[mythtv-users] X Not Starting - NVIDIA 260.19.12 driver upgrade

[Nick Rout]

On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 8:12 AM, tortise <tortise at paradise.net.nz> wrote:
> On 11/11/2010 12:55 a.m., belcampo wrote:
>>
>> tortise wrote:
>>>
>>> On 10/11/2010 11:07 p.m., belcampo wrote:
>>> >> :~$ modprobe nvidia-current
>>> >> FATAL: Error inserting nvidia_current
>>> (/lib/modules/2.6.32-25-generic-pae/updates/dkms/nvidia-current.ko):
>>> Operation not permitted
>>>
>>>>> I'm not sure that I need the sudo in front for our purposes,
>>>>> especailly as the problem was fixed with sudo dpkg-reconfigure
>>>>> nvidia-current
>>>>
>>>> Yes you need sudo
>>>
>>> To do what though? I don't think I need it to fix anything, so what
>>> does the default "modprobe nvidia-current" do? man modprobe is not
>>> clear to me what modprobe does without a switch added?
>>
>> modprobe is a command NOT intended for a 'normal' user. You have to be
>> root/administrator of the system to be able to use that command, else
>> you'll get 'permission denied'
>> sudo is a temporary way of becoming a SuperUser, root/administrator of
>> the system. If you are not in the 'sudoers-list' it won't work.
>> The you have to do
>> su <enter>
>> pass the password of root <enter>
>> modprobe ..... <enter>
>> exit <enter>
>> to become a regular user again.
>
> No matter how I look at that I really don't think that was the answer to my
> question.  Having run :~$ modprobe nvidia-current without sudo it did
> suggest to me that if I had run it as root/su/sudo that it might have
> inserted something somewhere and I am not sure I need that, as it might need
> undoing....

modprobe loads a kernel module and all dependent modules. modprobe -r
removes it.

The previous poster was suggesting that you try loading the nvidia
module to see if it loaded ok. If it did, the modprobe command should
complete without adverse comment. If it didn't you should get an error
message.

modprobe always requires root privileges.