LMDE BREAKAGES - tracking TESTING

[malligt]

@ amina

Thank you for the simple instructions. They worked perfectly!

I downloaded them to /tmp. Then did cd /tmp. Then I installed with the sudo dpkg -i commands you gave me.

In the past, I have had bad experiences with installing .deb files., so I appreciated your simple yet effective instructions.

Regards!

[amina]

Well those were not really my instructions, but I'm glad that I managed to clarify them for you

[gozer]

After updating on 13th May 2011, the PC booted to a black screen. The problem was that the Nvidia driver had been updated, but the latest ones don't work with some legacy cards (mine is a GeForce FX5200). The solution is to boot to a command line (as root), then do

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apt-get install nvidia-kernel-legacy-173xx-dkms

Put the package in 'Ignored packages' in MU, which should stop it being updated again.

The 5/13 update borked my desktop; display was fine until I logged in. I'm running an nvidia 7300 card with dual head display and haven't had any problems until now. After installing the legacy driver (173xx), I'm able to log in and get a desktop, but wondering if a fix will come down for the newer drivers since they *should* support "GeForce 6xxx and higher".

EDIT: Turns out my issue will only happen with the new nvidia driver (270) and compiz. If I disable compiz (hard to do since it attaches itself to everything once installed) and use metacity as the default WM, everything works fine. I think I'll go this route for now and hope for a fix from nvidia sometime before using compiz again. Gnome compositing does a decent job anyway.

nvidia bug: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=161308

[dawgdoc]

I'm running an nvidia 7300 card with dual head display and haven't had any problems until now. After installing the legacy driver (173xx), I'm able to log in and get a desktop, but wondering if a fix will come down for the newer drivers since they *should* support "GeForce 6xxx and higher".

EDIT: Turns out my issue will only happen with the new nvidia driver (270) and compiz. If I disable compiz (hard to do since it attaches itself to everything once installed) and use metacity as the default WM, everything works fine. I think I'll go this route for now and hope for a fix from nvidia sometime before using compiz again. Gnome compositing does a decent job anyway.

nvidia bug: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=161308

There may be more causing your troubles than just the new nVidia driver. Compiz sometimes has troubles with dual head displays, even with older drivers. Somewhere in the last version or two of xserver-xorg-core a bug with dual heads surfaced.

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dawgdoc-lmd@dv6000-laptop-lmd ~ $ apt-listbugs list xserver-xorg-core -s all | grep dual
#618942 - xserver-xorg-core: SIGSEGV/SIGABRT when activating dual head

The link you posted was related to KDE 4.x with nvidia 270.30.x to 270.41.03. I think it is not just the driver and your somewhat older graphics card. I am using an even older chipset (Geforce Go 6150), Compiz, and the new driver with no issues. BUT, I am not using a dual head display set up.

These things can get complicated. The recent nVidia through testing was 270.41.06, so even one fix past that link has not fixed it. It looks like you are doing the only thing possible in waiting for a fix. But it may take fixes to a number of packages to determine which one straightens out your woes.

[Elmacus]

F-spot broken:
f-spot : depends on: libcairo2 (>= 1.10.2-2~) but 1.10.0-1ubuntu2 will be installed.

[wangsuda]

F-spot broken:
f-spot : depends on: libcairo2 (>= 1.10.2-2~) but 1.10.0-1ubuntu2 will be installed.

This is what the error message looks like from synaptic:

error.jpeg

The terminal gives me this:

terminal.jpeg

I'm going to wait on this one, as MU didn't see the update, synaptic wouldn't do the update, and I can't figure out what the terminal wants to do!

[doktordave]

You can get libcairo2 (1.10.2-6) for debian here.

[zerozero]

once again, no need to download a deb from an external site when it is in LMDE's repos;

libcairo2 (1.10.2-6) is in synaptic, open synaptic, do a search for libcairo2, highlight the pkg, then in main menu, package, force version and choose 1.10.2-6 (testing), install it, after this F-Spot should install fine aswell

[twa]

zerozero,
had problem with f-spot and libcairo2 1.10.2.6
solved following your guidelines.
many thanks !

[kmb42vt]

zerozero (and anyone else who might want to check):

I'm seeing an interesting, shall we say, anomaly when installing an app or upgrading LMDE the first time after a fresh boot. This has to be done either by Synaptic where you can observe the terminal or via the terminal itself (or MintUpdate if updates are available but you have to observe the terminal). If you install/upgrade anything after a fresh boot and login using Synaptic for example, the terminal will pop up after downloading packages is complete and the first thing you will see is "Reading database..." with the percentage read to the right of it. Normally this percentage read count will increment rapidly by 5% intervals from 5% to 95% and then disappear followed by the usual install/upgrade text.

Now, I just recently did a fresh install of LMDE just to see what kind of painful experience updating an almost 6 month old snapshot would be like (I'm a glutton for punishment, I am) and all went well except for the odd change in what I just described. Instead of rapidly counting from 5% to 95% when "Reading the database..." it now counts very slowly from 5% to 40% then disappears followed by the usual install/upgrade text. If I remember correctly this behavior started after happening after an update about a month or so ago in my previous install and it's still present in a (freshly upgraded) new install. Nothing actually appears to be wrong and I get no actual errors. As for what I see in the terminal it could very well be an erroneous readout in that it's actually counting correctly but the readout is wrong.

Would you mind checking to see if your install is exhibiting the same behavior? I'd like to see if this is an isolated incident or a widespread one.

[dawgdoc]

once again, no need to download a deb from an external site when it is in LMDE's repos;

libcairo2 (1.10.2-6) is in synaptic, ...

I'm wondering if this incident and the other with the perl modules causing x-chat to be uninstalled, with both x-chat and f-spot having versions available in the repositories, has resulted from early customizations by the Mint Debian team back before the first image. I know there were adjustments using several scripts. One affected gdm3 wallpapers, if anyone recalls. Wasn't there some 'pinning' of libcairo to improve the fonts because font improvement wasn't in Debian Squeeze.

[gazza]

nvidia 8400 here, did my last upgrade on 16th May, when I rebooted it went to tty. Tried with vesa in xorg.conf , works but 640x480 isn't quiet what I'd like for a 22inch monitor. Tried re-installing the 260.19.44 driver that has worked excellent so far, no soap, died again. So went all out, did a fresh install , dist-upgrade , all fine till I installed the driver, lost gui again and back in tty. this is just an fyi, I'm in Mint 10 now, waiting till I hear on #linuxmint-debian that the air is cleared over the nvidia issue, I'm sad actually, lmde is way better than M10

[gazza]

SOLVED, talking to a fellow lmde user on #linuxmint-debian , he twigged at my driver, he suggested I download the latest, it's 270 now, so I downloaded and installed the NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-270.41.06.run , and bobs your uncle, works a treat. Looks as if the 260 has an incompatibility issue with the latest updates

[kmb42vt]

SOLVED, talking to a fellow lmde user on #linuxmint-debian , he twigged at my driver, he suggested I download the latest, it's 270 now, so I downloaded and installed the NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-270.41.06.run , and bobs your uncle, works a treat. Looks as if the 260 has an incompatibility issue with the latest updates

Just in case you're interested I use this guide when installing the Nvidia driver via Synaptic/terminal (there's all sorts of dependencies that are required and this takes car of them--works for both 32 and 64 bit):

http://laspas.gr/2010/12/29/fine-tuning ... 012-64bit/

To quote the specific instructions:

Go to Synaptic (or use a terminal) and install:

nvidia-glx
nvidia-kernel-source
nvidia-kernel-dkms
nvidia-xconfig
nvidia-settings

After installation, run from a terminal (Important!):

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sudo nvidia-xconfig

That's it. Works for me every time. Installing the first one in the list installs most of the others (plus a bunch of dependencies)except for nvbidia-xconfig and nvidia settings but you need the list to verify. The guide also shows you how to install Compiz if you like desktop effects.

[zerozero]

@kmb42vt, can't replicate that behaviour, but will keep a close eye to see if it happens;

@gazza, the only way i got my nvidia working (and i tried a few how-tos) was with one here in the forum (can't find the post, sorry), but just do in the terminal as root

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apt install nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-glx build-essential nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig

and

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nvidia-xconfig

worked perfect for me, and i too use the 270

@dawgdoc, these last issues (xchat and F-Spot), are originated here

Package: *
Pin: release o=linuxmint
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: origin packages.linuxmint.com
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: 500

this has been the cause of the last breakages

[Dr G]

[quote="zerozero"]@kmb42vt, can't replicate that behaviour, but will keep a close eye to see if it happens;

@gazza, the only way i got my nvidia working (and i tried a few how-tos) was with one here in the forum (can't find the post, sorry), but just do in the terminal. . .

zerozero,

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I've been pounding my head against the wall for 5 days now, trying to get my BW's lappy to cooperate with LMDE/XFCE. Everything seemed to work, except it would not hibernate. Your concise instructions helped me to properly install nvidia's drivers, and the laptop hibernates & resumes like a champ. I guess I don't have to replace it after all.

Dr G

[zerozero]

i'm very happy it worked for you but i have to find the original poster of this mini-how-to (in the middle of my bookmarks) to give him the credits

[kwatson512]

After updating on 13 May my Mint Debian, running in a VirtualBox VM, boots to tty. VM is configured for 512 MB base memory and 24MB video memory. VirtualBox graphics emulation is a "simple, synthetic device which provides compatibility with standard VGA and several extended registers used by the VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE)." Host is running Mint 10 on a Lenovo ThinkPad x200 with 4 GB RAM, Intel Core2 Duo processor P8600 @ 2.4 GHz.

I just did

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

but the latest updates didn't fix the problem.

Trying

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startx

gives me this:

Screenshot.png

What next?

[gazza]

Thank you kmb42vt for the 'extra' stuff on installing a nvidia, though I've been using linux for over 10years now, I'm getting lazy in my old age and tend to not bother with extra stuff like that. I've had an issue with nvidia before, I didn't have dkms installed, heard the name , kinda knew what it did with kernel upgrading, but didn't actually know nvidia had it's own particular dkms lib. I followed your instructions and installed the packages along with a dozen more dependencies that it asked for. Ran the config , and it boots fine into the shiny new driver, (was booting fine before, but now I know I'll have less issues when the kernel is updated).

Thanks again for that kmb42vt , Your suggestion didn't fall on deaf ears

[aljoriz]

After updating on 13 May my Mint Debian, running in a VirtualBox VM, boots to tty. VM is configured for 512 MB base memory and 24MB video memory. VirtualBox graphics emulation is a "simple, synthetic device which provides compatibility with standard VGA and several extended registers used by the VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE)." Host is running Mint 10 on a Lenovo ThinkPad x200 with 4 GB RAM, Intel Core2 Duo processor P8600 @ 2.4 GHz.

I just did

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

but the latest updates didn't fix the problem.

What next?

Have you tried

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sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

after that try to reboot and see it if works?