Debian stretch Nvidia Issues

Buddidge · 03-02-2018, 05:17 AM

Hi,

Not sure if this would fall under newbie or Debian but here goes...

I've recently installed stretch and have been using it without issue until I install the Nvidia driver. As soon as its installed and i reboot I see grub as normal then on boot I get a message on my monitor osd saying out of range.

GPU is a gtx 1080 on a 1080p60 screen.

Doesn't allow me to switch to another tty so my only route back into the os is via recovery console. Removing the nvidia driver with a purge just results in xorg no longer starting with a no screens found message but does give the console access back.

I've followed the install process listed on the debian wiki for the drivers but no luck. As its a fresh install I've formatted the drive an reinstalled it from scratch a couple of times now always ending in the same result.

Am I missing somthing obvious here? If the monitor is out of range it would suggest a res or refresh rate being set incorrectly and if so how would I set that via the recover console?

I've tried verious suggestions on posts that I've found on google like making sure nouveau is blacklisted, setting the video=lvds in the grub config, creating an xorg.conf with various crap in but still no luck, although most posts Ive found are not debian 9 specific so not sure if that makes a difference.

Any help most appreciated,

Rob

Emerson · 03-02-2018, 08:33 AM

I assume by nVidia driver you mean proprietary closed source driver.
There are two parts of driver. The kernel module and the Xorg module. From your description I understand when the kernel module loads the display goes off. Solution would be to pass correct parameters to the kernel module. There should be documentation in /usr/share/ after driver installation and also the same and even more comprehensive documentation can be found online.

Buddidge · 03-02-2018, 09:11 AM

Hi Emerson,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

I assume by nVidia driver you mean proprietary closed source driver.

Its the package nvidia-driver from the non-free repo so Im guessing that is the proprietary driver?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

Solution would be to pass correct parameters to the kernel module.

Would this be the kernel mode setting? And if so would it just be a case of updating the grub config with GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1920x1080x32 ?

AwesomeMachine · 03-06-2018, 03:05 AM

You can get to a tty by CTRL-ALT-F1-F4. That way you can install the nVidia driver and work on the machine. Debian uses Xorg X11, so you can edit, or create, xorg.conf. You would need the monitor section of that file spelled out explicitly.

Code:

# xorg.conf
Section "Monitor"
HorizSync      15 - 50
VertRefresh    48 - 62
ModeLine "1920x1080" 74.25 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1094 1124 +hsync +vsync Interlace
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1600x1200"
End Section

But set Modes to your monitor's native resolution. To get the sync and refresh rates[code]$ sudo X -verbose 6 > testlog.txt[code]and look for horisync and vertrefresh in the testlog file. To get the modeline

Code:

$ cvt 1600x1200 60

but feed the cvt command your monitor's native resolution and refresh rate.

Back up your existing xorg.conf, if there is one

Code:

$ cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak

Put xorg.conf into the /etc/X11/ directory.

To finish off the xorg.conf file

Code:

$ nvidia-xconfig

Now try to start the xserver

Code:

$ startx &