[mythtv-users] Problem w/ nVidia drivers 177.80???

[Harry Devine]

Friedrich Clausen wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 2:59 AM, Harry Devine <lifter89 at comcast.net> wrote:
>   
>> James Crow wrote:
>>     
>>> On Fri, 2008-11-14 at 10:41 -0500, Harry Devine wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>>>> I'll try that later when I get home.  I actually saw that nVidia has a
>>>> new 177.82 driver out, so I downloaded that, but when I run it, it tells
>>>> me that I have an X-Server running and to disable X and then run it.  I
>>>> can't get X to close and have just a command prompt.  I'm using
>>>> Mythbuntu 8.10.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for the suggestion!
>>>> Harry
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> Harry to kill X completely under Mythbuntu you have to stop the gdm
>>> service. You can use Ctrl-Alt-F1 (or F2, F3, etc.) to switch to a real
>>> console (ssh should also work for this). Log in and then do a
>>> 'sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop'. That will stop the X server and you can
>>> then install the Nvidia driver.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> James
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>       
>> Nope, no good.  I am SSH'd in right now, and ran "sudo /etc/init.d/gdm
>> stop", but when I try to run the installer, I get that message saying
>> "You appear to be running an X Server...".  I can't even get to a login
>> screen using Ctrl-Alt-F1.  I do get alot of errors in my Xorg.0.log stating:
>>
>> [mi] EQ overflowing. The server is probably stuck in an infinite loop.
>> [mi] mieqEnequeue: out-of-order valuator event; dropping.
>> [mi] EQ overflowing. The server is probably stuck in an infinite loop.
>> [mi] mieqEnequeue: out-of-order valuator event; dropping.
>>
>>     
>
> See :
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/276518
>
> It seems that updating to the latest Intrepid fixed it for some users
> - and that it is definitely related to ATI hardware. At this point I
> would suggest using a vanilla (normal) Ubuntu installation, update it,
> and try and get regular X working from that. Then you can install the
> MythTV packages seperately as described in :
>
> http://parker1.co.uk/mythtv_ubuntu.php
>
> Good luck!
>
> Fred.
>
>   
>> I had previously used the Restricted Drivers Manager to tell the system
>> to put on version 173 then changed xorg.conf to use "nvidia" as the
>> driver rather than "nv".  I thought 177 was hosed so I thought I'd try that.
>>
>> Damn, this is frustrating!  Its this sort of BS that keeps Microsoft at
>> the top!!!
>>
>> Any ideas?
>> Harry
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>     
> _______________________________________________
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>
>   
OK, here's an update:  I got pissed and fed up with 8.10, so I nuked my 
box and put 8.04.1 back on.  It looked OK with the "out of the box" 
drivers, which turns out to be VESA drivers.  However, analog and 
digital stations didn't come in real well.  So I went to "Restricted 
Hardware Drivers" and turned on the nVidia drivers that they had, which 
was version 169.12.

After that reboot, the Xorg process spiked at 100% again and the 
frontend took about 20 minutes to paint and come up.  I was able to get 
out of the frontend and disable that driver via Restricted Hardware and 
go back to the default VESA driver.  After that reboot, the system came 
up quick, but all still isn't good.  My digital stations come in OK in 
terms of the video being clear and smooth, but the analog stations (my 2 
-> 99 ones) are still choppy and staticy.  They switch between showing a 
frame of video then some green snowy static, and the audio is very bad.  
I like to use the "baseball card in the spokes" analogy.

So, while I'm closer, I'm still not all the way there and to be honest, 
I'm not very happy.  The reason I put an nVidia card back in was to 
avoid this kind of BS, and its been nothing but a headache!  What should 
I do to get a reliable, non-default video driver installed on this box?

Thanks again for the help (and I'm sorry about the venting!)
Harry