X not starting

lukeer · 11-20-2015, 09:41 PM

Hello forum,

for a few days now, my HTPC fails to start X.

It's a MythBuntu installation (roughly Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with XFCE and MythTV pre-installed). Maybe there has been an update the day before, but I didn't really pay attention.

The system boots to a console login but "startx" ends in an error message

Code:

xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to X server: No such file or directory
xinit: server error

That's what /var/log/kern.log ends with

Code:

Nov 20 18:00:45 michael kernel: [   14.018996] init: gdm main process (1408) killed by TERM signal
Nov 20 18:00:45 michael kernel: [   14.025677] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Nov 20 18:00:45 michael kernel: [   14.025681] Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
Nov 20 18:00:46 michael kernel: [   14.445476] nvidia 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 24 (level, low) -> IRQ 24
Nov 20 18:00:46 michael kernel: [   14.445567] nvidia 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Nov 20 18:00:46 michael kernel: [   14.445574] vgaarb: device changed decodes: PCI:0000:02:00.0,olddecodes=io+mem,decodes=none:owns=io+mem
Nov 20 18:00:46 michael kernel: [   14.446409] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  304.128  Wed Aug 26 10:41:50 PDT 2015
Nov 20 18:00:46 michael kernel: [   14.449189] hda_codec: ALC888: BIOS auto-probing.
Nov 20 18:00:46 michael kernel: [   14.458805] input: HDA VIA VT82xx Line as /devices/pci0000:80/0000:80:01.0/sound/card0/input5
Nov 20 18:00:46 michael kernel: [   14.459280] input: HDA VIA VT82xx Mic as /devices/pci0000:80/0000:80:01.0/sound/card0/input6
Nov 20 18:00:46 michael kernel: [   14.459733] input: HDA VIA VT82xx Line-Out Side as /devices/pci0000:80/0000:80:01.0/sound/card0/input7
Nov 20 18:00:46 michael kernel: [   14.460392] input: HDA VIA VT82xx Line-Out CLFE as /devices/pci0000:80/0000:80:01.0/sound/card0/input8
Nov 20 18:00:46 michael kernel: [   14.460770] input: HDA VIA VT82xx Line-Out Surround as /devices/pci0000:80/0000:80:01.0/sound/card0/input9
Nov 20 18:00:46 michael kernel: [   14.461158] input: HDA VIA VT82xx Line-Out Front as /devices/pci0000:80/0000:80:01.0/sound/card0/input10
Nov 20 18:00:47 michael kernel: [   15.710719] CIFS: Unknown mount option codepage
Nov 20 18:00:47 michael kernel: [   15.710724] CIFS: Unknown mount option unicode
Nov 20 18:00:47 michael kernel: [   15.791447] CIFS VFS: default security mechanism requested.  The default security mechanism will be upgraded from ntlm to ntlmv2 in kernel release 3.3
Nov 20 18:00:47 michael kernel: [   16.072825] NVRM: Xid (PCI:0000:02:00): 2, CCMDs 00000000 00000057 00000300 00000003 0000001c
Nov 20 18:00:47 michael kernel: [   16.177623] NVRM: Xid (PCI:0000:02:00): 2, CCMDs 00000000 00000057 00000300 00000003 0000001c
Nov 20 18:00:48 michael kernel: [   16.585064] init: lightdm main process (1375) terminated with status 1

Something seems wrong with the nvidia driver. I tried apt-get update, upgrade as well as dist-upgrade, but to no avail.

That's my xorg.conf

Code:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 304.116  (buildmeister@swio-display-x64-rhel04-04)  Mon Oct 28 21:49:10 PDT 2013

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Any ideas how to get the GUI up and running?

pan64 · 11-21-2015, 04:46 AM

the usual practice is run lightdm by hand with -d and check the debug messages. Sometimes removing xorg.conf may help

Emerson · 11-21-2015, 05:30 AM

Code:

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
EndSection

Generating xorg.conf is an old habit, it is not needed as pan64 said. However, to load the binary driver a four-line xorg.conf is needed.

lukeer · 11-21-2015, 09:10 AM

The kernel version is 3.2.0-94-generic i686. Following friend's hint, I selected an earlier version in GRUB: 3.2.0-92-generic i686. And indeed, X started. But it's only 800x600 and the Display setting doesn't allow higher values.

$lspci -k
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation NV43 [GeForce 6600] (rev a2)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. EN6600 Silencer
Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidiafb
None of the modules is mentioned in
$lsmod

For me, it looks like the nvidia driver doesn't work with the new kernel. Can I get it to?
Keeping the old kernel until a newer one fixes this issue would still leave me at 800x600. How could I change that?

Emerson · 11-21-2015, 10:45 AM

The proprietary nVidia driver will not load if nouveau is loaded. To make it load nouveau has to be blacklisted or disabled in kernel configuration.

colorpurple21859 · 11-21-2015, 10:52 AM

might have to reinstall the nvidia driver for it to work with the current kernel.

lukeer · 11-21-2015, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

reinstall the nvidia driver

Would that mean
$apt-get purge nvidia-current && apt-get install nvidia-current ?

lukeer · 11-21-2015, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

nouveau has to be blacklisted or disabled in kernel configuration.

And how do I do that?
Is there a configuration file that's processed on boot?
Or does it mean configuring and compiling a custom kernel?

maples · 11-21-2015, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lukeer

And how do I do that?
Is there a configuration file that's processed on boot?
Or does it mean configuring and compiling a custom kernel?

On my Debian system, you just add it to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist:

Code:

nouveau

It should be in the same place on Ubuntu, but I can't personally confirm that.

RockDoctor · 11-21-2015, 01:37 PM

Regarding blacklisting the nouveau driver, Ubuntu has a number of blacklist files in /etc/modprobe.d. I'd add the line

Code:

blacklist nouveau

to blacklist.conf (preceded by a comment reminding you of what you did) and run update-grub.