could uninstalling 'nvidia' package break X?

smitty · 2008-01-17 12:15:33

For some reason or another, I skipped the install of the "nvidia" specific driver. I basically forgot to copy my xorg.conf to /etc/X11, but in the process, I uninstalled the nvidia software and I couldn't boot into X. I believe some of the messages were "can't load vesa" and "can't load fbdev" modules. basically I installed by "pacman -S xorg". It worked untill I uninstalled Nvidia driver (because I installed this first before copying over xorg.conf from /root. At this point I figured maybe it was something where I had to reboot for it to work. At that point, I got a ram fs shell! My question is, is there certain things that can / cannot break X? Thanks for any suggestions.

rayjgu3 · 2008-01-17 14:12:12

X is not broken , you mearly removed nessary files for your configuration or changed the configuration without installing proper files
search the wiki
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg

if you want to use vesa for video driver install vesa if you want nvidia drivers you have choice of xf86-video-nv or nvidia

schivmeister · 2008-01-18 07:45:44

drivers play a part in configuration, so sure, if there's something missing from the pie, the pie will not be a pie. it will be an american pie with a hole in the middle.

Last edited by schivmeister (2008-01-18 07:46:20)

smitty · 2008-01-18 23:30:44

schivmeister wrote:

drivers play a part in configuration, so sure, if there's something missing from the pie, the pie will not be a pie. it will be an american pie with a hole in the middle.

nicely put!

smitty · 2008-01-18 23:34:24

rayjgu3 wrote:

X is not broken , you mearly removed nessary files for your configuration or changed the configuration without installing proper files
search the wiki
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg
if you want to use vesa for video driver install vesa if you want nvidia drivers you have choice of xf86-video-nv or nvidia

Ok, so if I opt to install nvidia, would it be best to download directly from Nvidia Corp? I used the "nvidia" package, because I have a Gigabyte nVidia Geforce 7300 GS.
And, this means, never uninstall the video drivers, such as if I get a higher up video card?

saneone · 2008-01-19 01:32:32

smitty wrote:

For some reason or another, I skipped the install of the "nvidia" specific driver. I basically forgot to copy my xorg.conf to /etc/X11, but in the process, I uninstalled the nvidia software and I couldn't boot into X. I believe some of the messages were "can't load vesa" and "can't load fbdev" modules. basically I installed by "pacman -S xorg". It worked untill I uninstalled Nvidia driver (because I installed this first before copying over xorg.conf from /root. At this point I figured maybe it was something where I had to reboot for it to work. At that point, I got a ram fs shell! My question is, is there certain things that can / cannot break X? Thanks for any suggestions.

show ur xorg.conf

smitty · 2008-01-19 02:31:30

ok, here is my xorg.conf:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder26)  Thu Dec 13 18:55:42 PST 2007

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "X.org Configured"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath         "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
    ModulePath      "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "glx"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "xtrap"
    Load           "record"
    Load           "freetype"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

    #DisplaySize      520   320    # mm
 ### Comment all HorizSync and VertRefresh values to use DDC:
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "WDE"
    ModelName      "L2410NM"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 80.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Monitor Vendor"
    ModelName      "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"

        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "SWcursor"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "HWcursor"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoAccel"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ShadowFB"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "UseFBDev"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "Rotate"                 # [<str>]
        #Option     "VideoKey"               # <i>
        #Option     "FlatPanel"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "FPDither"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CrtcNumber"             # <i>
        #Option     "FPScale"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "FPTweak"                # <i>
        #Option     "DualHead"               # [<bool>]
    Identifier     "Card0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "nVidia Corporation"
    BoardName      "G71 [GeForce 7300 GS]"
    BusID          "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"

        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option     "SWcursor"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "HWcursor"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "NoAccel"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "ShadowFB"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "UseFBDev"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "Rotate"                 # [<str>]
        #Option     "VideoKey"               # <i>
        #Option     "FlatPanel"              # [<bool>]
        #Option     "FPDither"               # [<bool>]
        #Option     "CrtcNumber"             # <i>
        #Option     "FPScale"                # [<bool>]
        #Option     "FPTweak"                # <i>
        #Option     "DualHead"               # [<bool>]
        Option     "RenderAccel"    "true"
        Option     "NoLogo"         "true"
        Option     "AGPFastWrite"   "true"
        Option     "EnablePageFlip" "true"
    Identifier     "Card1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "nVidia Corporation"
    BoardName      "C51 [Quadro NVS 210S/GeForce 6150LE]"
    BusID          "PCI:0:5:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Card0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       1
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       4
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       8
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       15
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       16
        Modes       "1920x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       24
        Modes      "1920x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Card1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       4
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       8
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       15
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       16
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option         "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

saneone · 2008-01-19 15:24:17

Section "Module"
Load "extmod"
Load "glx" ---remove this line
Load "dbe"
Load "xtrap"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "nv" --previously was "nvidia"
VendorName "nVidia Corporation"
BoardName "G71 [GeForce 7300 GS]"
BusID "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Card1"
Driver "nv"
VendorName "nVidia Corporation"
BoardName "C51 [Quadro NVS 210S/GeForce 6150LE]"
BusID "PCI:0:5:0"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Make similiar changes in ur xorg.conf (bold font)... i hope t'll help... if it doesn't, i'll figure out what is missing...

Last edited by saneone (2008-01-19 15:24:52)

jacko · 2008-01-19 16:59:35

do u have a dual monitor setup?

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Zer0 · 2008-01-19 20:53:01

nv is xorgs native drivers for nvidia cards. The performance isn't as good as the "real" nvidia drivers..
nvidia is Nvidia's official drivers (same stuff found on the nvidia website).

smitty wrote:

... And, this means, never uninstall the video drivers, such as if I get a higher up video card? ...

Keeping more drivers on your system then you need wont hurt anything (except hard drive space). The lines that are

    Identifier     "Card0"
    Driver         "nv"

show which Video card for x to use and what driver to use for it. If you upgrade to a higher Nvidia card from the 7300gs you should be able to use the nvidia drivers from Arch's repos still and keep Driver "nvidia". If you switch to a card other then nvidia then you will have to download the driver and also specify it in the Driver "[your driver]" section replacing nvidia or nv.

I see you used nvidia-xconfig to generate your xorg.conf also.. If you do switch to something other then nvidia then you should probably backup your xorg.confg and regenerate a new one with hwd so you don't have left over nvidia options.

Last edited by Zer0 (2008-01-19 20:53:46)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-01-17 12:15:33

could uninstalling 'nvidia' package break X?

#2 2008-01-17 14:12:12

Re: could uninstalling 'nvidia' package break X?

#3 2008-01-18 07:45:44

Re: could uninstalling 'nvidia' package break X?

#4 2008-01-18 23:30:44

Re: could uninstalling 'nvidia' package break X?

#5 2008-01-18 23:34:24

Re: could uninstalling 'nvidia' package break X?

#6 2008-01-19 01:32:32

Re: could uninstalling 'nvidia' package break X?

#7 2008-01-19 02:31:30

Re: could uninstalling 'nvidia' package break X?

#8 2008-01-19 15:24:17

Re: could uninstalling 'nvidia' package break X?

#9 2008-01-19 16:59:35

Re: could uninstalling 'nvidia' package break X?

#10 2008-01-19 20:53:01

Re: could uninstalling 'nvidia' package break X?

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