I have been trying to get the new Nvidia driver on my laptop (GT540m) working. Alas every time I try it fails and my desktop will not load. However now I cannot recover.
Current status:
Desktop background loads at normal resolution but gnome does not load. Hitting any “F” key or arrow key brings up a text list of “starting” proceses… all OK
All nvidia packages are removed
I have deleted my a xorg.conf file in /etc/X11/, it does not return upon reboot.
Examining the /var/log/Xorg.0.log reveals little to my limited knowledge base, but the nvidia is mentioned here
[INDENT=2]
(II) Module glx: vendor=NVIDIA Corporation
compliled for 4.0.2, module version 1.0.0
Module class: X.org Server Extension
(II) NVIDIA GLX odule 331.89 ....
Loading extension GLX
[/INDENT]
The following which should find if my nouveau is blacklisted yields zero results.
grep nouveau /etc/modprobe.d/*
I do not know what else to do. Can anybody please advise. Many thanks
Does this laptop use optimus ie Intel+NVIDIA graphics?
If so you need bumblebee
Before installing bumblebee be sure to remove all of the NVIDIA driver you tried you want only the NVIDIA-bumblebee package. If you mix packages it won’t work
My apologies for not stating what I did more clearly.
I did run a search via cmd line
zypper rm nvi*
It said that nothing nvi* was installed so I presumed everything was gone. I searched every way I could remember to find what is left installed related to nvidia and after removing everything I presumed I was in the clear and messed up something else. When I get home I will search again to be double sure.
I ran the installer from SDB:NVIDIA drivers - openSUSE Wiki , as I said this is not the first time this has messed up and I was trying it again to see if I could figure it out. Once I recover the system I will try bumblebee and people seem to have more success that way.
It said that nothing nvi* was installed so I presumed everything was gone.
Well, the driver itself is in the package x11-video-nvidiaG03, which does not start with “nvi”.
Although I think zypper should remove that as well because of the dependencies.
I searched every way I could remember to find what is left installed related to nvidia and after removing everything I presumed I was in the clear and messed up something else. When I get home I will search again to be double sure.
Use “zypper se nvidia” or type “nvidia” into YaST’s search field. Or run that “rpm” line I posted earlier.
If that Xorg.0.log excerpt you posted is current, the driver is definitely still installed (or at least parts of it).
I ran the installer from SDB:NVIDIA drivers - openSUSE Wiki , as I said this is not the first time this has messed up and I was trying it again to see if I could figure it out. Once I recover the system I will try bumblebee and people seem to have more success that way.
The 1-click install will install the wrong kernel packages (and miss to install the GL package) when you installed and removed the driver already once.
Actually this is a libzypp issue though, not really a problem of the 1-click install itself.
But as already stated, if you do have an Optimus system, the nvidia driver will not work anyway. It just does not support it.
It would only allow you to use CUDA on the nvidia chip, but you may not install nvidia-glG03 in that case, as that breaks Mesa and the intel driver’s 3D support.
So, does your system have an intel graphics chip as well?
If you can disable it in the BIOS settings, you should be able to use the nvidia driver though (without installing Bumblebee).
Yes sorry, before I hit accept to remove I considered it a search… silly me.
There is my problem, when I tried this before I never had to look for that item, besides it was silly of me not to search for nvidia…
Use “zypper se nvidia” or type “nvidia” into YaST’s search field. Or run that “rpm” line I posted earlier.
If that Xorg.0.log excerpt you posted is current, the driver is definitely still installed (or at least parts of it).
The 1-click install will install the wrong kernel packages (and miss to install the GL package) when you installed and removed the driver already once.
Actually this is a libzypp issue though, not really a problem of the 1-click install itself.
But as already stated, if you do have an Optimus system, the nvidia driver will not work anyway. It just does not support it.
It would only allow you to use CUDA on the nvidia chip, but you may not install nvidia-glG03 in that case, as that breaks Mesa and the intel driver’s 3D support.
Hmm, I feel quite stupid now… that is a really poor mistake to make.
So, does your system have an intel graphics chip as well?
If you can disable it in the BIOS settings, you should be able to use the nvidia driver though (without installing Bumblebee).
Yes, I disabled it via the bios but to no effect. I will do as you suggest earlier and clean up my system and go with bumblebee.
Thank you for your help, my apologies for being so silly!!
I will go home and report back and hopefully consider this issue solved.
Well, if you disabled it in the BIOS, the nvidia driver should actually work (and Bumblebee won’t work I suppose).
You would have to install all necessary driver packages again, of course.
I would recommend to select the packages manually in YaST:
nvidia-gfxG03-kmp-desktop, nvidia-uvm-gfxG03-kmp-desktop, x11-video-nvidiaG03, nvidia-glG03. nvidia-computeG03.
Please note, that this list is for “kernel-desktop”. If you use a different one, you have to replace the “-desktop” correspondingly (f.e. “nvidia-gfxG03-kmp-default” for “kernel-default”. Type “kernel” into YaST’s search field or run “uname -a” to find out which one you have installed/are using.
And please also note that the nvidia driver probably might not work on the first boot after installation. Just rebooting should fix that though.
You still might want to use Bumblebee even if the nvidia driver would work, to save power/heat and have a longer running battery.
Thank you for your help, my apologies for being so silly!!
Hi sorry I did not update I had to fly and I could not get back to my computer.
I tried all you mentioned and still I am in the same position as I started. I removed all nividia via Yast, so all the system is rid of that. However like you said I am running the wrong kernel but I cannot seem to fix this. Could you describe how, I cannot quite figure it out.
How do you know that you are “running the wrong kernel”?
There’s not really a “wrong kernel” with nouveau (unless you use a xxx-base flavor), as the nouveau kernel module is included in the kernel package. With nvidia this is packaged separately, so the packages have to match the kernel.
Please post the output of:
rpm -qa kernel*
Does “Recovery Mode” work? (“Advanced Options” in the boot menu)
Maybe post your /var/log/Xorg.0.log.
And verify that you have NO_KMS_IN_INITRD=“no” in /etc/sysconfig/kernel, if not change it accordingly and run “sudo /sbin/mkinitrd”.
You could also try to enable the intel graphics again, maybe nouveau has problems with your particular nvidia chip.
My apologies for the really late reply, I have had literally zero time to sit down and investigate more. I will get back to you with answers to your suggestions soon. I dont want to take the easy route and reinstall, but learn something as I fix it properly so there is a record of it. I should be returning home in a few days.
