LMDE BREAKAGES - tracking TESTING

[aljoriz]

After doing the updates this evening (April 11th) apparently one of the updates was a newer version of the kernel (2.6.38-2) i am running 64 bit version of LMDE...
This update apparently broke my touchpad...i find that when i try to move my mouse around, where as before it was nice and smooth, it is now very erratic and hard to control...Anyone else experience this?|

I updated the kernel on my eeepc and noticed that the new kernel 2.6.38-2 resets the contents of /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf back to its default setting. I surmise that the same is to be said of the xorg.

You have to manually edit the 50-synapitics.conf with the following codes via terminal

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sudo gedit /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf

then replace the contents with the following:

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Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "touchpad catchall"
        Driver "synaptics"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        Option "TapButton1" "1"
        Option "VertEdgeScroll" "1"
EndSection

[amina]

Thanks for the tip viking777, but that command returned "Command not found" (tried both with and without "/" in front of "etc"),

BUT, in the meantime I realized that the problem was that I pinned xserver-xorg-video-intel to an earlier version. I had my reason for this because the new version at that time was very unstable for me. Now I had to unpin it and as there is an even newer version I hope it will work better because now I cannot return to the old one... LMDE does not seem to tolerate my stability-seeking behaviour

getting a bit tired of worrying about breaking things when doing updates...

Maybe the best would be for you to keep another distro for fallback. I also like to be on the safe side so I have Opensuse and Ubuntu also installed and they share my /data . I almost never use them but this way I do not worry too much about the LMDE updates (that have not made any serious harm yet).

But now I have a problem with Virtualbox. Its kernel module does not work anymore with the new kernel and recompilation fails with

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Failed to install using DKMS, attempting to install without
Makefile:170: *** Error: /usr/src/linux (version 2.6.38) does not match the current kernel (version 2.6.38-2-686).  Stop.

I will try to look for info when I will have time and maybe open a new topic if I cannot fix, just curious if anyone else has experienced/solved the same?

EDIT: I could not resolve this problem despite trying several things. In the end I installed the newest version 4.0.4 and everything is back to normal

[craig10x]

Hi guys...I saw all the feedback when i got up this morning...yes i have a Toshiba Laptop with AMD 64 processor although i was using the standard driver that comes in LMDE....

I had left the laptop on during the night to download something and when i got up this morning noticed the computer had turned itself off!
I did not have it set to do that in anyway...When i turned it on with the "on button" it booted normal and the touchpad seem to have come back to life (seems to be working normal now)...

Though i am wondering what made the laptop shut off and what should i check for?

I will also have to watch for any other "quirks" from this change but so far everything else appears normal...

I was downloading something at the time, and apparently it had shut off after 1 hour of idle time...I don't have it set to spin down discs or suspend or anything like that in the power settings...

[viking777]

Thanks for the tip viking777, but that command returned "Command not found" (tried both with and without "/" in front of "etc"),

Absolutely right amina, the etc should have had a / in front of it (typo) and gdm has become gdm3 quite recently so my notes are out of date again.

Another Tip: It is always a good idea to use tab completion if you get an error like that. If you had typed sudo /etc/init.d/gd then pressed TAB it would have completed the command correctly for you. (Unless you are using kde of course when it wouldn't because it doesn't use gdm or gdm3)

Anyway you solved it yourself so no need now.

[Elmacus]

The new kernal and graphics driver broke my external 22" screen on the Fujitsu S760 laptop. Can now only run 1027x768 while laptop screen is closed. (bigger if laptopscreen is open)
Tried all gui-buttons, but i will try another laptop later.

[sgosnell]

2.6.38 has been problematic for me. I've been using it for some time, off and on, from the Liquorix repo, and it gives me random lockups, requiring holding the power button to shut down. Nothing else gives any response at all. I keep trying it, but I keep going back to the 2.6.37 liquorix kernel. That one is as fast, as far as I can tell, because it has the 'magic patch' backported. 2.6.38 also randomly fails to boot, hanging at the login screen, frozen. I haven't found the source yet, it just seems to randomly hang now and then. Maybe 2.6.39...

It's getting to be like Cubs baseball - always 'wait til next year', starting in June.

[tjweaver]

Update regarding NFS breakage from a few pages back: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=67502&start=180

I just ran a

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sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -s dist-upgrade

To see what was showing up in terminal (after completing a fairly large update, including new kernel upgrade, in the mint update tool.) I have mint update set to ignore nfs-kernel-server and nfs-common as I'm currently running on the older version to prevent nfs breakage.

Here was the result:

The following packages will be REMOVED:
portmap
The following NEW packages will be installed:
rpcbind
The following packages will be upgraded:
nfs-common nfs-kernel-server

So i'm guessing it is ok to take the newer version of the nfs packages since the switch is being made from portmap to rpcbind automatically this time. I'll try it out and report back when I can. I'm at work now.

UPDATE:
I applied all of the above updates taking the new version of nfs-common and nfs-kernel-server and replacing portmap with rpcbind. Everything is working great. All of my nfs shares and client mounts are working fine without any extra config settings or other changes.

[tjweaver]

I should mention too - for those keeping a running total on here - I seem to be one of the lucky ones to have received no ill effect from updating to the newer kernel. It looks like all of the updates took fine and after a reboot everything appears to be up and running as normal.

[CiaW]

I'm a total newbie on linux and I just have to ask:
1. Is xorg related to the kernel? if the kernel is updated would it affect the xorg and break it?

If you have a new kernel it might break your xorg (video) depending on what video drivers you have installed? If you're using the default nouveau drivers you should be ok. If you're using nvidia, then make sure you also have the nvidia-kernel-dkms package installed so it can rebuild your nvidia-kernel for the new kernel 'on-the-fly' instead of waiting for the new nvidia version to be built upstream. HTH. (I'm also typing this from my Debian squeeze install so I haven't yet updated to the new kernel on my LMDE install, didn't know there was a new lmde kernel until I hit this thread...)

[craig10x]

It doesn't seem like my laptop is shutting itself off anymore...though i will keep an "eye" on it...and it's wierd how after shutting itself off during the night, when i re-booted today the touchpad was apparently working normal again
I breathed a sigh of relief
Still a weird reaction though to this new kernel....Well at least now i know i wasn't the only one, so hopefully this will get fixed in another update soon...

I think i very much like Clem's idea to also offer an option to do monthly snapshot updates instead of the normal daily routine, with a chance for things to get corrected and working properly thus avoiding stuff like this...sounds like he won't be able to work on that until after Mint 11 main is released but i will welcome it with open arms and be "right on it"...sounds like just what i need...

[kmb42vt]

Quite an update today. All seems to have to gone well with me although after checking what was being updated, installed and removed via Synaptic I dropped down into a command prompt and did a "apt-get dist-upgrade" rather than stay in the GUI with all those X updates. The Nvidia proprietary driver patched to the new kernel okay as well as vbox 4.0.4 (VirtualBox module). So far so good.

Since I triple boot 3 Linux distros (see signature) the one thing I made sure to do after the update was to reboot into the distro (LM 10) that had it's GRUB in the MBR of my hard disk first and run:

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sudo update grub2

...before booting back into LMDE. Otherwise the new LMDE kernel and all the kernel changes wouldn't have been recognized. I'm sure those who have more than one distro loaded on their hard drive already know to do this but I figure it's worth saying anyway.

Just a thought--I wonder what's going to happen to LMDE (Gnome) when Gnome.org stops developing "gnome-panel" which is supposed to happen in the near future. Like I said, just a thought.

[gosa]

I'm a total newbie on linux and I just have to ask:
1. Is xorg related to the kernel? if the kernel is updated would it affect the xorg and break it?

If you have a new kernel it might break your xorg (video) depending on what video drivers you have installed? If you're using the default nouveau drivers you should be ok. If you're using nvidia, then make sure you also have the nvidia-kernel-dkms package installed so it can rebuild your nvidia-kernel for the new kernel 'on-the-fly' instead of waiting for the new nvidia version to be built upstream. HTH. (I'm also typing this from my Debian squeeze install so I haven't yet updated to the new kernel on my LMDE install, didn't know there was a new lmde kernel until I hit this thread...)

I'd like to connect to the above and ask if anyone know how a kernel upgrade will affect people that have nvidia card installed through sgfxi?
- At first my simple mind thought - "Ok, run the updates, step out of the GUI, run sgfxi again and then reboot and try the new kernel..."
But it can't be that easy can it?

[viking777]

'd like to connect to the above and ask if anyone know how a kernel upgrade will affect people that have nvidia card installed through sgfxi?
- At first my simple mind thought - "Ok, run the updates, step out of the GUI, run sgfxi again and then reboot and try the new kernel..."
But it can't be that easy can it?

Thing is gosa, you have made your life more complicated by electing to use sgfxi (whatever that is? ) to install nvidia drivers in the first place, when they install perfectly well in LMDE without any external help whatsoever.

All I can tell you is that as an 'uncomplicated' LMDE/nvidia user everything works fine for me both before and after the install.

I am sure you have an absolutely brilliant reason for using sgfxi, but you must realise that like different kernels and different apt sources, LMDE is not tested to comply with your particular self imposed situation and therefore it is unlikely that any regular user will be able to answer your question.

[cecar]

I cant get the new kernel to work with this graphics card if i use the proprietary driver. SMXI script say its not supported. Guess i have to wait then. Using 2.6.32-5 for now.

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Graphics:  Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series X.org 1.9.5 Res: 80x24 Gfx Data: N/A for root

[zerozero]

I'm going to be out of this upgrade to see how MU handles LMDE;
After updating with MU (levels 1-3), apt has this for me:

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Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  libdrm-nouveau1 xserver-xorg-video-nv
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libdrm-nouveau1a linux-headers-2.6.38-2-amd64 linux-headers-2.6.38-2-common
  linux-image-2.6.38-2-amd64 linux-kbuild-2.6.38
The following packages will be upgraded:
  linux-base linux-headers-2.6-amd64 linux-image-2.6-amd64 linux-libc-dev
  xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all
  xserver-xorg-input-evdev xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
  xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-video-apm
  xserver-xorg-video-ark xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-chips
  xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xserver-xorg-video-i128
  xserver-xorg-video-i740 xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64
  xserver-xorg-video-mga xserver-xorg-video-neomagic
  xserver-xorg-video-nouveau xserver-xorg-video-openchrome
  xserver-xorg-video-r128 xserver-xorg-video-radeon
  xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
  xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
  xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
  xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx xserver-xorg-video-trident
  xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-vesa xserver-xorg-video-vmware
  xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
40 upgraded, 5 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 36.0 MB/42.5 MB of archives.
After this operation, 137 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?


of course i'm going to ignore it, and follow MU advice

[viking777]

of course i'm going to ignore it, and follow MU advice

You're a hero zerozero

Or else I am very naive for believing you

[zerozero]

it's just a testing partition i want to see when it breaks

[gosa]

'd like to connect to the above and ask if anyone know how a kernel upgrade will affect people that have nvidia card installed through sgfxi?
- At first my simple mind thought - "Ok, run the updates, step out of the GUI, run sgfxi again and then reboot and try the new kernel..."
But it can't be that easy can it?

Thing is gosa, you have made your life more complicated by electing to use sgfxi (whatever that is? ) to install nvidia drivers in the first place, when they install perfectly well in LMDE without any external help whatsoever.

All I can tell you is that as an 'uncomplicated' LMDE/nvidia user everything works fine for me both before and after the install.

I am sure you have an absolutely brilliant reason for using sgfxi, but you must realise that like different kernels and different apt sources, LMDE is not tested to comply with your particular self imposed situation and therefore it is unlikely that any regular user will be able to answer your question.

Ok... Hmmm...

Let me make one thing very clear before I begin. I have a great respect for you as an experienced Linux Mint user, and I have read quite a lot of posts from you helping people out with their problems. Let there be no misunderstandings about that. So - no offense, but here goes:

First of all - I'm not exactly alone with having used sgfxi to install my nvidia drivers. I actually believe it is one of the methods being recommended in this forum.

Second - and I'm sorry if I come across as being a bit rude here, but it's been made quite clear to me - and probably a lot of other users in this forum as well - that you seem to have a built-in aversion to all configurations that is not "straight out of the box" (or from the dvd in this case). Maybe that is not the impression you want to give but that is what I'm reading, both in your answer to me here and in other threads. "If you're altering your original set-up, go look for help elsewhere". - Well... one of the reasons I finally decided on trying to stick with Linux Mint is it's extremely helpful community.

So let me ask you - do you have something to constructive to add to answer my question or do you feel that you've been a good help by bashing my way of solving a problem I had getting full resolution out of my graphics card after having installed LMDE? (And that after following advise given in this same forum?)

Third - Oh well.. I think I already covered that one. I did get the recommendation to use sgfxi in this forum, - I don't know if that is "brilliant" enough but it helped me with a very easy solution when I had a very hard time understanding how to even understand which of all the available options to go for. Maybe it was easy for you getting your graphics nvidia card installed, maybe your card is better supported than mine, maybe you are a much more experienced user than me or maybe...

In the end I have the situation I have, and I think it might be better if someone with actual experience from using sgfxi gave his/her input than that someone - who (at least it seems like that) doesn't seem to be able to think "outside the box" gives a few rants... Why even bother replying if it's not for helping?
Or are you just trying to say that "Go get your own thread and let us other purists take care of our real problems"?

Best regards,
Gosa

[Roken]

I have an ATI card, not NV, but I, too, use sgfxi to install the drivers. WIth kernel upgrades I tend to find that it really is a simple as you thought (update, reboot, quit GUI, run sgfxi, reboot), although I would always recommend keeping the working kernel to boot back into should things go horribly wrong.

[viking777]

@ gosa

Well I have obviously caused you some offence but I find it difficult to understand why.

I believe this statement to be fundamentally true and I think it would be difficult for anyone to argue against it:

you must realise that like different kernels and different apt sources, LMDE is not tested to comply with your particular self imposed situation and therefore it is unlikely that any regular user will be able to answer your question.

Anyway, I apologise. It was (and never would be) my intention to cause offence to you or anyone.

The intent of the post was to suggest a possible cause of the problem you are having, nothing more than that.