nvidia driver with 13.1 + 3.12.53-40

I updated one of our machines yesterday and now it fails to boot, I am sure because the nvidia driver is missing.
I could back off to kernel 3.11.10-34 (which still works) but two questions:

1: why did this happen?

2: how do I fix?

Evidence:
tippett:/lib/modules # find 3.12.53-40-de* -name *nvidia*
3.12.53-40-desktop/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia
3.12.53-40-desktop/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia/nvidiafb.ko
3.12.53-40-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/nvidia
tippett:/lib/modules # find 3.11.10-34-de* -name *nvidia*
3.11.10-34-desktop/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia
3.11.10-34-desktop/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia/nvidiafb.ko
3.11.10-34-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/nvidia
3.11.10-34-desktop/weak-updates/updates/nvidia.ko

and /var/log/x11.0.log,old
34.013] (II) Module glx: vendor=“NVIDIA Corporation”
34.014] compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
34.014] Module class: X.Org Server Extension
34.014] (II) NVIDIA GLX Module 304.131 Sun Nov 8 22:03:20 PST 2015
34.014] Loading extension GLX
34.014] (II) LoadModule: “nvidia”
34.014] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/updates/drivers/nvidia_drv.so
34.015] (II) Module nvidia: vendor=“NVIDIA Corporation”
34.015] compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
34.015] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
34.021] (EE) NVIDIA: Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module. Please check
your
34.021] (EE) NVIDIA: system’s kernel log for additional error messages.
34.021] (II) UnloadModule: “nvidia”
34.021] (II) Unloading nvidia
34.021] (EE) Failed to load module “nvidia” (module-specific error, 0)

You need to recompile the nvidia kernel modules for the latest kernel (3.12) to make it work.
The existing one on your hard disk (built for Kernel 3.11) is incompatible.

As you are using the nvidia RPMs from the repo, just reinstall them while running Kernel 3.12.
So boot to Kernel 3.12, and run this (you can do it in text mode if you can get an internet connection there, or boot to recovery mode (2nd entry in “Advanced Options” in the boot menu):

zypper in -f nvidia-gfxG02-kmp-desktop

Then it should work.

Thanks; that workedas you predicted