Pleaseeeee, help!, Fiesty, Fawn, vs., nvdia, drivers!

dilipm · 05-11-2007, 01:36 AM

Hello everybody,
I have almost tried everything, I mean everything in order to solve this problem. Well here is the way it goes::

Firstly, I am a bit new to linux..but am not that ignorant..a php java C++programmer myself I do have some inclination towards computers and OSs, anyway recently i wanted to know some shell programming with respect to my work so I thought why not install the current popular version of Linux, hence ubuntu.
Now, after I installed..the desktop looked quite neat and nice on my 1680x1050 res alienware laptop(btw my rig's specs are all at the bottom). Then a message popped up saying Restricrited drivers manager, so clicked an icon to open this window, it said that my nvidia drivers are currently not in use, do i want to enable them? I said alright clicked the check box, it downloaded a couple of drivers from the internet then installed them finally prompted for a restart. so i did....here the problems started..after the restart what do I see!!!!? A patch of reddish purple colour on the left of screen, where as the right side is totally black and if u see carefully this black patch slowly , very slowly covers the entire screen. Its totally black after sometime.

But the funny part is I could hear the startup ubuntu sound. I just typed my login into this black screen and the password to hear the login startup sounds. But I can do nothing, cannot see a thing, cannot type a thing. Anyway at this point I googled "black screen problem at startup after installing nvidia drivers on ubuntu feisty fawn". Well the fisrt link was some where here in this forum. They also did have black screen but were having different video cards...they were suggested some changes in the xorg.conf file which i also did but in vain.These other people with similar problem were atleast able to go to the console. ctl-atl-f1 thing, I even could not do that!!!!!! Anyway:

Now here is the list of solutions I tried:

I.Put my Ubuntu CD in the drive and start the live version from the CD. Checked the internet for some solutions made a note of them. Restarted my compter, from the grub menu loaded in the recovery mode. at the console opened the xorg.conf. Now in some solutions I read there were problems where the xorg.conf was setup to a CRT screen, but not to a LCD or laptop screen. So what I tried was adding such kind of options to the to the xorg.conf
At the Section "Screen" added the options
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "UFP-1"
or
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "DFP" (tried once each option after consequtive restarts)
Now what happened after restart, nothing...all I got was a blue screen saying Xserver cannot launch, please setup your xorg.conf file and then restart. And then all I got was a series of logs and errata regarding the error messages. This was my first try...

II. Now waht I thought was lemme clean install again, so I put in the Fiesty fawn 7.04 Cd again then reinstllaed the whole thing. Again after installing could see the desktop and everything, everthing is fine again saw restricted drivers manager window pop up. This time I did not install the drivers from there. Just ignored it. Opened the Desktop effects window to see what message I would get. Obviously as expected I was told to enable the 2D and 3D effects of my graphics card. But this time I went to the nvidia linux site

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_d..._1.0-9755.html

which is the latest version for linux nvidia drivers and manually installed them. Now I went to the console mode manually installed theese drivers as follows:

sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9755-pkg1.run (remember this installation is after Ubunutu's clean install)

I was really expecting a proper desktop, but what happens, the same old bloody reddish-black screen!!!!!!!!

Now what I did was before I make any changes to the to xorg.conf I looked for the log file for xorg.conf to see what it actually says, I could not understand a word of it so I am pasting it here.

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/20114/

I showed this log to a guy in in an IRC chat, who explained me to add the following to the xorg.conf, similarly at the Select "screen" section. Btw I always edit the xorg.conf file in the console mode with the gdm stopped and using the "sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf" to edit the xorg.conf file

Option "NoLogo" "True"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "True"
Option "RenderAccel" "True"

saved the xorg.conf file ....no use at all. cant see noting at startup.....

Again gone into the console mode restore the xorg.conf file as follows
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

rebooted..it started fine but the resoultion was different maybe because I selected vesa drivers, anyway that should not be problem I guess. Now opened the synaptic pacakge manager and uninstalled any nvidia glx drivers found.

Now what i did at the console was:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx-new

what this did was install the drivers again, well I guess!!? and then again restarted to see the damn black screen.

....that was my second type of instalation..

III. Well now I was really fed up,so what I did was go into the console again reconfigured the xorg.conf file, then at the desktop downloaded the automatix installer where I downloaded the nvidia drivers and installed them. After restart same old problem of black screen!!!
. Again at the console I did an automatix command

automatix-nvidia-restore

which restored to previous xorg.conf file. I could restart again normally here. Later I opened automatix and uninstalled all the nvidia drivers with automatix.

Now I was really fed up, all the forums either had recently posted this or did not have solution yet. I heard in some forum regarding Envy drivers. I downloaded this and installed them.. Still again the same old black scren turned up. I reconfigured the xorg.conf file again uninstalled Envy drivers also.

Finally from all the forums and IRC chat all I could conclude was it has something to do with xorg.conf file options, no matter what driver I install there is no use. So what I finally started was to learn about the various display, screen and kinds of nvidia driver optins to edit in the xorg.conf file. I hope somebody can give me solution by then. I cannot sleep at nights until I solve this thing. I am right now not learing bash but learining how to configure xorg.conf file. Surprisingly there are not much proper documentations regarding specific options with respect to specific video cards to edit in the xorg.conf file. I hope there is any other kind of option which you help me, if i missed something. I had to write such a detailed message because I found many similar problems in various forums, surprisingly some solutions above I wrote above did work for some and did not for some. Its still is not working for me . Anyway I hope somebody can help.

NOTE: Please check the actual log I gave in the link above for any clues of the black screen mystery????!!!!!!HELP

MY LAPTOP SPECS

Alienware laptop 3 years old

Nvidia GeForce FX Go5700 128Mb Video Ram
1 Gig of RAM
Pentium 4 ,3.0 Ghz with HT
60gig hard drive

puntjuh · 05-11-2007, 06:32 AM

I see 3 errors that could have something to do with it. Please post your xorg.conf, unedited offcourse, after the install of nvidia drivers using the binary drivers from nvidia. Most important: The Screen Section!

Code:

No valid modes for "1680x1050"; removing.
(WW) NVIDIA(0): 
(WW) NVIDIA(0): Unable to validate any modes; falling back to the default mode
(WW) NVIDIA(0):     "nvidia-auto-select".
(WW) NVIDIA(0): 
(II) NVIDIA(0): Validated modes:
(II) NVIDIA(0):     "nvidia-auto-select"
(II) NVIDIA(0): Virtual screen size determined to be 640 x 480
(--) NVIDIA(0): DPI set to (50, 60); computed from "UseEdidDpi" X config
(--) NVIDIA(0):     option
(WW) NVIDIA(0): 32-bit ARGB GLX visuals are only supported in depth 24.
(II) NVIDIA(0): Disabling 32-bit ARGB GLX visuals.

dilipm · 05-11-2007, 10:56 PM

sorry I lost the old xorg.conf file but this is the situation..

As I tried every driver excpt Envy properly...I decided to clean install ubuntu again...So I formatted my hard drive..and installed ubuntu again...then installed envy ...then i went to the console and did

sudo envy -t

followed the instructions and installed it and then restarted the gdm...this time what I see is the blue screen I mean the console error message giving the xserver error...What I saw here surprisd me..I saw that the errror was the API conflict error,,which said the kernel was 9631 and the xmodule was 9755..it was mismatch error..So now I thought lemme complie the kernel to 9755 so it should work..so go to this nvidia site again and download the original 9755 linux drivers...

I checked if fx go5700 had any conflicts with these drivers but I found this site which said my video card is perfectly fine...U can check it out it u wanna

http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree8...ppendix-a.html

this has my video card listed here as a working one...

So now I download this driver and uninstalled the envy drivers as they did not work even after clean install of ubuntu...
Anyway i installed the new drivers with sudo sh it compiled the new kernel ...and I restarted to see the damn purplish black screen again...I am stuck guys....

All I am doing is overwriting the old xorg.conf file again to come back to the desktop..will I ever enable the 2d and 3d or not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????What am i doing wrong, I do not understand......
I again think it has to do something with the display screen and changing the options in the xorg.conf file???....i guess...

dilipm · 05-11-2007, 11:09 PM

ok i think i found the files...lemme paste the 2 xorg.conf files....one which is working(I mean with no 2d 3d acclerarion) and the one which gets the purplsih black screen

The xorg.conf file which does not work, I mean the one with the black screen:

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/20447/

the file which is normal and works I mean the one with 2d and 3d disabled

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/20446/

I hope that helps
Cheers

hpladd · 05-14-2007, 03:00 PM

I share your pain. I've been working on a similar problem for about a week. Arrgh!

I noticed this about your xorg.conf(s):

Quote:

Section "Device"
Identifier "nVidia Corporation NV36 [GeForce FX Go5700]"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

The above indicates that the Nvidia drivers will be called by X. These drivers are proprietary binarys from the Nvidia folks.

Quote:

Section "Device"
Identifier "nVidia Corporation NV36 [GeForce FX Go5700]"
Driver "nv"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"

The above indicates that the nv drivers will be called by X. The nv drivers are the open source drivers designed to work with Nvidia cards.

Many feel that the Nvidia folks do a better job of writing drivers for their cards, and also find using them slightly objectionable because the source code is not made available.

Now to confuse the issue. I read that Feisty Fawn included the Nvidia binary drivers in the distro. (Note: I have not verified this yet).

At any rate: I believe that my troubles (and yours) stem from some type of difficulty with X calling the correct nvidia driver. IE: is it using the drivers compiled into the kernel, or perhaps it's looking to load the driver as module?

The nv drivers appear to be working. Tweaking these drivers as if they were the Nvidia drivers is probably a bad idea however.

Hope this gets you a little further along. Wish I had a complete answer for you

Lord Ghost · 05-14-2007, 11:54 PM

First of all, you installed Feisty Fawn. Great! That's a step in the right direction!

BUT...

Did you happen to turn on Universe and Multiverse packages for apt/syn?

My suggestion: Fresh install (or if you're at least at a stable level where you can access the GUI without the world crashing down around your ears, great) run Synaptic Package Manager.

Select SETTINGS - REPOSITORIES.

Under the Ubuntu Software tab: Check all 5.

Then, just to be sure that we've got it right:

Click Applications - Add/Remove. In the top right, change the setting to Show: All available applications. Then click: Other on the left side and select "Ubuntu restricted extras package" on the right.

Then click OK.

Now...before you get ahead of yourself - UPDATE THE SYSTEM. That's right, ignore the video drivers, update.

That means System - Administration - Update Manager

You should now have the vast powers of the multiverse at your fingertips, and a nicely updated system.

Now, after a simple reboot, when it pops up talking about restricted drivers, and you tell it to enable them (if it's even necessary, on mine it just let me know that there were restricted drivers being used!), it should probably find the correct drivers to go with the correct kernel and you should be in business with little or no hassle!

Might I suggest, if you're looking to take it a step further, read this:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

Which has some helpful tips on being able to watch DVDs etc.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Lord Ghost

dilipm · 05-15-2007, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpladd

I share your pain. I've been working on a similar problem for about a week. Arrgh!

I noticed this about your xorg.conf(s):

The above indicates that the Nvidia drivers will be called by X. These drivers are proprietary binarys from the Nvidia folks.

The above indicates that the nv drivers will be called by X. The nv drivers are the open source drivers designed to work with Nvidia cards.

Many feel that the Nvidia folks do a better job of writing drivers for their cards, and also find using them slightly objectionable because the source code is not made available.

Now to confuse the issue. I read that Feisty Fawn included the Nvidia binary drivers in the distro. (Note: I have not verified this yet).

At any rate: I believe that my troubles (and yours) stem from some type of difficulty with X calling the correct nvidia driver. IE: is it using the drivers compiled into the kernel, or perhaps it's looking to load the driver as module?

The nv drivers appear to be working. Tweaking these drivers as if they were the Nvidia drivers is probably a bad idea however.

Hope this gets you a little further along. Wish I had a complete answer for you

Hi, Thnax for ur concern mate..the thing is I recently did a ubuntu clean install again and installed the latest drivers from the nvidia site..I am sure that fx go5700 is a definitly in the working list according to nvidia...What i'mtrying to do now is various permutations and combinations in the xorg.conf file. I am reading various formus and tutorials for various display options to change in the xorg.conf file...i'm learining more of this single file than my bash pgmming..Anyway if I'm successfull i'll definitly com back and post my result. thank anyway..

dilipm · 05-15-2007, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Ghost

First of all, you installed Feisty Fawn. Great! That's a step in the right direction!

BUT...

Did you happen to turn on Universe and Multiverse packages for apt/syn?

My suggestion: Fresh install (or if you're at least at a stable level where you can access the GUI without the world crashing down around your ears, great) run Synaptic Package Manager.

Select SETTINGS - REPOSITORIES.

Under the Ubuntu Software tab: Check all 5.

Then, just to be sure that we've got it right:

Click Applications - Add/Remove. In the top right, change the setting to Show: All available applications. Then click: Other on the left side and select "Ubuntu restricted extras package" on the right.

Then click OK.

Now...before you get ahead of yourself - UPDATE THE SYSTEM. That's right, ignore the video drivers, update.

That means System - Administration - Update Manager

You should now have the vast powers of the multiverse at your fingertips, and a nicely updated system.

Now, after a simple reboot, when it pops up talking about restricted drivers, and you tell it to enable them (if it's even necessary, on mine it just let me know that there were restricted drivers being used!), it should probably find the correct drivers to go with the correct kernel and you should be in business with little or no hassle!

Might I suggest, if you're looking to take it a step further, read this:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

Which has some helpful tips on being able to watch DVDs etc.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Lord Ghost

Hello Lord, the thing is when i'm in the normal mode of xorg.conf(2d and 3d disabled), I can play DVDs and vaious format..and I did enable all the repositores and updated them...well anyway thats not at all my issue..My issue is getting my 2d & 3d options enabled!!!???anyway thanx

puntjuh · 05-15-2007, 06:38 AM

What driver did you install ? Considering you have a Geforce GO5700 .. Did you install Nvidia-drivers OR Nvidia-legacy-drivers?

Nvidia-legacy are geforces from F1 to F6.

If you didn't install the legacy driver, try installing it. I think it'll work.

MikeOfAustin · 05-21-2007, 03:53 PM

Did you ever get this going? I'm having the problem after a new install of ubuntu, and I simple used the 'sh' command on the nvidia file I downloaded from nvidia. On boot, it fails to load X and it complains about "API mismatch". (See my post in same forum here).

"kernel is #### and the xmodule is ####"

Same dang thing. I know I'm missing something rather simple. For me to get into X, I have to rmmod nvidia, then modprobe nvidia (same). Then restart /etc/init.d/gdm

biniou · 05-22-2007, 04:18 AM

Hello !

Is the xorg.conf you posted for the failing config complete ? I can't see a Section "ServerLayout" ...

What I would try as first step is to use the xorg.conf that works (the one with the "nv" driver) with these modifications (on a system with nvidia drivers installed) :

- replace "nv" with "nvidia"
- remove the "DRI" section (not compatible with nvidia)

Hope this helps (maybe 3D won't be enabled yet, but it's a first step)

Regards,
Biniou

Linux_maths · 05-23-2007, 03:15 AM

Hi, I think I know what your problem is. I think after installing the nvidia drivers, the settings for your screen resolution and refresh rate have been changed. And maybe the refresh rate is set to high which is causing this problem. Try the following:
in your xorg.conf at the 'Monitor' section add the following two options:

HorizSync 31.0 - 81.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 75.0

You shouldn't use these specific numbers, you must use the ones for your screen. You can probably find it on the ALienware site?

Also, you might try the following. In the 'Screen' section, change:

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection

into

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024_60" "1152x864_60" "1024x768_60" "832x624_60" "800x600_60" "720x400_60" "640x480_60"
EndSubSection

This sets the refresh rate to 60Hz.
Because of your rare screen resolution size, maybe you must add this specific resolution to the xorg.xonf file. I don't know how to do that, just search for it in the ubuntu forum. I hope this might help you

dilipm · 06-06-2007, 08:18 PM

The refresh rate this does not either mate anyway these are some of the latest log diles I am posting...I hope it helps

this is the nvidia installer log

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/24516/

this is the nvidia bug report log

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/24517/

and my current xorg.conf file

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/24518/

Finally my last 2 xorg.conf log files

this is the xorg.0.log

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/24519/

this is the Xorg.0.log.old

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/24520/

Plesae understand that in the xorg.conf file....u will see "nv" instead of "nvidia", I had to change it back to nv only to log on in ubuntu...But when its "nvidia" its black screen again...And the ohter change I made was added the line
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "DFP-0"
and changed the default depth to 24...thats it ...

dilipm · 06-06-2007, 11:24 PM

Alrite I made a mistake the nvidia bug report generated was after I changed back to open source drivers i.e after I changed nvidia to nv. So what I did was installed the nvidia drivers again and after the black screen I did the nvidia bug report....these are the actual new log links...I hope it helps

installer log file

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/24530/

bug report

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/24531/

and I think this is the xorg.conf file after the black screen

http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/24532/

I hope this would help....thank you

dilipm · 06-07-2007, 01:46 AM

Well well well well well............It is finally a success ...thanks for all the help...but the solution actually came from a guy who had a similar problem....i just got it working....inorder to see that whole problem...check this link out

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=439800

The credit goes to a person with alias testube_babies in the ubuntu forums...He just gave me the solution...the solution is so simple...As I said earlier it has to do with some tweaking in the xorg.conf file....I am really tired right now..I will definitly summarize what all i did in this forum....

thanx everybody for the help...