[mythtv-users] nvidia driver woes

[John Finlay]

On 9/20/2013 5:24 PM, HP-mini wrote:
> On Fri, 2013-09-20 at 11:17 -0700, John Finlay wrote:
>> On 9/20/2013 10:51 AM, Patrick Ouellette wrote:
>>> On Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 10:43:53AM -0700, John Finlay wrote:
>>>>> On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 11:31 PM, John Finlay <finlay at moeraki.com> wrote:
>>>>>> I used to have an old analog tv on one of my myth frontends which drove it
>>>>>> via the nvidia driver tv out (svideo). I upgraded to a new flat panel but I
>>>>>> can't get x to start on the system. I finally gave up and did a new install
>>>>>> of mythbuntu but as soon as I did the updates the nvidia 304 driver was
>>>>>> installed and now X won't start again. It almost seems as if the nvidia card
>>>>>> is stuck on tv out as it's primary connection. The xorg log errors are:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> [    10.004] (II) NVIDIA(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen
>>>>>> section
>>>>>>           "Default Screen" for depth/fbbpp 24/32
>>>>>> [    10.004] (**) NVIDIA(0): Depth 24, (--) framebuffer bpp 32
>>>>>> [    10.004] (==) NVIDIA(0): RGB weight 888
>>>>>> [    10.004] (==) NVIDIA(0): Default visual is TrueColor
>>>>>> [    10.004] (==) NVIDIA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
>>>>>> [    10.004] (**) NVIDIA(0): Option "NoLogo" "True"
>>>>>> [    10.004] (**) NVIDIA(0): Option "DPI" "100x100"
>>>>>> [    10.004] (**) NVIDIA(0): Enabling RENDER acceleration
>>>>>> [    10.213] (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module!
>>>>>> Please ensure
>>>>>> [    10.213] (EE) NVIDIA(0):     that there is a supported NVIDIA GPU in
>>>>>> this system, and
>>>>>> [    10.213] (EE) NVIDIA(0):     that the NVIDIA device files have been
>>>>>> created properly.
>>>>>> [    10.213] (EE) NVIDIA(0):     Please consult the NVIDIA README for
>>>>>> details.
>>>>>> [    10.213] (EE) NVIDIA(0):  *** Aborting ***
>>>>>> [    10.213] (II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
>>>>>> [    10.213] (II) Unloading nvidia
>>>>>> [    10.213] (II) UnloadModule: "wfb"
>>>>>> [    10.213] (II) Unloading wfb
>>>>>> [    10.213] (II) UnloadModule: "fb"
>>>>>> [    10.213] (II) Unloading fb
>>>>>> [    10.213] (EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
>>>>>> [    10.213]
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If I switch to an alternate tty and manually startx all seems to go
>>>>>> correctly. Before using this same system with the analog tv I used it with
>>>>>> the same flat panel without a problem. I speculate that when I started to
>>>>>> use tv out something was changed that now prevents proper use with tv out
>>>>>> disabled. Is that possible?
>>>>> You did disconnect the sVideo cable right?  IIRC, the cards will
>>>>> default to sVideo if it senses the cable connected.
>>>>>
>>>> Yes and I also disabled TV out in the BIOS. I'm giving up on this
>>>> and buying an add in card in the hope that that will be properly
>>>> handled by mythbuntu.
>>>>
>>> Check to be sure you don't have multiple versions of the NVIDIA kernel module
>>> hanging around.  If there is a version mismatch between what the module is and
>>> the X drivers expect you can see strange things like this.
>>>
>>> Pat
>>>
>> I did see this during one of my iterations of changing drivers but in
>> the latest version I installed with the nouveau driver and then
>> installed nvidia-304 using mythbuntu-control-center to avoid any
>> intermediate nvidia drivers but to no avail.
>>
>> John
> Can you post the whole /var/log/Xorg.0.log ?
>
> Is the nVidia driver version (you're using) still support your h/w ?
Yes nvidia-304 supports the 7050PV/630a
> Is the driver compiled/installed against your kernel version?
Yes
>
> At times in the recent past, the nVidia driver required the nouveau & fb
> & vgafb to be blacklisted.
They are blacklisted
>
> You have to reboot after nVidia driver install for the kernel module to
> be loaded.
> But I believe the latest versions use dkms & may only require
> logout/login.
>
>
I borrowed an 8500GS card from a friend and was able to get that working 
just fine. The odd part is that seemed to allow the 7050 to be seen by 
the nvidia module and I was able to get both GPUs working. If I remove 
the 8500 then the kernel module won't initialize.

John