white screen of death in ubuntu - post nvidia driver install
 

Hi folks, please forgive my newbie ignorance but I've just moved from Vista to ubuntu after trying out a few distros.

Got ubuntu up and running perfectly from live cd, hooked up printer, got online and so on. Even started downloading stuff from the repository. Brilliant. Using Kino to do DV editing.

But I've got a problem now and as a newbie I don't know what to do. Drivers for my machine were restricted, so I downloaded the nvidia drivers. That fixed screen resolution and so on.

Then I got too confident and tried out the desktop effects but programs started locking up. I used the facility to undo the driver update but the machine crashed.

Now, when I boot ubuntu, I get to the login screens and enter password but everything goes white. (I'd always heard about the black screen of death, but this one is definitely white.)

I can get a command line (kernel?) by pressing Ctrl, Alt + F1 but I don't know what to do once I'm there.

I know the system is operating at some level because, while booting, the machine dials out on my modem.

Please help, but bear in mind that I'm a total newbie more used to GUI's than bashes and konsoles and the like!

Just a footnote, by the way. I know the desktop effects come with a warning and I probably shouldn't have tried them out.

Up until then everything was working perfectly. I'm certainly well pleased with ubuntu, but it's my newbieness that's causing the problems I suppose.

If you can get a terminal then just type
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

as root user..

otherwise

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

It will reconfigure your xserver

Hi,

Is this the problem you're having?

http://forum.beryl-project.org/viewt...56&hilit=white

They seem to have a fix for it, if you want to experiment with it.

Sam

Sorry guys, still stuggling. I'm a newbie after all.

Ran reconfigure, but it's still not getting me back into GUI mode. I ended up with about half a dozen xorg.conf files and had to delete them before running reconfigure again. Still the same result.

My monitor is an LCD, but xorg reconfig seems to assume it's going to be CRT, with its questions about refresh rate and so on. Is that where I'm going wrong?

I even tried running Knoppix from Live CD to see if I could bring across the config file from a version of ubuntu I have on USB stick, but I didn't have permissions to remove or rewrite.

If it's any help, I have worked out how to use Vim to edit in a terminal. Can I add or do anything here.

Does ubuntu have anything similar to Windows' safe mode, where I could get back into the GUI with minimal drivers and sort out things there?

I know I could reinstall ubuntu, but that's a lazy way out and not one I'd like to depend on every time something goes wrong.

Any help will be appreciated.

Post your Xorg.conf file. Regarding Safe Mode well you can boot into Runlevel 1.

Hi there. Thanks for your time on this one.

Here's the Xorg.conf file:

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf(5) manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
# path to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc101"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic Video Card NVIDIA Geforce 7300"
Driver "nv"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "UseFBDev" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 28-50
VertRefresh 43-75
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Generic Video Card NVIDIA Geforce 7300"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection


Hope that makes some sense to you.

Take a look at this and compare it with your own.

Section "Device"
Identifier "nVidia Corporation G71 [GeForce 7300 GS]"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "nVidia Corporation G71 [GeForce 7300 GS]"
Monitor "1772ED"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
Option "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "UseEvents" "false"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "1x1"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "1x1"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "1x1"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "1x1"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "1x1"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "1x1"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Yeah, quite a difference. I'll get into ubuntu and check it out more closely.

One little point: when I'm configuring xorg and it's asking for my card manufacturer, I'm checking nv. Is that right? I don't see an option that spells it out.

BTW, can I edit the xorg.conf file in, say, Puppy, and save it back to /etc? If so, will the changes take effect on next boot or do I have to do everything from a ubuntu terminal?

Thanks for your time (again - it's not the first time you've helped me out!)

Have you run nvidia-xconfig yet?

Also, you don't have to reboot, just stop and start your X server.

Hi forrest. No, not yet. In the end I think I might have trashed the system entirely by over-estimating my abilities as root, so I've gone for a clean install.

However, I'm going to give the "right" nvidia drivers another go because I'm losing a bit of screen usability on the right hand side of the screen. What I'm going to to this time is save the current xorg.conf file to usb stick just in case and then I can put it back in if it all goes wrong again.

Wish me luck - I'm gonna get those drivers right now!

The nvidia drivers did seem to be working OK before I decided to try out the experimental desktop effects.

I've read a few other nvidia driver threads but none are exactly the same as my problem.

So, just to recap, once I install the new drivers I should run nvidia-xconfig?

That's it. We're up and running again. The nvidia driver's not brilliant but it's working and I've got full screen usability, although I'd prefer a slightly higher resolution.

Just a word of warning for other ubuntu users out there - be careful if you're going to try the desktop effects. They're brilliant when they work, but don't forget they're experimental.

I'm hoping that we'll have something stable enough to rival Vista Aero in the next release.

Thanks to all who helped along the way. I've made sure I've a copy of my working Xorg config file on USB stick just in case.

Last words on this post!

Save your original xorg.conf file before you do anything else.

And if you're a ubuntu user, leave the desktop effects until October!

SimplyMepis users can ignore all of the above.

Hi, I started this thread and I think it's time to finish it.

I finally sorted out my problems by using the most up-to-date NVidia driver. I edited Xorg.conf again and again but it didn't work.

Now my windows are wobbling like mad, although the 3D cube effect is still not working. The new NVidia driver works great in ubuntu at last, but the old ones always trashed X, meaning I had to go into recovery mode to re-install the original Xorg.conf file.

The advice, therefore, is to try and get the latest driver (it's probably better getting it from one of the Linux mags than going to the very confusing NVidia site!).

Install that. But before you do I would always advise you to make sure you've a copy of the original Xorg.conf on your desktop or in your home directory.

Desktop effex will work and will get better. I can't wait for Gutsy...

BY THE WAY, I'd better say that when I started this thread I was a complete Linux novice. I probably still am, but I know enough to know that we really have something to be proud of.

If I'm a geek I'm proud of it.

The link given no longer works.