Arch Linux

rabid_works

Member

Registered: 2010-08-15

Posts: 45

[SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

Hi,

I've been using arch for around 2 and a half months on 2 computers (a dell Inspiron 2200 and an old home built pc). So far I've been able to figure out most things myself.  However, following today's xorg update x seems to be broken. My laptop, which does not use nvidia, seems to be fine. On the pc i installed the i686 version and am running kde 4.5.1

I have reinstalled nvidia-173xx and nvidia-173xx-utils, and run nvidia-xconfig but this has not helped any.
Although the installation is carried out there is an error stating:

ERROR: Module nvidia does not exist in /proc/modules  In order to use the new nvidia driver, exit xserver and unload it manually

A google search on the above error didn't advance me any further, either.
 
I have also waited for today's kernel update but that hasn't seemed to fix things.
If I run "startkde" i get an error message stating that it can't connect to the x server.
"startx" says much the same only more verbose.

/var/log/Xorg.0.log has the following information :
   

 dlopen: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_dvr.so undefined sym$
     failed to load /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_dvr.so
     unloadable module "nvidia"
     failed to load module "nvidia" (loader failed, 7) 

I've done a lot of esearch but can't find any solutions to my issue. The following thread seems to be related :

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=103716

but i can't seem to find an answer there either.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Last edited by rabid_works (2010-09-29 19:32:42)

kilgoretrout

Member

Registered: 2010-06-28

Posts: 25

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

Updated the xorg server packages this morning from 1.80  to 1.90  along with the kernel update to 2.6.35-7. Rebooted for the new kernel and X failed to load. The problem is not in the kernel but in the xorg packages. Some of you may recall the same problem with the proprietary nvidia drivers and the last update to xorg. I am using the 173.xx legacy driver on my old laptop with a GeForce FX5200 graphics card so I don't know whether the current 256.xx nvidia driver is similarly effected. Just posting here as a heads up. To avoid the problem blacklist the xorg server and related xorg packages. Here's the relevant IgnorePkg line of pacman.conf that I am using:

IgnorePkg  = xorg-server xorg-server-common xf86-input-evdev xf86-input-keyboard xf86-input-mouse xf86-input-synaptics xf86-video-vesa xkeyboard-config

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

Mod edit due to thread merge

Did you reboot after the update?

Last edited by litemotiv (2010-09-29 18:01:10)

rabid_works

Member

Registered: 2010-08-15

Posts: 45

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

yes I rebooted after the update, which is when I found that x no longer started.

I'll read through the thread you linked to and let you know if that worked.

kilgoretrout

Member

Registered: 2010-06-28

Posts: 25

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

Further research indicates that this is a problem with the legacy nvidia drivers only, both 173.xx and 96.xx:

https://lists.launchpad.net/ubuntu-x-swat/msg86614.html

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthr … t=xorg+1.9

According to nvidia, their latest 256.53 driver is compatible with xorg 1.9:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-disp … river.html

although the earlier 256.35 driver was not xorg 1.9 compatible. Once again, users of the nvidia legacy drivers will have to wait for support for the latest xorg release. Until then, blacklist the xorg packages or go with nouveau driver.

rabid_works

Member

Registered: 2010-08-15

Posts: 45

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

ok, went to downgrade using

#pacman -U ...

but i have yet another error due to a conflict between files :

xorg-server: /usr/lib/xorg/protocol.txt is already present in the file system
          xorg-server: /usr/share/man/Xserver.1.gz is already present on the file system
          xorg-server; /usr/share/xkb/README.compiled is afready present in the file system

is it possible to safely force the installation?

sorry if thatś a lazy question but I've been looking at this for so long that i can't fathom the idea of futher searching.

EDIT: ok, i had a break and realised it'd be safer to simply rename and the delete the problematic files. The downgrade went fine. I have X back.

thanks for the help.

Last edited by rabid_works (2010-09-29 18:52:27)

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

Either force the installation or remove the files manually and try 'pacman -U' again.

firewalker

Member

From: Hellas (Greece).

Registered: 2006-06-05

Posts: 552

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

New compatible drivers will be out soon.

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthr … ost2325872

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putte_xvi

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2009-04-10

Posts: 22

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

but i have yet another error due to a conflict between files :

xorg-server: /usr/lib/xorg/protocol.txt is already present in the file system
          xorg-server: /usr/share/man/Xserver.1.gz is already present on the file system
          xorg-server; /usr/share/xkb/README.compiled is afready present in the file system

is it possible to safely force the installation?

Those files are owned by xorg-server-common, which got installed along with xorg-server 1.9. You have to remove that package before downgrading:

pacman -Rd xorg-server-common
pacman -U xorg-server-1.8.1.902-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz

silvik

Member

From: Bucharest/Romania

Registered: 2006-11-08

Posts: 110

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

new legacy drivers are out: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthr … ?p=2326225

I flagged the package out of date, even if it's a prerelease, because 1.9 doesn't work at all and nouveau sucks so much even in 2d. hopefully the maintainer will update soon.

kilgoretrout

Member

Registered: 2010-06-28

Posts: 25

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

new legacy drivers are out: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthr … ?p=2326225

I flagged the package out of date, even if it's a prerelease, because 1.9 doesn't work at all and nouveau sucks so much even in 2d. hopefully the maintainer will update soon.

Good news. Thanks for the info. I agree with your assessment of the nouveau driver on the older nvidia cards that would be covered by the legacy driver. Ironically, the newer nvidia cards run decently with nouveau; I have nouveau running on my test partition with fedora with a GeForce 9400GT and I can run compiz on gnome with cairo dock opengl very well. Too bad more effort can't go into the older nvidia hardware that could really benefit from a good open source driver.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

I run nvidia fx 5500 either with nouveau or with nvidia-173xx - works both ways.

kittykatt

Member

From: Missouri, USA

Registered: 2009-11-04

Posts: 260

Website

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

I run nvidia fx 5500 either with nouveau or with nvidia-173xx - works both ways.

Xorg.conf please? Stuff just plain locks up on me all the time with my FX5500.

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karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

I run nvidia fx 5500 either with nouveau or with nvidia-173xx - works both ways.

Xorg.conf please? Stuff just plain locks up on me all the time with my FX5500.

Done.

Next time, just e-mail me to prevent OT :-)

beachcoder

Member

Registered: 2009-10-08

Posts: 130

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

hello i have the same problem. in bug report https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/22700 there is an advice to downgrade to lower versions, but how do I do that? Need quick help I can't use my computer currently

rabid_works

Member

Registered: 2010-08-15

Posts: 45

Re: [SOLVED] xorg update has broken nvidia-173xx driver

Use pacman to downgrade the relevant packages. Here's a link to the wiki article on downgrading :

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Do … g_Packages