Hi,

I have a system with a fixed hardware config over the last two
years that I have kept current with testing through that time.
Yesterday's update/dist-upgrade/reboot results in a blank
screen when launching X. I swapped out the GTX285 for
a GT520 and got identical results. I tried a different
PCI-E slot with the same results. I switched to the
nouveau drivers and get nearly the same behavior, except
for a blinking cursor in the upper left corner of the
screen. In each case, I can't switch to text consoles
via Ctl+Alt+F1...F6. If I remove all the graphics drivers I get a
successful reboot to text console prompt.

I also downloaded an older known working nvidia distribution
from nvidia and built and installed that, with identical
results to the current dkms package. All of these diagnostics
were performed with the current 2.6.38-2-amd64 kernel. I
then repeated the nvidia driver installation with a stable
2.6.32-5-amd64 kernel and got the same results (GTSR).

I uninstalled all my kvm adn verde modules and GTSR. I swapped
monitors and GTSR. Took a shower and GTSR.

I'd be very happy to hear about any potential solutions to
this situation.

Thanks,
Russell


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On Sat, 14 May 2011 17:23:19 -0400 (EDT), Russell L. Carter wrote:
>
> I have a system with a fixed hardware config over the last two
> years that I have kept current with testing through that time.
> Yesterday's update/dist-upgrade/reboot results in a blank
> screen when launching X.
> ...

You aren't using interlaced video modes, are you? Interlaced
video modes don't seem to work at all with any KMS-based
driver. That's why I use nv. (The proprietary nvidia driver
for my chipset no longer works with recent X servers.)
I had to download the source for nv and compile it myself, though,
since nv has been removed from the distribution and the old
binary version doesn't work with the new X server.

--
.'`. Stephen Powell
: :' :
`. `'`
`-


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On 05/14/2011 04:56 PM, Stephen Powell wrote:
> On Sat, 14 May 2011 17:23:19 -0400 (EDT), Russell L. Carter wrote:
>>
>> I have a system with a fixed hardware config over the last two
>> years that I have kept current with testing through that time.
>> Yesterday's update/dist-upgrade/reboot results in a blank
>> screen when launching X.
>> ...
>
> You aren't using interlaced video modes, are you? Interlaced
> video modes don't seem to work at all with any KMS-based
> driver. That's why I use nv. (The proprietary nvidia driver
> for my chipset no longer works with recent X servers.)
> I had to download the source for nv and compile it myself, though,
> since nv has been removed from the distribution and the old
> binary version doesn't work with the new X server.
>

I don't believe so, I run the GTX285 normally at 1920x1200 on a benq
LCD. I just bought the GT520 today, it's a just released GPU, so
nothing legacy here.

Per the apt-listchanges notes I tried

$ echo "/usr/lib/libc/memcpy-preload.so" > /etc/ld.so.preload

and reboot but no joy.

Thanks,
Russell


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I've found that I have to re-install the binary Nvidia driver often
after updates, when the X system gets updated, due to changes to
simlinks.

If you're using the Nvidia binary driver, try reinstalling it.

Curt-


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Hi Curt,

On 05/14/2011 07:00 PM, Curt Howland wrote:
> I've found that I have to re-install the binary Nvidia driver often
> after updates, when the X system gets updated, due to changes to
> simlinks.
>
> If you're using the Nvidia binary driver, try reinstalling it.

I did that. I reinstalled (apt-get install) after deinstalling
(apt-get autoremove --purge) for each step that I listed in my
original message. And then, for good measure, I downloaded
an older (1 yo) nvidia release from their website and built
it myself and then installed that.

And then I reinstalled a 2.6.32-5 kernel and repeated all the
install/uninstall steps.

This took a bit of time...

Thanks,
Russell



>
> Curt-
>
>


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14/05/2011 23:23, Russell L. Carter wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a system with a fixed hardware config over the last two
> years that I have kept current with testing through that time.
> Yesterday's update/dist-upgrade/reboot results in a blank
> screen when launching X. I swapped out the GTX285 for
> a GT520 and got identical results. I tried a different
> PCI-E slot with the same results. I switched to the
> nouveau drivers and get nearly the same behavior, except
> for a blinking cursor in the upper left corner of the
> screen. In each case, I can't switch to text consoles
> via Ctl+Alt+F1...F6. If I remove all the graphics drivers I get a
> successful reboot to text console prompt.
>
[snip]
> I'd be very happy to hear about any potential solutions to
> this situation.
>
> Thanks,
> Russell
>
>

Hi, can you provide a log of what exactly have been upgraded during the
update ? (/var/log/apt/history.log or /var/log/aptitude)

What gives:

dpkg -l |grep nvidia

update-alternatives --display libglx.so

and same for libGL.so ?

What gives:

modinfo nvidia | grep vermagic


Is "nouveau" blacklisted when you try the nvidia driver ? if not you
could try that.

Did the xorg.conf file changed at all, the "Driver "nvidia"" stanza is
still there ?

Just some hints to get you started, I am on wheezy/Sid amd64 with nvidia
driver (GTS250), no problem as of today.


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On Sat, 14 May 2011 14:23:19 -0700, Russell L. Carter wrote:

> I have a system with a fixed hardware config over the last two years
> that I have kept current with testing through that time. Yesterday's
> update/dist-upgrade/reboot results in a blank screen when launching X.

(...)

Just a quick note on nvidia (or ati) proprietary drivers: they need the
corresponding kernel version package.

If you installed the driver from Debian non-free, you'll need the
matching versions of "nvidia-glx-*" and "nvidia-common-*".

If you compiled the driver downloaded from nvidia site, you'll need the
matching kernel headers package for your current kernel version.

Greetings,

--
Camaleón


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15/05/2011 10:37, Camaleón wrote:
> On Sat, 14 May 2011 14:23:19 -0700, Russell L. Carter wrote:
>
>> I have a system with a fixed hardware config over the last two years
>> that I have kept current with testing through that time. Yesterday's
>> update/dist-upgrade/reboot results in a blank screen when launching X.
>
> (...)
>
> Just a quick note on nvidia (or ati) proprietary drivers: they need the
> corresponding kernel version package.
>
> If you installed the driver from Debian non-free, you'll need the
> matching versions of "nvidia-glx-*" and "nvidia-common-*".
>
> If you compiled the driver downloaded from nvidia site, you'll need the
> matching kernel headers package for your current kernel version.
>
> Greetings,
>

Today dkms simplifies a lot the module management, just go with the
(nvidia|fglrx)-(kernel|modules)-dkms packages together with the
(fglrx|nvidia)-glx that goes with and it does the version magic for you,
even with custom kernels. That is, when everything goes according to plan...
As you said kernel-headers are required (dkms only "recommends" them).


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On Sun, 15 May 2011 08:37:43 +0000 (UTC)
Camaleón <noelamac@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Camaleón,

> Just a quick note on nvidia (or ati) proprietary drivers: they need
> the corresponding kernel version package.

Whilst what you say is true, a lot of the agony of installing nVidia
drivers can be done away with by installing the nvidia-kernel-dkms
package and associated dependencies.

Doing that takes care of all the kernel dependant rebuilds of the
driver, meaning that the sys-admin (me) doesn't have to remember to do
it.

--
Regards _
/ ) "The blindingly obvious is
/ _)rad never immediately apparent"
Only the wounded remain, the generals have all left the game
Generals - The Damned

On Sun, 15 May 2011 10:07:25 +0100, Brad Rogers wrote:

> On Sun, 15 May 2011 08:37:43 +0000 (UTC) Camaleón <noelamac@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hello Camaleón,

(replying to your e-mail but also addressed to tv.debian's)

>> Just a quick note on nvidia (or ati) proprietary drivers: they need the
>> corresponding kernel version package.
>
> Whilst what you say is true, a lot of the agony of installing nVidia
> drivers can be done away with by installing the nvidia-kernel-dkms
> package and associated dependencies.
>
> Doing that takes care of all the kernel dependant rebuilds of the
> driver, meaning that the sys-admin (me) doesn't have to remember to do
> it.

:-)

Don't ask me why -maybe due to inexperience-, but the first time I had to
deal with the closed nvidia driver in Debian I prefered¹ to not use
"dkms" and manually pulled the required packages which was the method I
was more used to. Hopefully, all went ok.

And the same goes for my VirtuaBox client. Whenever I have to install or
update the "guest additions" I prefer to manually update the kernel
headers (which I hope they get automatically updated now that I've
installed the kernel meta-package).

¹I didn't know how this thingy worked, it is something I never used in
openSUSE, the distro I was using before coming to Debian.

Greetings,

--
Camaleón


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