LMDE - update pack 3 - Xorg/nVidia problem?

[chris_722]

Hello, I've just update my system with Update Pack 3 and in Grub I have two options more avilable with newer kernel (LMDE and LMDE recovery mode).
When I choose the newest kernel all I get is terminal-like screen with info to enter my username and password. When I type it I can work just the same way as I work in terminal, with no graphical interface.
When I choose the older kernel everything works fine.
But the idea of updating is to work on the newest kernel and I'd like to fix it.
I presume there's something wrong with Xorg/nVidia drivers so I'm writing here asking for help.

Chris

[Gerd50]

Did you check in synaptic whether the header files for the new kernel are installed?

[chris_722]

How to do it via command line? (it's all I have in the newest kernel version)

Chris

[Dave W.]

Chris,
I may have had a similar problem to yours. First off, I don't know anything about your system, so it might be good for you to post your inxi -F from your system with the kernel that works.

Have you tried sgfxi? If you already have the script installed in your system with the working kernel, you should be able to login as a user and then login as root in to the new kernel. You must run the script twice.

Check this out from the Mepis wiki and look at the section on sgfxi.


http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=Sgfxi

Dave

[Gerd50]

you wrote:
When I choose the older kernel everything works fine

and you have a gui The new kernel you find in synaptic as linux-image-3.0.0-1-386-pae or linux-image-3.0.0-1-amd64 if you
have LMDE 64bit installed. All you have to do is looking for linux-headers-686-pae 3.0.0 or linux-headers-amd64 3.0.0 and if this
meta package is not installed, install it

[chris_722]

Thanks a lot for the answers:)
Seems that the headers are already installed:

Code: Select all

linux-headers-3.0.0-1-486
Header files for Linux 3.0.0-1-486

And here's the system info:
$ inxi -F

Code: Select all

System:    Host msi Kernel 2.6.39-2-486 i686 (32 bit) Distro Linux Mint Debian Edition
CPU:       Single core AMD Athlon X2 QL-62 (-UP-) cache 512 KB flags (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 svm) bmips 3999.3 clocked at 1000.00 MHz 
Graphics:  Card nVidia C77 [GeForce 9100M G] X.Org 1.10.4 Res: 1366x768@50.0hz 
           GLX Renderer Software Rasterizer GLX Version 2.1 Mesa 7.10.3 Direct Rendering Yes
Audio:     Card nVidia MCP72XE/MCP72P/MCP78U/MCP78S High Definition Audio driver HDA Intel BusID: 00:07.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.24
Network:   Card-1 Realtek RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller driver r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI at port e800 BusID: 08:00.0
           Card-2 Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) driver ath5k BusID: 06:00.0
Disks:     HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (50.2% used) 1: /dev/sda WDC_WD3200BEVT 320.1GB 
Partition: ID:/ size: 9.7G used: 4.8G (53%) fs: ext4 ID:/home size: 9.6G used: 402M (5%) fs: ext4 
           ID:swap-1 size: 0.54GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 62.9C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:65C 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes 131 Uptime 2:26 Memory 282.8/1772.0MB Runlevel 2 Client Shell inxi 1.4.23 

As to sgfxi I used it to install nVidia drivers. I'll try to run sgfxi in the system with newer kernel, and I'll write here what happened.

Chris

[rhodry]

As to sgfxi I used it to install nVidia drivers. I'll try to run sgfxi in the system with newer kernel, and I'll write here what happened.

Nothing wrong with using sgfxi, use it myself in 'Sid'; but, you will have to re-run it each time the kernel changes. No auto update feature in Mint will handle this ( it only handles 'standard' method of driver install).

Kernel headers must be installed, then drop to cli (ctl-alt-f1 at login) and run sgfxi as usual.

rhodry.

[Dave W.]

Here is something that should also be mentioned. If LMDE doesn't have module assistant installed it may have to be. I do believe the script handles the m-a install also. If not "m-a prepare" in the terminal (as root) is needed and the script needs to be run again. This has worked for me.
Dave

[gosa]

Have you tried sgfxi?

Dave

That is a question that should be repeated over and over and over again...

I know that there's a lot of people here that do not like when you ("you" as in peole in general) introduce "third party" solutions, and I've even read posts saying that "We can't help you because you're not using the "pure" thing... but still - sgfxi is one of the best inventions I've tried since moving over to Linux on my desktop computer. It's easy to install, it's easy to run, and if you make sure that you have a printout with a list of available commands you can solve most issues you might experience where you end up with nothing but a "prompt".

I don't know much about the link that Dave posted, but the address to the site hositng sgfxi is: http://smxi.org/

Try it, and spread the word. Having the latest Nvidia drivers install can be easy!

[Dave W.]

Yeah, I don't know anything about the politics involved in to whether to use a script or not, but gosa offers some good advice.

if you make sure that you have a printout with a list of available commands you can solve most issues you might experience where you end up with nothing but a "prompt".

The actual website is a great place to visit.

As for chris_772. I hope that all is going well.

[twa]

Hi,
have used smxi since my first install of LMDE in september 2010 and never had problems installing NVidia drivers.
smxi/sgfxi taking care of that.
thumb up

[zeno]

thanks to this thread i have my desktop back

[Dave W.]

Thumbs up zeno.

[joda]

Hello, I've got the same problem

The update pack 3 brings problems with the kernel 3.0 and the nvidia driver !!

For the moment I use the 'nouveau nvidia driver', the non-free driver doesn't work at all !

I presume kernel 3.0 is a big change, that's why i'll wait a liitle on LMDE ... I hope this problem will be fix in a short time !!

[Tolan]

I had several problems with the nouveau driver, especially removing it to install the Nvidia propietary driver. When disabling nouveau, I had no console, means, some lines were running through, then a blank screen. I helped myself to install the NVidia driver from the repositories (on a 640*480 GUI! that the live CD provided), desintalled Nouveau there as well (synaptic) and rebooted. The gui started up as a charm (1680*1050), but the consoles (CTRL-ALT-F1 - F6) were borked. Means, a static picture of the lines worked off so far, no cursor. No input.

If you have the same problem: edit /etc/default/grub and remove the # from the GRUB_TERMINAL=console line. It leads to a monochrome grub, but a working console where you can finally work on. Seems the vesafb is strangled by the graphical grub menu, it cost me ONE WEEK to find that out (even uvesafb did not work at all and shot down my system - I installed more often than the last five years.)

Specs: Quad Core Intel, Nvidia 430, Driver 280.13, w/ LMDE 64 bit, Kernel 3.0.0-1-amd64.