Nvidia driver install has disabled tty7 and cant start display manager (fresh Debian install)

nzoomed · 06-27-2020, 06:06 PM

Ive just installed a fresh install of Debian 10 and can no longer get into the default tty7 that the main system would normally boot into.

I tried running sddm from the console and this is the error i get:

[10:41:33.108] (II) DAEMON: Initializing...
[10:41:33.111] (II) DAEMON: Starting...
[10:41:33.112] (II) DAEMON: Logind interface found
[10:41:33.112] (II) DAEMON: Adding new display on vt 7 ...
[10:41:33.112] (II) DAEMON: Loading theme configuration from ""
[10:41:33.112] (II) DAEMON: Display server starting...
[10:41:33.112] (II) DAEMON: Running: /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp -auth /var/run/sddm/{0f9d05be-60c4-4155-a430-da074dac5011} -background none -noreset -displayfd 16 -seat seat0 vt7
[10:41:33.113] (EE) DAEMON: Failed to read display number from pipe
[10:41:33.114] (EE) DAEMON: Display server failed to start. Exiting
Aborted

running a startx command will bring me back into KDE however.

Other things I noticed while troubeshooting is there is no /etc/X11/xorg.conf file

I had other issues like a low res on bootup, I was able to fix this by changing the line in /etc/default/grub

to read GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
and that fixed that, but its impossible to get into tty7.
It was not doing anything when doing ctrl+alt+f7 before, but now I do get a blinking cursor like others are reporting.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thx

ondoho · 06-28-2020, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nzoomed

running a startx command will bring me back into KDE however.

Perfectly, or with low resolution?
This would suggest that the problem is not with your graphics driver but with your display manager (sddm).

Quote:

Other things I noticed while troubeshooting is there is no /etc/X11/xorg.conf file

That's fine, there shouldn't be one in 99.9% of all cases.

Quote:

I had other issues like a low res on bootup, I was able to fix this by changing the line in /etc/default/grub

How?
Did you run 'update-grub' after editing /etc/default/grub?

Quote:

to read GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
and that fixed that, but its impossible to get into tty7.

This is confusing nomodeset should put your system into low resolution, not fix it.
It's also not meant to be a solution for anything but a workaround (simply not using the GPU's capabilities).

In the end, we also need to ask
- how did you install Debian (does it default to KDE these days)?
- what extra steps did you take since then?

nzoomed · 06-28-2020, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

Perfectly, or with low resolution?
This would suggest that the problem is not with your graphics driver but with your display manager (sddm).

Ran perfectly in 1080p, I was able to run a game and test it and it was performing much better so assuming the driver installed correctly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

That's fine, there shouldn't be one in 99.9% of all cases.

OK I thought this may have been an issue, since when attempting to save settings in the NVIDIA control panel, it gave an error that it was unable to write the changes to xorg.conf

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

How?
Did you run 'update-grub' after editing /etc/default/grub?

yes thats correct

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

This is confusing nomodeset should put your system into low resolution, not fix it.
It's also not meant to be a solution for anything but a workaround (simply not using the GPU's capabilities).

In the end, we also need to ask
- how did you install Debian (does it default to KDE these days)?
- what extra steps did you take since then?

OK, all I know is I read that solution on the ubuntu forums, along with other forums with people posting the same question as me, which apparently worked for them.
I simply ran a standard install of Debian, when prompted for the window manager of my choice, I went with KDE.
Everything worked normally after startup.

I went to install the NVIDIA graphics driver from the downloaded run file from NVIDIA themselves, it would not let me run the install because the default Nouveau graphics driver was enabled. The installer said it tried to edit modprobe.d to blacklist the Nouveau driver, but still made no difference after trying again.

I then read that you need to install the driver from the package manager so i ran an apt-get install command to get the correct driver installed from the non free sources.
Seemed to work fine until a reboot.

The error I got when trying to start the sddm display manager (this is what was installed to begin with) "Failed to read display number from pipe" seems to indicate to me that it cant access VT7 (tty7?) which is what the default virtual terminal is with Debian.

Obviously something the driver install did has stuffed it up somewhere in its config.

Other things ive tried are to reinstall sddm and to uninstall the NVIDIA driver altogether.

Now I still cant get back into the display manager, nor does tty7 work, I can still start KDE like normal, but this time its running in a low resolution, likely because the nouveau driver is still blacklisted presumably.

It would be easier for me to simply reinstall and start over, but I want to learn from this and know how to fix it for next time, should this ever happen again.

ondoho · 06-28-2020, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nzoomed

I went to install the NVIDIA graphics driver from the downloaded run file from NVIDIA themselves

Captain Hindsight to the rescue:
I think you should have used Debian's own instructions for installing NVIDIA drivers: https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers

If you still have difficulties, let's start with this output:

Code:

lspci -k | grep -iEA5 'vga|3d|display'
grep -C3 '] (EE)' ~/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log

nzoomed · 06-29-2020, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

Captain Hindsight to the rescue:
I think you should have used Debian's own instructions for installing NVIDIA drivers: https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers

If you still have difficulties, let's start with this output:

Code:

lspci -k | grep -iEA5 'vga|3d|display'
grep -C3 '] (EE)' ~/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log

Its been a while but last time i did it some years ago it worked fine from their run file.

Anyway, I tried running the install of the driver through apt-get and the dependencies it needs wont install.
Ive tried everything I can think of like using the -f switch and clean with no results.
I then tried installing the run file again and it worked!
But still back to square one regarding the display manager not loading.

Here is the output I get:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP104 [GeForce GTX 1080] (rev a1)
Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. GP104 [GeForce GTX 1080]
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidia_drm, nvidia
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GP104 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. GP104 High Definition Audio Controller
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
02:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM961/PM961
Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM961/PM961
Kernel driver in use: nvme

It also appears there is no xorg log

grep: /root/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log: No such file or directory

ondoho · 06-29-2020, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nzoomed

I tried running the install of the driver through apt-get and the dependencies it needs wont install.

Following the Debian wiki?
Then something's wrong with your Debian setup.
Please post the full commands entered & output received.
Please use CODE tags for that, see my signature.

Quote:

grep: /root/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log: No such file or directory

You're running Xorg as root? Stop that immediately!

nzoomed · 06-29-2020, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

Following the Debian wiki?
Then something's wrong with your Debian setup.
Please post the full commands entered & output received.
Please use CODE tags for that, see my signature.

I ran nvidia-detect like instructed and this goes through fine

Code:

Detected NVIDIA GPUs:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GP104 [GeForce GTX 1080] [10de:1b80] (rev a1)

Checking card:  NVIDIA Corporation GP104 [GeForce GTX 1080] (rev a1)
Your card is supported by the default drivers and legacy driver series 390.
It is recommended to install the
    nvidia-driver
package.

i already updated kernel headers the other day and that went through OK, so i moved on to

Code:

root@debian:/home/shaun# apt update
Get:1 http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates InRelease [65.4 kB]
Get:2 http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates/main Sources [129 kB]
Get:3 http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates/main amd64 Packages [204 kB]
Get:4 http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates/main Translation-en [111 kB]
Hit:5 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster InRelease                                 
Get:6 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates InRelease [51.9 kB]
Get:7 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports InRelease [46.7 kB]
Get:8 http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates InRelease [65.4 kB]
Get:9 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main amd64 Packages.diff/Index [27.8 kB]
Get:10 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main Translation-en.diff/Index [27.8 kB]
Get:11 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main amd64 Packages 2020-06-29-1407.12.pdiff [7,069 B]
Get:12 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main amd64 Packages 2020-06-29-2006.33.pdiff [303 B]
Get:12 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main amd64 Packages 2020-06-29-2006.33.pdiff [303 B]
Get:13 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main Translation-en 2020-06-29-1407.12.pdiff [5,231 B]
Get:13 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main Translation-en 2020-06-29-1407.12.pdiff [5,231 B]
Get:14 http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates/main amd64 Packages [204 kB]
Get:15 http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates/main Translation-en [111 kB]
Fetched 1,055 kB in 3s (305 kB/s)                                
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.

I went on to the install, which it now runs, but is hanging as i speak in my terminal window at 2%

Code:

root@debian:/home/shaun# apt install -t buster-backports nvidia-driver 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  ant ant-contrib ant-optional apper apper-data ca-certificates-java coinor-libcbc3
  coinor-libcgl1 coinor-libclp1 coinor-libcoinmp1v5 coinor-libcoinutils3v5 coinor-libosi1v5
  default-jre default-jre-headless espeak-ng-data firebird3.0-common firebird3.0-common-doc
  firebird3.0-server-core firebird3.0-utils fonts-crosextra-caladea fonts-crosextra-carlito
  fonts-liberation2 fonts-linuxlibertine fonts-opensymbol fonts-sil-gentium
  fonts-sil-gentium-basic gir1.2-atspi-2.0 gir1.2-gst-plugins-base-1.0 gir1.2-gstreamer-1.0
  gir1.2-wnck-3.0 hyphen-en-us java-common libabw-0.1-1 libactivation-java libaopalliance-java
  libapache-poi-java libapache-pom-java libargs4j-java libasm-java libatinject-jsr330-api-java
  libatk-adaptor libatk-wrapper-java libatk-wrapper-java-jni libbase-java libbcmail-java
  libbcpkix-java libbcprov-java libboost-chrono1.67.0 libboost-date-time1.67.0
  libboost-locale1.67.0 libbrlapi0.6 libbsh-java libcdi-api-java libcdr-0.1-1 libcglib-java
  libclucene-contribs1v5 libclucene-core1v5 libcmis-0.5-5v5 libcodemodel-java
  libcommons-cli-java libcommons-codec-java libcommons-collections3-java
  libcommons-collections4-java libcommons-compress-java libcommons-io-java
  libcommons-lang3-java libcommons-logging-java libcommons-math3-java libcommons-parent-java
  libcurvesapi-java libdom4j-java libdotconf0 libdtd-parser-java libe-book-0.1-1
  libehcache-java libel-api-java libeot0 libepubgen-0.1-1 libespeak-ng1 libetonyek-0.1-1
  libexttextcat-2.0-0 libfastinfoset-java libfbclient2 libflute-java libfonts-java
  libformula-java libfreehand-0.1-1 libgeronimo-annotation-1.3-spec-java
  libgeronimo-interceptor-3.0-spec-java libguava-java libguice-java libhawtjni-runtime-java
  libhsqldb1.8.0-java libhttpclient-java libhttpcore-java libib-util libicu4j-java
  libintellij-annotations-java libistack-commons-java libitext-java libjansi-java
  libjansi-native-java libjaxb-api-java libjaxb-java libjaxen-java libjcommon-java
  libjdom1-java libjetbrains-annotations-java libjsoup-java libjsp-api-java libjsr305-java
  liblangtag-common liblangtag1 liblayout-java libloader-java liblog4j1.2-java libmail-java
  libmaven-file-management-java libmaven-parent-java libmaven-resolver-java
  libmaven-shared-io-java libmaven-shared-utils-java libmaven3-core-java libmhash2
  libmspub-0.1-1 libmwaw-0.3-3 libmythes-1.2-0 libnumbertext-1.0-0 libnumbertext-data
  libodfgen-0.1-1 liborcus-0.14-0 libpagemaker-0.0-0 libpcaudio0
  libpentaho-reporting-flow-engine-java libpixie-java libplexus-archiver-java
  libplexus-cipher-java libplexus-classworlds-java libplexus-component-annotations-java
  libplexus-interpolation-java libplexus-io-java libplexus-sec-dispatcher-java
  libplexus-utils2-java libpq5 libqxp-0.0-0 libraptor2-0 librasqal3 librdf0
  librelaxng-datatype-java libreoffice libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer libreoffice-base
  libreoffice-base-core libreoffice-base-drivers libreoffice-calc libreoffice-common
  libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw libreoffice-help-common libreoffice-help-en-us
  libreoffice-impress libreoffice-java-common libreoffice-kde5 libreoffice-librelogo
  libreoffice-math libreoffice-nlpsolver libreoffice-report-builder
  libreoffice-report-builder-bin libreoffice-script-provider-bsh libreoffice-script-provider-js
  libreoffice-script-provider-python libreoffice-sdbc-firebird libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb
  libreoffice-sdbc-postgresql libreoffice-style-breeze libreoffice-style-colibre
  libreoffice-style-tango libreoffice-wiki-publisher libreoffice-writer librepository-java
  librevenge-0.0-0 librngom-java libsac-java libsaxonhe-java libserializer-java
  libservlet-api-java libservlet3.1-java libsisu-guice-java libsisu-inject-java
  libsisu-ioc-java libsisu-plexus-java libslf4j-java libsnappy-java libsnappy-jni libsonic0
  libstaroffice-0.0-0 libstax-ex-java libstreambuffer-java libtxw2-java libu2f-udev
  libvisio-0.1-1 libwagon-http-java libwagon-provider-api-java libwebsocket-api-java
  libwnck-3-0 libwnck-3-common libwpd-0.10-10 libwpg-0.3-3 libwps-0.4-4 libxerces2-java
  libxml-commons-external-java libxml-commons-resolver1.1-java libxml-java libxmlbeans-java
  libxmlsec1 libxmlsec1-nss libxom-java libxres1 libxsom-java libxz-java libyajl2 libzmf-0.0-0
  lp-solve mythes-en-us node-normalize.css openjdk-11-jre openjdk-11-jre-headless orca
  polkit-kde-1 python3-brlapi python3-gst-1.0 python3-louis python3-pyatspi python3-speechd
  python3-uno python3-xdg sound-icons speech-dispatcher speech-dispatcher-audio-plugins
  speech-dispatcher-espeak-ng task-desktop uno-libs3 ure xbrlapi
Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  glx-alternative-nvidia glx-diversions libegl-nvidia0 libgl1-nvidia-glvnd-glx libgles-nvidia1
  libgles-nvidia2 libglx-nvidia0 libnvidia-cbl libnvidia-cfg1 libnvidia-eglcore
  libnvidia-fatbinaryloader libnvidia-glcore libnvidia-glvkspirv libnvidia-ml1
  libnvidia-ptxjitcompiler1 libnvidia-rtcore nvidia-alternative nvidia-driver-bin
  nvidia-driver-libs nvidia-egl-common nvidia-egl-icd nvidia-installer-cleanup
  nvidia-kernel-common nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-kernel-support nvidia-legacy-check
  nvidia-modprobe nvidia-persistenced nvidia-settings nvidia-support nvidia-vdpau-driver
  nvidia-vulkan-common nvidia-vulkan-icd xserver-xorg-video-nvidia
Suggested packages:
  vulkan-utils
Recommended packages:
  nvidia-driver-libs-i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  glx-alternative-nvidia glx-diversions libegl-nvidia0 libgl1-nvidia-glvnd-glx libgles-nvidia1
  libgles-nvidia2 libglx-nvidia0 libnvidia-cbl libnvidia-cfg1 libnvidia-eglcore
  libnvidia-fatbinaryloader libnvidia-glcore libnvidia-glvkspirv libnvidia-ml1
  libnvidia-ptxjitcompiler1 libnvidia-rtcore nvidia-alternative nvidia-driver nvidia-driver-bin
  nvidia-driver-libs nvidia-egl-common nvidia-egl-icd nvidia-installer-cleanup
  nvidia-kernel-common nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-kernel-support nvidia-legacy-check
  nvidia-modprobe nvidia-persistenced nvidia-settings nvidia-support nvidia-vdpau-driver
  nvidia-vulkan-common nvidia-vulkan-icd xserver-xorg-video-nvidia
0 upgraded, 35 newly installed, 0 to remove and 122 not upgraded.
Need to get 52.1 MB of archives.
After this operation, 182 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/contrib amd64 nvidia-installer-cleanup amd64 20151021+9 [19.2 kB]
Get:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/contrib amd64 glx-diversions amd64 1.1.0~bpo10+1 [12.1 kB]
Get:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/contrib amd64 glx-alternative-nvidia amd64 1.1.0~bpo10+1 [10.9 kB]
Get:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-legacy-check amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [217 kB]
Get:5 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-alternative amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [214 kB]
Get:6 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libnvidia-glcore amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [6,590 kB]
Get:7 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libglx-nvidia0 amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [415 kB]
Get:8 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libgl1-nvidia-glvnd-glx amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [373 kB]
Get:9 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-egl-common amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [212 kB]
Get:10 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libnvidia-eglcore amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [6,550 kB]
Get:11 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libegl-nvidia0 amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [462 kB]
Get:12 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-egl-icd amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [212 kB]
Get:13 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-driver-libs amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [213 kB]
Get:14 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libnvidia-ml1 amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [618 kB]
Get:15 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-driver-bin amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [302 kB]
Get:16 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/contrib amd64 nvidia-support amd64 20151021+9 [20.0 kB]
Get:17 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 xserver-xorg-video-nvidia amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [2,293 kB]
Get:18 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-vdpau-driver amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [674 kB]
Get:19 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/contrib amd64 nvidia-kernel-common amd64 20151021+9 [10.8 kB]
Get:20 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/contrib amd64 nvidia-modprobe amd64 418.56-1 [19.2 kB]
Get:21 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-kernel-support amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [213 kB]
Get:22 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-kernel-dkms amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [13.6 MB]
Get:23 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-driver amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [526 kB]
Get:24 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libnvidia-cfg1 amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [277 kB]
Get:25 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster/contrib amd64 nvidia-persistenced amd64 418.56-1 [26.7 kB]
Get:26 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/contrib amd64 nvidia-settings amd64 440.64-1~bpo10+1 [977 kB]
Get:27 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libgles-nvidia1 amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [232 kB]
Get:28 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libgles-nvidia2 amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [241 kB]
Get:29 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libnvidia-ptxjitcompiler1 amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [4,185 kB]
Get:30 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libnvidia-fatbinaryloader amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [362 kB]
Get:31 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libnvidia-cbl amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [343 kB]
Get:32 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libnvidia-glvkspirv amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [3,636 kB]
Get:33 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 libnvidia-rtcore amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [7,621 kB]
Get:34 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-vulkan-common amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [213 kB]
Get:35 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free amd64 nvidia-vulkan-icd amd64 440.82-1~bpo10+1 [212 kB]
Fetched 52.1 MB in 8s (6,643 kB/s)                                                              
Extracting templates from packages: 100%
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package nvidia-installer-cleanup.
(Reading database ... 253856 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../nvidia-installer-cleanup_20151021+9_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking nvidia-installer-cleanup (20151021+9) ...
Setting up nvidia-installer-cleanup (20151021+9) ...

WARNING: The '--no-runlevel-check' option is deprecated:  nvidia-installer will ignore this
         option.


Welcome to the NVIDIA Software Installer for Unix/Linux

Detected 8 CPUs online; setting concurrency level to 8.

If you plan to no longer use the NVIDIA driver, you should make sure that no X screens are
configured to use the NVIDIA X driver in your X configuration file. If you used nvidia-xconfig
to configure X, it may have created a backup of your original configuration. Would you like to
run `nvidia-xconfig --restore-original-backup` to attempt restoration of the original X
configuration file?
  [default: (N)o]: 
Progress: [  2%] [#..........................................................................]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

You're running Xorg as root? Stop that immediately!

I had to do that because sudo didnt work, says i dont have permission as my account is not in the sudoers file.
Haven't had time to look at that yet, but dont know why, as it was working before.

Anyway, sddm does appear to be running now when i tested the command, but its no longer starting automatically.
I thought this is supposed to be in the xorg.conf am i correct?
But since there is none on this system, im not sure where its configured.

ondoho · 06-30-2020, 01:22 AM

Did you answer that question in the install output?
Have you reverted all previous installation attempts before starting?
Why are you installing from backports? Do you use the backports kernel? Did you install the appropriate headers etc.?

Code:

uname -rmv

Quote:

Originally Posted by nzoomed

I had to do that because sudo didnt work, says i dont have permission as my account is not in the sudoers file.

So, you did this in the terminal, with 'su', yes? That would be OK, but you need to learn that you don't need to be root for everything and often it's pointless, wrong, or even (potentially) harmful.
You weren't running a whole graphical session as root, yes?

nzoomed · 06-30-2020, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

Did you answer that question in the install output?
Have you reverted all previous installation attempts before starting?
Why are you installing from backports? Do you use the backports kernel? Did you install the appropriate headers etc.?

Code:

uname -rmv

Yes I did revert the install and clean it out, then I ran(successfully) a second time the driver downloaded from NVIDIA which has worked it appears.

I thought I was doing the right thing with backports, the first guide I was reading said it was required to add the backport source to sources.list. I since see on the debian guide that its not the case.

uname -rmv gives me this

Code:

4.19.0-9-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.118-2+deb10u1 (2020-06-07) x86_64

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

So, you did this in the terminal, with 'su', yes? That would be OK, but you need to learn that you don't need to be root for everything and often it's pointless, wrong, or even (potentially) harmful.
You weren't running a whole graphical session as root, yes?

Yes I did su in this case, but had logged in as root into KDE earlier when diagnosing the problem.

ondoho · 06-30-2020, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nzoomed

uname -rmv gives me this

Code:

4.19.0-9-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.118-2+deb10u1 (2020-06-07) x86_64

That's not a backported kernel, so installing the nvidia driver from backports is useless at best, possibly harmful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nzoomed

Yes I did su in this case, but had logged in as root into KDE earlier when diagnosing the problem.

This might have messed up ownership & permissions of some files in your $HOME. See if anything is owned by root there.

We need to start to diagnose this from the ground up.
Let's start with the Xorg log requested earlier.
The most recent one could be in your user's home in the indicated location, or also in /var/log. Look at the timestamps of the files themselves.

Additionally, a log from your display manager would be good. I have no idea where to find it.

nzoomed · 06-30-2020, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

That's not a backported kernel, so installing the nvidia driver from backports is useless at best, possibly harmful.
This might have messed up ownership & permissions of some files in your $HOME. See if anything is owned by root there.

We need to start to diagnose this from the ground up.
Let's start with the Xorg log requested earlier.
The most recent one could be in your user's home in the indicated location, or also in /var/log. Look at the timestamps of the files themselves.

Additionally, a log from your display manager would be good. I have no idea where to find it.

I never realised that you could do so much damage while in root!

Anyway, I have two seperate xorg log files, one has had its extension labelled "old" (possibly done by the NVIDIA installer?

Have added them as attachments here

in the meantime, ill try and see whats owned by root in the home folder

Also found my display manager log, everything appears normal to me from what I can make from it.

ondoho · 07-01-2020, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nzoomed

I have two seperate xorg log files, one has had its extension labelled "old" (possibly done by the NVIDIA installer?

Have added them as attachments here

Please look at the timestamps of the files themselves (e.g. ls -l ~/.local/share/xorg/Xorg*log*) and post the most relevant (newest).

The NVIDIA installer does nothing to the Xorg logs directly.

nzoomed · 07-01-2020, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

Please look at the timestamps of the files themselves (e.g. ls -l ~/.local/share/xorg/Xorg*log*) and post the most relevant (newest).

The NVIDIA installer does nothing to the Xorg logs directly.

Just checked the datestamp and Xorg.0.log is definitely the newest (see attached in previous post)

I also found the NVIDIA install log if its any use.

ondoho · 07-02-2020, 02:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nzoomed

Just checked the datestamp and Xorg.0.log is definitely the newest (see attached in previous post)

There seems to be nothing wrong with that Xorg.0.log, and nothing with the sddm.log either.
You might want to remove the nomodeset option from your kernel command.

Sorry, I'm starting to lose the thread here - what exactly is the problem currently?

nzoomed · 07-02-2020, 03:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

There seems to be nothing wrong with that Xorg.0.log, and nothing with the sddm.log either.
You might want to remove the nomodeset option from your kernel command.

Sorry, I'm starting to lose the thread here - what exactly is the problem currently?

Basically the system does not start up into my display manager, but KDE does run if i do a startX command.
I cant get tty7 if i go ctrl+alt+f7 either, i think this is related to the error i quote in my first post.

Code:

[10:41:33.108] (II) DAEMON: Initializing...
[10:41:33.111] (II) DAEMON: Starting...
[10:41:33.112] (II) DAEMON: Logind interface found
[10:41:33.112] (II) DAEMON: Adding new display on vt 7 ...
[10:41:33.112] (II) DAEMON: Loading theme configuration from ""
[10:41:33.112] (II) DAEMON: Display server starting...
[10:41:33.112] (II) DAEMON: Running: /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp -auth /var/run/sddm/{0f9d05be-60c4-4155-a430-da074dac5011} -background none -noreset -displayfd 16 -seat seat0 vt7
[10:41:33.113] (EE) DAEMON: Failed to read display number from pipe
[10:41:33.114] (EE) DAEMON: Display server failed to start. Exiting
Aborted