kernel and headers
ii  linux-headers-5.8.0-34-generic             5.8.0-34.37~20.04.2                   amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-headers-5.8.0-36-generic             5.8.0-36.40~20.04.1                   amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-headers-generic-hwe-20.04            5.8.0.36.40~20.04.21                  amd64        Generic Linux kernel headers
ii  linux-hwe-5.8-headers-5.8.0-34             5.8.0-34.37~20.04.2                   all          Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.8.0
ii  linux-hwe-5.8-headers-5.8.0-36             5.8.0-36.40~20.04.1                   all          Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.8.0
rc  linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic               5.4.0-42.46                           amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.4.0-54-generic               5.4.0-54.60                           amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.4.0-56-generic               5.4.0-56.62                           amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.4.0-58-generic               5.4.0-58.64                           amd64        Signed kernel image generic
rc  linux-image-5.4.0-59-generic               5.4.0-59.65                           amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ii  linux-image-5.8.0-34-generic               5.8.0-34.37~20.04.2                   amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ii  linux-image-5.8.0-36-generic               5.8.0-36.40~20.04.1                   amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ii  linux-image-generic-hwe-20.04              5.8.0.36.40~20.04.21                  amd64        Generic Linux kernel image
ii  linux-libc-dev:amd64                       5.4.0-60.67                           amd64        Linux Kernel Headers for development
rc  linux-modules-5.4.0-42-generic             5.4.0-42.46                           amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc  linux-modules-5.4.0-54-generic             5.4.0-54.60                           amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc  linux-modules-5.4.0-56-generic             5.4.0-56.62                           amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc  linux-modules-5.4.0-58-generic             5.4.0-58.64                           amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc  linux-modules-5.4.0-59-generic             5.4.0-59.65                           amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-modules-5.8.0-34-generic             5.8.0-34.37~20.04.2                   amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-modules-5.8.0-36-generic             5.8.0-36.40~20.04.1                   amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc  linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-42-generic       5.4.0-42.46                           amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc  linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-54-generic       5.4.0-54.60                           amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc  linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-56-generic       5.4.0-56.62                           amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc  linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-58-generic       5.4.0-58.64                           amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc  linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-59-generic       5.4.0-59.65                           amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-modules-extra-5.8.0-34-generic       5.8.0-34.37~20.04.2                   amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-modules-extra-5.8.0-36-generic       5.8.0-36.40~20.04.1                   amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 5.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-sound-base                           1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu5                  all          base package for ALSA and OSS sound systems
ii  syslinux-common                            3:6.04~git20190206.bf6db5b4+dfsg1-2   all          collection of bootloaders (common)
ii  syslinux-legacy                            2:3.63+dfsg-2ubuntu9                  amd64        Bootloader for Linux/i386 using MS-DOS floppies

[mike430]

Yeah, that's the problem. mastablasta suggested comeplete reinstall but that shouldn't be necessary. Show output of:

dpkg -l | grep linux-

Not entirely sure what I am looking at per this output, but I gather that my geforce 210 worked under what was originally a 5.4 kernel which would have made it compatible. At some juncture my kernel upgraded to 5.8 and my installed nvidia driver was no longer compatible, hence creating the errors and no gui load.
This being the case, is there any hope to avoid a reinstall of my os? Further, if I were to reinstall ubuntu 20.04 how can I prevent a kernel upgrade? Or can I even revert back to the 5.4 kernel? Thanks for your time and help. Kindly, Mike

[mastablasta]

you can use kernel 5.4. i don't know how to downgrade, though. the list shows what kernel are installed so you should be able to load the older kernel at boot and remove the new one.

example:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1299...to-5-4-0-55-61

here is another example (for 18.04, but user had similar issue):
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1170...ame-with-18-04

in this example they installed generic kernel which brought them the old original kernel for the LTS version.


but it's probably not just the kernel, but xserver and xorg as well that need to be downgraded for driver to work. at least that's how it was with ATI chips. in any case start with kernel downgrade, remove new kernel and install nvidia driver. fingers crossed - you will be good for another 4 years. in the mean time maybe nouvau will progress enough or the card will die on you and you will get AMD card

i am in same boat, only probably with next LTS as the 3.90 moved to legacy support.

[mike430]

you can use kernel 5.4. i don't know how to downgrade, though. the list shows what kernel are installed so you should be able to load the older kernel at boot and remove the new one.

example:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1299...to-5-4-0-55-61

here is another example (for 18.04, but user had similar issue):
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1170...ame-with-18-04

in this example they installed generic kernel which brought them the old original kernel for the LTS version.


but it's probably not just the kernel, but xserver and xorg as well that need to be downgraded for driver to work. at least that's how it was with ATI chips. in any case start with kernel downgrade, remove new kernel and install nvidia driver. fingers crossed - you will be good for another 4 years. in the mean time maybe nouvau will progress enough or the card will die on you and you will get AMD card

i am in same boat, only probably with next LTS as the 3.90 moved to legacy support.

Thanks brother .. am trying now to load 5.4 kernel and get my vidia workin' .. post the community my results.