Problems in Sony Vaio / Nvidia drivers
 

This seems to be a very universal and general problem.

Ubuntu-10.04 is just refusing to display itself on these machines. Going by various threads, on similar machines, even in Ubuntu forums, it is high time someone come up with a single patch for all related issues - because not all solutions given are addressing this issue. Most affected people are novices - so a single "update" sort of patch is most welcome. As for the experts, I am sure they are able to "solve" their own individual problems. I am posting a similar thread in Ubuntu forums too.

well..
 

Hi!

Its early and I may be missing it....but. What EXACTLY is your problem? Another note:
Since a geforce card can be manufactured by various vendors there is always a chance that some conflict will arise. You should take that into consideration. I have found that a large part of learning how to fix something is understanding WHAT to ask. I would like to help you. However, please consider this: At what point does a question stop being a question and become a declaration?

Please post you EXACT problems.

Sorry, I get your point. (Actually, I have been seeking a solution for this but to no avail..)

I had a dual boot - win-7 and ubuntu-9.10 on my Sony Vaio laptop.

I tried upgrading to ubuntu-10.04. After rebooting, the screen goes blank.

I read various post in forums - and that's when it occurred to me that most sony laptops have problems with nvidia drivers - with Ubuntu. However, in one of the posts I found a sort of method - where I could remove the nvidia drivers, and operate Ubuntu in low resolution mode. Not satisfactory, but could manage.

Then I did an update of Ubuntu. It updated successfully, but on reboot - the same old problem. Blank screen. I tried many suggestions mentioned in the forums - unsuccessfully. Now, even in recovery mode, the screen goes totally blank. Would be happy if I can make ubuntu-10.04 work on my laptop.

Thanks in advance.

well, I guess I should ask, did anyone have you check the nouveau driver? From the sounds of things, you have already done a bunch of stuff. Can you post the specs of your machine ( specific not sony vaio mdl) like your actual video card.

Your machines current status is FUBAR? Lots of personal data? Just screw it and reinstall status?

I have installed ubuntu 10.04 on both i5 integrated graphics and nvidia with little or no problems. Your frustration I understand.

If your willing to reinstall, well there is a way to go about that to avoid this next time around.
If you dont want to reinstall, that can be done too.
Whats your poison? New install or try to fix what you got and save your data?

NOTE: I am work so I will get back to ya...just got to give a second.

Hi,

First preference is obvious - (besides, there's a kick in getting things to work!) - and also would like to know the magic in the method of new install - just in case! Now for the specs :


I must also add that the sound is also pretty low in this. Hope there is a work around for this!

Cool.

Ok, first step is kinda straight forward with the install. You mentioned a Win 7 partition; so, make sure and look for it. If your not sure or you think you may have wiped it out with a previous install it wont matter much at this point. Either way, I would recommend setting up your partitions yourself. You will want to select "Specify Partitions Manually" ( see screen shot of partition manager ). Once you start making the partitions you will need ( in this order ):

1. /boot make this a PRIMARY partition( I set mine at 500/MB which I have been told is twice what i need. You can research that yourself)
2. / ( this is the root partition. I set mine up for 8GB or 8000/MB. Once again, research that to see what you need. )
3. SWAP ( just multiply your RAM by 1.5 and use the sum)
4. /usr (I have had no problems on my laptop with 15GB. Your case may not be the same, adjust as needed. This will be the = of a windows c:/PROGRAMS folder.)
5. /usr/local (You may not need this one. I use it to keep anything that I install from source or that is not in the Ubuntu repositories)
6. /home (This is where all your documents, pics, vids will )
7. /var ( being that you'll be writing logs a lot, and Debian writes a lot of them , set this to at least 5GB)
8. /tmp ( I set mine to twice the amount of ram I have. Research it to see what you think you'll need. I use twice the amount of my RAM due to the way suspend works)

You may want to think ahead and set up a little space for a windows partition, thats up to you.
You can read more on the subject partition layouts HERE
Dont worry , its really easy.

Once you get your partitions laid out you just go ahead with the install.
Now for the important part. I would suggest letting the machine boot on its own to see if you get the blank screen again. If you do then try the following:
While your machine is booting like this, you will need to press shift in order to get to the grub menu. Now hit "e" Once in the grub boot menu (it will look like this. In the next screen you will need to use your arrow keys to get to the line that starts with "LINUX"; edit out 'quiet splash' and replace with 'nosplash nomodeset'. Once you do that just hit ctrl+x to finish loading Ubuntu.

Let me know once you get to that point. I should be home by then; however, you will have your desktop to play with at that point I imagine. Just keep in mind that you will still need to edit /etc/defaults/grub.conf to make this stick and to get some nvidia drivers loading correctly.

as to your sound issue. I MAY ( MAY ) be able to help you get in the ball park of a fix. I have had the same issues with my sound card. I got it sorta louder. lol. that is a step or two down the road.

Hi there...

Wow - this is magic!!

I just edited the menu. In my case, the line ended as "ro quiet splash" and like you suggested, I changed it to "nosplash nomodeset". It just booted and here I am! This is just great!

Now, the resolution is [1280x720] -instead of [1366x768] - which would be nice to correct too, along with the sound, of course. When I tried to configure the display - it does not identify the monitor and the refresh rate-[reading 0(zero)] or resolution cannot be changed.

Thanks for your detailed instruction, my overall knowledge about Linux has increased by about 50%!!! - (I was under the false impression that I knew all about setting up partition till now!!!).

Best regards.

Hi there...

Wow - this is magic!!

I just edited the menu. In my case, the line ended as "ro quiet splash" and like you suggested, I changed it to "nosplash nomodeset". It just booted and here I am! This is just great!

Now, the resolution is [1280x720] -instead of [1366x768] - which would be nice to correct too, along with the sound, of course. When I tried to configure the display - it does not identify the monitor and the refresh rate-[reading 0(zero)] or resolution cannot be changed.

Thanks for your detailed instruction, my overall knowledge about Linux has increased by about 50%!!! - (I was under the false impression that I knew all about setting up partition till now!!!).

Best regards.

"ro quiet spalsh"? you should google that. That usally means read only. YOu performed the install first correct?
Any way, your not done setting up your video just yet. do the following:

hit alt+f2 and type terminal, then selct the radio ( little + sign button) and select the terminal application. Then type the following in the terminal:
NOW You should see something like this:
I highlighted the lines you will need to change. In short, just add blacklist=nouveau. You should not need to do this but it wont hurt.

NEXT: Type
After that go ahead and install nvidia-current with
Let me know how that goes.

If you do find this was helpful mark the post as helpful. It may help someone else having the same issue. Everything I have shown I found by reading and google and help here.

Hi there,

Yes, did all the above successfully - (installed nvidea current ..etc). small correction?

Also edited the grub file as below :

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash blacklist=nouveau"
however, after rebooting - the "ro" in the menu is persisting and reads:
"........... ro quiet splash blacklist=nouveau"

Laptop booted normally. The resolution is still the same (1280x720)

When I checked monitor setting, I got the message as in the msg01.png file.
[It appears that your graphics ddriver does not support the necessary extension to use this tool. Do you want to use your graphics driver vendor's tool instead? No/Yes]

When I clicked "Yes" - I got message as in msg02.png file
[You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X driver. Please edit your X configuration file (just run 'nvidia-xconfig' as root, and restart the X server.]

Please let me know what it means, or how it has to be done?

Thanks again.

ps - could not upload the snap shots..

First: Did you check System>Administration>Hard Ware Drivers? Did you run If you did you should see a driver called nvidia-current listed under Hardware Drivers. About to head to work, if you can respond real fast i can try to help before i head out. Otherwise I will take a look on my break.

Second: POst the output of so we can see if the nvidia driver is showing up.

Third: Post the outpput of This willl show us if nvidia is installed.

Also, you performed the system update / upgrade first then everything else right?

Hi,

Sorry, I was busy elsewhere ... To answer your queries,

Yes, in the hardware NVIDEA is listed as installed and "activated but not currently in use"

Output of "lsmod"

Output of "dpkg --get-selections | grep nvidia"
All system upgrades, and updates have already been performed. No current updates are available now.

Regards. (It is nearing midnight here, so if delayed, I will come back early morning)

Hey,

It appears the nouveau driver is still loading which will cause the issue your having. You can see this by looking at you lsmod output:So, after you edited grub did you run the updates? You would update grub like this
THEN you need to update your init with
Then reboot.

This has worked on my ubuntu 10.04 system. However, you can also try the following:

Even though nouveau ( this is a open source nvidia driver with out acceleration ) shows in lsmod, try to unload it manually to see what it kicks back. So, run this:
IF that tells you nouveau is in use then you'll need to blacklist another way.

Blacklist modules the roundabout way:

1. Add the modules to blacklist to the video modules list in modprob.d with
   Code:

   ---

   sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf

   ---

   and add
   blacklist nouveau
   blacklist lbm-nouveau
   
2. Double check that your /etc/default/grub entry is correct.
   
3. Rebuild / update grub and initramfs (make this your last step).
   
4. reboot

The /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf is where the ubuntu scripts place blacklist info for video drivers. You can also add those entries to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist ( you can look at all the files by running ls, you know that though i guess ). After you reboot check your System>Administration>Hardware Drivers to see if nvidia-current is active.you can also try to change your resolution with the nvidia control applet listed in System>Administration>Nvidia . Hope it works.

Just a side note: try running ( if you installed from the beta iso for 10.04 then it will update a few things to the 10.04 LTS release ).

Also, post the output of Just take note: ANY CHANGES MADE TO THE GRUB.CONF FILE WILL NOT TAKE UNTIL YOU RUN

Code:

---

sudo update-grub && sudo update-initramfs

---

Hi,

Morning. I was up but didn't notice this had gone to the 2nd page! Well, I had done everything as above - but I will carefully redo the same once again. The only thing I can remember is : While giving this single line command :
..... there was an error - mentioning that "option has to be specified" - so I had opted for "all"

Anyway, let me go through the process once again.

(Remember, as of now, it is working fine - we are just trying to fix the resolution - and/or, the sound problem)

Rest everything is working fine - in fact, I am logged on to the same system.

oopps!! run it this way
Sorry about that!! All should have been ok. Either way, the blacklisting is gonna be important for you. In your case nouveau is beating your nvidia ACCELERATED driver during the boot process.

Your are right. nouveau is still beating the nvidia. I went through the whole process, twice over - without any error - yet the resolution is 1280x720 - and nvidia not in use.

Let me list out the process, once again - with some output also for your benefit - and tell me where I missed out.

1)Befoare we started out, recollect there was only a blank screen.
2)Then, I changed the 'ro quiet splash' with 'nosplash nomodeset, - and lo it worked.

Then we started the process of activating the 'nvidia driver' by :

3) Edited the grub file (/etc/default/grub) to add the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash blacklist=nouveau"
(There was no 'defaults' directory - but the file was in the directory 'default')
4) Updated grub - (sudo update-grub) - (Deviation - I used gedit to edit the file)
5) Updated initramfs - (sudo update-initramfs -u)
6) Updated file - (sudo apt-get update - (Last 3 lines of output)
7) Upgraded file apt-get - (sudo apt-get upgrade) - the output :
8) Installed the driver (sudo apt-get install nvidia-current -y) - about 23 mb downloaded.
9) Rebooted
10) Everything normal. Except the resolution is '1280x720' instead of what it should be - '1366x768'

Since then - have tried out and re-run the whole sequence - without any change.

Now, as requested, the output of 'aplay -l'

Can you spot any goof up in the above order?

Regards.

One serious doubt : -

There is no xorg.conf file in /etc/X11
Instead, there are many similar files like :
Could this be a problem?

ok, as to your sound...may be a fix for it.
As to your video issue...your getting the hang of things fast huh?!!
So, since nouveau was loading and borking the nvidia module...check and see if it is still loaded now. It should not be. Assuming the blacklist held for nouveau, you will have to enable the nvidia- current driver in the system.>admin.>hardware drivers THEN IF you had to enable the driver, you will have to reboot yet again. after the reboot, you can turn on visual effects and/or change the resolution via the NVIDIA control applet located at system>admin>nvidia x server settings.

As a side, you can run which will build your xorg stuff again. but you do have it or you wouldnt be using a gui at all. it would fault out on boot. but try the above. the only thing stopping your resolution at this point is going to be that noveua module. However, go ahead and run nvidia-xconfig , make sure nouveau is indeed NOT loading, make sure you activated nvidia current then reboot, then check nvidia x server control!

let me know how it goes.

your name wouldnt be chris would it?

here is how i have nouveau blacklisted:

and on the sound issue, edit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf ( edit yours to add the highlighted text only AFTER you make a back up):
Everything outside of the highlight is not specific to your machine, but mine. I just posted it to let you see what it would look like.

If any thing on your sound changes for the worse then you can just revert to your back-up.

check back in the morning.

Hi there

(now I am back on the desktop - because, the laptop is acting up!!)

To answer your query, your guess is wrong - My name is Ramachandran - and I am in India. (known as "cr" to friends)

Back to the laptop - problem :

After I did the 'nvidia-xconfig' it did create the 'xorg.conf' file but on reboot the screen has split into two horizontally - sort of a wrap around from the centre of the screen!! I think we are somewhere close to licking the problem.. I will try out something there with instructions that I can read here on my desktop.

Hope, it's not too late in whichever timezone you are in.

Thanks for all your efforts - it's nice working together.

Regards.

wha??? your screen split? man...I feel bad now. I do need to get some sleep. I will help you some more in the morning. it is sounding like your monitor is not being seen correctly though ( obvious ..i know ). I had a similar issue but it was on a hdtv. try and post your fixes. if need be we can get you back to one of the restored xorg. files via a session with out x. see ya in the morning.

Hi,

Not to feel bad at all. Now I am in a position to come out of these situations. That's the learning I had so far, thanks to you! I am now back at the lap-top - albeit in low resolution mode. In similar situations, earlier - I did a re-installation!
So, there's a lot of good work also done...

Now the sound has improved tremendously... the laptop has cleared it's throat, seems like!!!

Of course, still the nvidia drivers are not loading. It shows as activated - but not in use.

We will lick that too ... no hurry. Have a good nights sleep - and things will be better for sure.

Good night.

Want me to try out anything new?

Meanwhile, I have just installed Fedora13 and also SUSE in other partitions, Both are working in 1366x768 resolution, and did not have any problem with the drivers. In both though, it does not recognize the monitor as Sony.

Regards.

if you could please log into the ubuntu partition and hit
ctrl+alt+f1

then run :
(i want to see what resolution x thinks its supposed to run at)

then run :
That should at least get the functioning desktop back.
Save that to your home folder for later. I would like to see what your seeing.

Also, so your sound works the way it should now? All jacks work (mic, headphones, any volume buttons on your keyboard)?

Hello, how are you?

Yes, now I have got back the laptop to low resolution (1280x720)
and the the xdpy command gives : dimensions: 1280x720 pixels (339x191 millimeters)

The sound is also ok, rythmbox is playing fine. I haven't tried other stuff - but should be fine.
Regards.

this may sound redundant; however, have you checked the nvidia x server setting wizard found in the system/admin menu? This should allow you to change the resolution if your now using the nvidia driver ( assuming it is active ).

also, I would like to know if you have full sound function ( i.e.: your head phone and mic jacks work ). Please check. I am having issues with my machine in the same area. I just cant seem to get the correct model. Anyways, hope your not getting to frustrated.

Also, I find it odd that fedora worked with accelerated drivers right after install. Usally you have to blacklist nouveau with fedora ( at least i have always had to ).

Hi,

Please see this link - and check if it is related somehow - I am not able to get into it fully...

http://www.webupd8.org/2010/02/ubunt...g-nouveau.html

I have done that myself on another install. you could always try it. after you do that, assuming you laptop has hdmi out, you can do the same with alsa and pulse and get audio out to your hdmi connection!! I did it on my laptop. However, you still didnt tell me if you were able to change the resolution using the nvidi x server settings applet. Please check that.

i will check back in the morning. good night

In settings menu at system/admin menu? - the setting cannot be changed - It show a max res as 1280x720
Also, the refresh rat is zero - and does not detect monitor.

In the nvidia settings - it shows the "the driver is active - but not in use" (The button to "deactivate" is active)

Just now tried connected a headphone+mike and works fine. All sound config also active.

Yes, it is odd. Fedora worked just after install - and at the correct resolution.

Opensuse 11.3 DVD did not work - (it went blank on the laptop) - so, I installed 11.2 and it just worked - at the right resolution. - but I have not checked what drivers.

I tried to install the nvidia drivers as in the web8 link. Did not work - maybe because we have blacklisted them? Yes, there should be a way to get this right!! will keep trying.

At present, it is working on 1280x720 resolution - it looks fine, but a little more "real estate" vertically would be fine! general graphics looks ok - so, I can manage - but would like to get it right! willing to redo everthing - but stop at re-installing..

PS - Yes, it has HDMI out - it works fine on Fedora. Not on Suse or Ubuntu.

PS - Yes, it has HDMI out - it works fine on Fedora. Not on Suse or Ubuntu.

[img]/home/cr/Desktop/Link to Screenshot-Hardware Drivers.png [/img]

Perhaps a good idea would be to go over all steps again. I only say this because the only reason that the driver would be "active" but not in use is a driver conflict ( more than one is trying to load ). IMHO.

So, a list again:

1. We needed information on the actual card installed in the unit,Checked to see what video driver(s) are loading at boot

   Code:

   ---

   lspci -v | grep nV

   ---

2. Tried to get info about the monitor being used with read-edid. You can check out david underhills blog to see what you will need to do to rectify any issues with the edid and resolution lock.

   Code:

   ---

   sudo apt-get install read-edid -y && # get-edid | parse-edid > /saved/this/to/your/desktop/edidinfo.txt

   ---

3. got info about what resolution the monitor can support.

   Checked sony specifications for the laptop.

4. blacklisted ( see blocked conflicting drivers ).

   Code:

   ---

   sudo cat /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

   ---

5. Installed the nvidia-current drivers (adding PPA sources for the most current version..which can sometimes prove to be buggy

   [CODE]sudo sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install nvidia-current -y && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

While I am sure you performed all of these steps, please go through them one more time. Follow in order. I am thinking that nouveau may still be loading. I realize we blacklisted nouveau in the nvidia portion of modprobe.d; however, perhaps nouveau actually needed to be blacklisted in the blacklisted.conf file. Let me know how it goes. Any out put you put up helps in further debuging your issue. Speaking of which, did you happen to take a screen shot B4 while the desktop was messed up ( i.e.: "wrapped" ). Sorry this is taking so long. I have usally been able to get a fix faster than this.

Ok, don't worry. I will go over this and come back. Let me take a little time over this. Meanwhile, remember, the original problem has been already solved. Now we are taking time to just fine-tune it. I will come back with all the details tomorrow.

Good night for now.

ok. if you feel its solved you should mark it as solved. Its up to you.

Hello mrmnemo,

1- Checked and re-done everything - status same.

2- Installed driver from site. On reboot - same status as before.

So, we can conclude there is something we are missing or it is a design problem.

As an aside, I installed Alpha Ubuntu-10.10 on another partition. On reboot, it gave an option to install nvidea drivers. At the site, it clearly mentioned that the new driver was compatible with this graphic card. I opted, installed and rebooted. It picked up the driver, there as a few flashes on the monitor and a window came up that this can only operate in low resolution mode, and went back to 1280x720 resolution! What do you make of this then?

I am marking this thread as solved, because the original problem was anyway solved first up. But, I may want to contact you on this later, if I may?

Thanks for all the support.

Best regards.

Sure! Actually, what the alpha release did with your driver is what the 10.04 LTS should do. I had the same issue AFTER an update. Any way, feel free to contact me.