<SOLVED> Finally; I have to admit defeat.

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Spinner912

<SOLVED> Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Spinner912 »

After many years of persevering with Linux - first with Ubuntu 7, I have had excellent experiences with great reliability and flexibility. So much so that I virtually gave up Windows (XP at the time) reverting only when locked into an APP which would run only on Windows.

Upon the arrival of Ubuntu 14, unreliability and complications started to appear causing some problems, but they were generally overcome by work arounds. But as these became more annoying, I migrated to Mint 17 which worked very well until the upgrade to 17.3 and then the real problems started. And since November 2016, Mint has been nothing but increasing troubles.

A couple of months ago, after installing yet another update via the system updates, things really started to go bad. The cursed Failed to load X Server .... messup. Months of time wasting trying to get Linux to do something approaching normal behaviour finally led to starting afresh with a clean install on a brand new HDD of Mint 18.1. One would think that would solve any problems, but alas; the exact same problems as first appeared back in November, and reappeared again and terminally in February and March. Provided I want to view things on 680xsomething resolution on my almost new 22" Led HD monitor (normally 1920x1080 resolution), things work quite well. But even this very poor resolution can only be obtained by running nomodeset in the Grub Menu each and every boot. Without that, it is back to the blue screen of death telling me about X Server, etc.

Linux simply does not recognise the display in either DVI, VGA, or HDMI. All three modes result in the same problem.

There is no Nvidia Settings facility and "Displays" recognises no display. Neither give a possibility of adjusting the resolution manually.

I have followed literally dozens of "fixes" found on this forum, but nothing changes. The problem remains absolutely constant.

What more can I do? New Graphics card; clean install on a new HDD. Any hardware which may cause a conflict has been removed. But still the same result.

I have had it with Linux. At least Windows 10 is running reliably on a separate HDD in the same computer and works perfectly. So that really leaves little possibility for anything other than reluctantly abandon Linux and revert to Windows and say bye, bye, to Linux. It has beaten me.
Last edited by Spinner912 on Tue May 30, 2017 3:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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jimallyn
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Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by jimallyn »

Apparently you are easily defeated. You joined the forums nearly 3 years ago, and in that time you have made a total of 16 posts. One would think that if you were having as many problems as you say you are, you would have asked questions on the forums. But you didn't. You didn't ask for solutions to whatever problems you were having, and then you gave up. Myself, I have been using Linux for 15 years, and it has been practically flawless. There is nothing that could make me use Windows again. On the rare instances that I have had problems, I was able to get solutions by posting on the forums; at first the Xandros forums, and then the Mint forums since I switched to Mint. Sorry to hear you have had so much trouble, but I suspect that most or all of it could have been fixed if only you had asked for help.
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Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by coffee412 »

What stands out to me and I find interesting is no real post of what computer he is running or what hardware is involved. Only the casual mention of a Geforce 2xx card.

It would be rather difficult to offer any help or advice without knowing the specifics of what hardware that the OP is trying to run on.

Just a passing observation,

coffee
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Spinner912

Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Spinner912 »

Your personal attack, implying that I am lying, does the forum, and you, no service.

What you have not been able to see is the number of leads I have read over the months and applied to my problems based on the posters individual situation. Many were almost copies of what I would have written myself. I have a file about an inch thick of pages printed out for trying.

The other thing you fail to recognise is one of the problems I, and I assume, many others have experienced with respect to Linux and support. It must be remembered that many of us are not computing geeks. We are that "rare" type - computer "users". Digging around in technical adventures is not our forte, and I do not remember reading in any of the forum rules or in Linux publications, that one must qualify as a technical expert should one wish to try Linux.

What I am saying here is that you say "if only you had asked for help"; and had I known how to explain the complexity of the issues I was experiencing I certainly would have.

Thus my trolling through hundreds of posts, and there are hundreds of almost identical issues on this site, in the hope of even identifying what my problem actually was.

Also, had you read any of my posts, you would have noted that I did state, in plain English, what my problem was in more than one post, and didn't even get a reply. Not one.

And for your further information, I have been a satisfied user of Linux, firstly Ubuntu, then Mint, for more than ten years. My difficulties have only occurred in the last couple of months.

More useful technical advice - less unwarranted criticism, would be a far more useful approach.
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Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Pjotr »

Spinner912 wrote:More useful technical advice - less unwarranted criticism, would be a far more useful approach.
Please generate an overview of your system like this:
- Launch a terminal window (this is how to launch a terminal window);
- make the terminal window full screen, to avoid chopped lines;
- Copy/paste this command into the terminal:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz
(if you type: the letter F is a capital letter)

Press Enter.

Copy/paste the output in your next message.
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Spinner912

Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Spinner912 »

Pjotr;

I thank you for your interest. I have read with great interest several of your posts on this issue .

I will get back to this post with the details you request as early as I can.
sphyrth

Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by sphyrth »

You guys have to admit, though, that his story is consistent with his posts. A case of broken machine... which he was willing to do because of upgrading the system.

Mint 18.x breaks some functions I need, so I went back to 17.3. Too lazy to ask the forums. But beats going Windows any day. Guess what? It just works.

Upgrading defeats me from time to time, too. It's not Linux's fault. It's mostly hardware lacking Linux support.

Edit: When I was writing my comment there only two replies. You guys are fast typers.
Last edited by sphyrth on Mon May 22, 2017 6:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Pierre
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Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Pierre »

then,, maybe you should try out yet another version of LinuxMint,
or even another Linux version altogether. .. ..

that Windows System is no better, despite what you may think,
( I'm currently repairing Yet Another One )

at least, with the World of Linux, you get a myriad of choices:
- some say too many.
but - - that's way better than what is offered in the World of Windows restrictions.
sphyrth wrote: Upgrading defeats me from time to time, too. It's not Linux's fault. It's mostly hardware lacking Linux support.
that's the biggest issue - - by far & it will clobber lots of N00Bs unfortunately.
:(
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Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] - when your problem is solved!
and DO LOOK at those Unanswered Topics - - you may be able to answer some!.
Spinner912

Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Spinner912 »

Pjotr; Here is the output you requested. I couldn't make the terminal full page as I am doing this in 640x480 resolution (easy to read anyway!) What is not shown here is that I am using a Samsung S22A300B monitor running in VGA mode. Using DVI I only get a black screen on bootup. (My last reply was written on an Android Pad). Also, I am on the HDD running the original problem Mint 17.3. I can not boot into Mint 18.1 as I get only a black screen.

(For what it is worth, Windows 10 boots up, in VGA mode, to the full 1920x1080 resolution, but not using DVI. That just results in a black screen with all the correct sounds behind the blackness.)

/dev/sda is Mint 18.1 (new install)
/dev/sdb is Mint 17.3 (the OS I am using here)
/dev/sdc is Windows 10

The nVidia driver being used is 375.39 installed using Driver Manager. (I am not absolutely sure off hand about the ".39").

This session could only be booted using "nomodeset" in the GRUB config.

Code: Select all

xxxxx-desktop ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: xxx-desktop Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.8.2)
           Desktop: MATE 1.12.0 (Gtk 3.10.8~8+qiana)
           Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine:   Mobo: ASUSTeK model: P5VD2-X v: 1.XX
           Bios: Phoenix v: ASUS P5VD2-X 0308 date: 03/19/2007
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core2 4400 (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB
           flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 7999
           clock speeds: max: 2000 MHz 1: 2000 MHz 2: 1200 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GF108 [GeForce GT 730] bus-ID: 02:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.15.1 drivers: fbdev (unloaded: vesa) FAILED: nouveau
           Resolution: 640x480@73.0hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 128 bits)
           GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 NVIDIA GF108 High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 02:00.1
           Card-2 VIA VT8237A/VT8251 HDA Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 80:01.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.13.0-24-generic
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL-8110SC/8169SC Gigabit Ethernet
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 9c00 bus-ID: 04:07.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1720.4GB (6.4% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST1000DM010 size: 1000.2GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: ST3400620AS size: 400.1GB
           ID-3: /dev/sdc model: ST3320620A size: 320.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 359G used: 95G (28%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 9.09GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 35.0C mobo: 40.0C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 1054 psu: 1917 sys-1: 0
Info:      Processes: 154 Uptime: 8 min Memory: 744.5/2965.3MB
           Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28 
xxxxx-desktop ~ $
Last edited by Moem on Mon May 22, 2017 7:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added [code] tags for easier reading.
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Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Cosmo. »

Spinner912 wrote:Your personal attack, implying that I am lying, does the forum, and you, no service.
Be careful with your accusation.
Spinner912 wrote:Also, had you read any of my posts, you would have noted that I did state, in plain English, what my problem was in more than one post, and didn't even get a reply. Not one.
In your history I do not find only one thread without a reply. But I find 3 threads, which are marked as solved. So the simple facts tell another story.
Spinner912

Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Spinner912 »

Cosmo; You've got me. Really the frustrating thing on this forum was that there were a couple of occasions when the first reply was the end of the trail.

But; what I had forgotten in the excitement of the moment, is that I had also gone searching on a couple of other Linux forums. And because of no response at the time I would need to go back into browser history to find which they were.

Apologies for any offence from my defensive response.
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Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Pjotr »

Try this:

Update Manager - panel: View - Linux kernels

Install the latest kernel from the 3.13 series. Then reboot.

If that doesn't help, try the latest kernel from the 4.4 series.
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Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Hoser Rob »

jimallyn wrote:Apparently you are easily defeated. You joined the forums nearly 3 years ago, and in that time you have made a total of 16 posts. One would think that if you were having as many problems as you say you are, you would have asked questions on the forums. ....
I agree with this 100%. You never once even generated proper system info, which I suspect is why pjotr asked for the inxi report, and I admit someone should have asked for ages ago.

But you can't expect as much hand holding as you do from forums, who are volunteering their time, with very little apparent effort at researching things yourself, and then insulting said members who were trying to help. Even with the best tech support on distros that are noob suited ... i.e. Ubuntu, period ... you're going to have to do some research yourself sometimes.

I'll also fully admit that many Linux distros like Ubuntu and Mint, while being the most beginner friendly, downplay the amount of config and research you're likely to encounter. Linux is stable if you set it up right, but it usually needs config. But most users haven't ever done a Windows install from scratch either and I'm not sure that's any easier.

Bottom line, I hope you do go back to Windows.
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Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by phd21 »

Hi "Spinner912",


I just read your post and some of the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

The nVidia driver being used is not working, try the instructions below.

Remove the "nomodeset" in the GRUB config.

type in:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GF108 [GeForce GT 730] bus-ID: 02:00.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.15.1 drivers: fbdev (unloaded: vesa) FAILED: nouveau
Resolution: 640x480@73.0hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 128 bits)
GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Install the Nvidia Drivers
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/12
To install this using the PPA method, open a console terminal, type in, or copy & paste, each line below one by one:

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install nvidia-375
Also keep in mind that you are using a 10 year old 32-bit computer...

Hope this helps ...
Phd21: Mint 20 Cinnamon & xKDE (Mint Xfce + Kubuntu KDE) & KDE Neon 64-bit (new based on Ubuntu 20.04) Awesome OS's, Dell Inspiron I5 7000 (7573) 2 in 1 touch screen, Dell OptiPlex 780 Core2Duo E8400 3GHz,4gb Ram, Intel 4 Graphics.
Spinner912

Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Spinner912 »

phd21: Thank you for the reply. I will run your suggestions. And I agree totally with you about the 10 years old computer. Although that doesn't seem to explain why this situation should develop after so many years of excellent Ubuntu/Mint use.

I'll keep you updated on what happens, although I seem to recall that I have gone through these exact steps at someone else's suggestion in the past month or so (possibly from another forum).

Thanks again.
Spinner912

Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Spinner912 »

Pjotr: This may sound like a silly question but the long list of kernel numbers shown in Update Manager is listed in numerical order, sort of. It starts with 3.13.0-100 then goes down the list to 3.13.0-119 which is then followed by 3.13.0-24 (which is what is currently installed). It then continues down the list to 3.13.0-98.

My silly question is: is 3.13.0-119 a later kernel than 3.13.0-98? I assume 3.13.0-98 is the last in the 3.13 series, but I would like to be sure before inadvertently installing a regression.
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Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Pjotr »

Spinner912 wrote:Pjotr: This may sound like a silly question but the long list of kernel numbers shown in Update Manager is listed in numerical order, sort of. It starts with 3.13.0-100 then goes down the list to 3.13.0-119 which is then followed by 3.13.0-24 (which is what is currently installed). It then continues down the list to 3.13.0-98.

My silly question is: is 3.13.0-119 a later kernel than 3.13.0-98? I assume 3.13.0-98 is the last in the 3.13 series, but I would like to be sure before inadvertently installing a regression.
The latest one is 3.13.0-119. The numbering of the list became weird when reaching -100. :)
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Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Cosmo. »

Spinner912 wrote:My silly question is: is 3.13.0-119 a later kernel than 3.13.0-98?
Yes. The reason for this order is a quirk in the kernel tool, which leads to the result, that the kernels with a 3 digit revision number get listed in front of those with a 2 digit number (and if they would exist those with a 1 digit number would likely get listed at last). A little bit irritating, but at least the most recent kernels stand at the top.
Spinner912

Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by Spinner912 »

Phd21: I have run a the routine you recommended. There is one change. Upon rebooting, I no longer have to insert "nomodeset" in the Grub list. But nothing else changes.

I have run the two checking commands in the Google site and then an inxi. Here are the results:

Code: Select all

-desktop ~ $ lsmod | grep nvidia
nvidia_drm             14234  0 
nvidia_modeset        789196  1 nvidia_drm
nvidia              11358471  1 nvidia_modeset
drm                   243792  1 nvidia_drm
xxxxx-desktop ~ $ lsmod | grep nouveau
xxxxx-desktop ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: ian-desktop Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.8.2)
           Desktop: MATE 1.12.0 (Gtk 3.10.8~8+qiana)
           Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine:   Mobo: ASUSTeK model: P5VD2-X v: 1.XX
           Bios: Phoenix v: ASUS P5VD2-X 0308 date: 03/19/2007
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core2 4400 (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB
           flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 7999
           clock speeds: max: 2000 MHz 1: 1200 MHz 2: 1200 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GF108 [GeForce GT 730] bus-ID: 02:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.15.1 drivers: fbdev (unloaded: vesa) FAILED: nouveau
           Resolution: 640x480@73.0hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 128 bits)
           GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 NVIDIA GF108 High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 02:00.1
           Card-2 VIA VT8237A/VT8251 HDA Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 80:01.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.13.0-24-generic
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL-8110SC/8169SC Gigabit Ethernet
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 9c00 bus-ID: 04:07.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1720.4GB (6.4% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST1000DM010 size: 1000.2GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: ST3400620AS size: 400.1GB
           ID-3: /dev/sdc model: ST3320620A size: 320.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 359G used: 95G (28%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 9.09GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 33.0C mobo: 39.0C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 1010 psu: 1939 sys-1: 0
Info:      Processes: 146 Uptime: 14 min Memory: 740.2/2965.3MB
           Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28
xxxxx-desktop ~ $ 
Perhaps this issue is now starting to look very much like that mentioned in your earlier comment. A 10 years old computer. Perhaps it is simply no longer able to handle these drivers(?) But mentioning that other dreadful OS, how can we then explain why it works (sort of) in Windows 10 (which by the way is now also said to be a Linux user - a comment in no way to be taken as a recommendation for Windows)?
Last edited by Moem on Tue May 23, 2017 3:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: added the [code] tags again
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jimallyn
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Re: Finally; I have to admit defeat.

Post by jimallyn »

Spinner912 wrote:Your personal attack, implying that I am lying, does the forum, and you, no service.
...
More useful technical advice - less unwarranted criticism, would be a far more useful approach.
It was not my intent to make a personal attack or to imply that you were lying. However, more than one person has told me at various times that I come across differently than I intended. It seems I find it easier to deal with computers than to deal with people sometimes. (I find computers easier to understand.) If I came across as attacking and criticizing, I apologize. That was not my intent. As with I think just about everybody here, my intent is to get Linux working for as many people as possible. When I first learned about Linux in 2002, it was like finding a great new restaurant in town: I wanted to share it with everybody! But I can be my own worst enemy at times. I hope that you will stick around and let the whiz kids here get your problems solved.
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