startx fails with new kernel
Patrick Dupre
patrick.dupre at york.ac.uk
Mon Feb 27 20:34:39 UTC 2012
On Sat, 18 Feb 2012, Marko Vojinovic wrote:
> On Friday 17 February 2012 22:18:58 Patrick Dupre wrote:
> >> On Wednesday 15 February 2012 20:08:22 Patrick Dupre wrote:
> >> But could you tell me exactly what I should do?
> >>
> >> I removed xorg-x11-drv-nouveau (and xorg-x11-drivers), but I did
> >> not get any improvements (see below)
> >>
> >> Then I even cannot get back with the 1920x1080 resolution even with
> >> the previous kernel. So reinstalled the removed packages.
> >
> >If you want to use nVidia's binary blob, then in general you should:
> >
> >(a) enable rpmfusion repositories (you probably have done that already),
> >and
> >(b) do a "yum install akmod-nvidia".
> >
> >The latter will blacklist nouveau driver, rebuild your initrd image so
> >that
> >nouveau doesn't get loaded on reboot, build the nVidia binary blob
> >against
> >your running kernel (preferably the latest one), and set up xorg.conf
> >appropriately for nVidia driver to work. After that you must reboot for
> >the whole thing to take effect.
>
> Do you mean that I should recompile a kernel?
No, there is no need to recompile the whole kernel. Just the graphics driver,
which is a kernel module.
> To come back to the issue. I can run the graphics with the kernel 3,2,3-2
> and if it does not work with the new kernel 3,2,5-3, I can only think that
> the new kernel has not been build up properly. However, when I compare the
> 2 files /usr/src/kernels/3.2.3-2.fc16.x86_64/.config and
> /usr/src/kernels/3.2.5-3.fc16.x86_64/.config
> they are identical. Then I can deduce that is is probably a modules
> issues.
Precisely. The kernel configs have nothing to do with the graphics driver. The
graphics driver is a kernel module, and apparently you have one for the
3.2.3-2 kernel, while you don't have it for the 3.2.5-3 kernel.
> lsmod does seem to show that the module nvidia.ko is loaded
No, it doesn't, the word "nvidia" doesn't appear anywhere in the list. See
below for an explanation.
> tcp_lp 12663 0
> fuse 77538 5
> lockd 84578 0
> nf_conntrack_ipv4 14622 8
> nf_defrag_ipv4 12673 1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
> ip6t_REJECT 12939 2
> nf_conntrack_ipv6 14290 8
> nf_defrag_ipv6 18139 1 nf_conntrack_ipv6
> xt_state 12578 16
> nf_conntrack 82331 3
> nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_conntrack_ipv6,xt_state
> ip6table_filter 12815 1
> ip6_tables 26976 1 ip6table_filter
> be2iscsi 72362 0
> iscsi_boot_sysfs 15641 1 be2iscsi
> bnx2i 54521 0
> cnic 58676 1 bnx2i
> uio 19067 1 cnic
> cxgb4i 32909 0
> cxgb4 102888 1 cxgb4i
> cxgb3i 32972 0
> libcxgbi 56477 2 cxgb4i,cxgb3i
> cxgb3 155412 1 cxgb3i
> mdio 13398 1 cxgb3
> ib_iser 38073 0
> rdma_cm 41898 1 ib_iser
> ib_cm 41692 1 rdma_cm
> iw_cm 18176 1 rdma_cm
> ib_sa 28407 2 rdma_cm,ib_cm
> ib_mad 46392 2 ib_cm,ib_sa
> ib_core 73791 6 ib_iser,rdma_cm,ib_cm,iw_cm,ib_sa,ib_mad
> ib_addr 13748 1 rdma_cm
> iscsi_tcp 18333 0
> libiscsi_tcp 23970 4 cxgb4i,cxgb3i,libcxgbi,iscsi_tcp
> libiscsi 50527 8
> be2iscsi,bnx2i,cxgb4i,cxgb3i,libcxgbi,ib_iser,iscsi_tcp,libiscsi_tcp
> scsi_transport_iscsi 51823 8
> be2iscsi,bnx2i,libcxgbi,ib_iser,iscsi_tcp,libiscsi
> snd_hda_codec_hdmi 36277 4
> joydev 17412 0
> snd_hda_codec_via 46559 1
> snd_hda_intel 33276 3
> snd_hda_codec 114615 3
> snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_via,snd_hda_intel
> snd_hwdep 17611 1 snd_hda_codec
> snd_seq 64807 0
> snd_seq_device 14129 1 snd_seq
> snd_pcm 97100 4
> snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
> ppdev 17635 0
> parport_pc 28082 0
> parport 44515 2 ppdev,parport_pc
> snd_timer 28815 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
> edac_core 51619 0
> snd 74425 14
> snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_via,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,s
> nd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm,snd_timer edac_mce_amd 22882 0
> sp5100_tco 13697 0
> soundcore 14484 1 snd
> serio_raw 13371 0
> r8169 60789 0
> mii 13527 1 r8169
> snd_page_alloc 18101 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
> i2c_piix4 13694 0
> microcode 23240 0
> k10temp 13119 0
> uinput 17606 0
> sunrpc 235041 2 lockd
> binfmt_misc 17431 1
> ata_generic 12899 0
> pata_acpi 13027 0
> pata_atiixp 13197 0
> nouveau 763073 2
> ttm 68749 1 nouveau
> drm_kms_helper 40141 1 nouveau
> drm 225935 4 nouveau,ttm,drm_kms_helper
> i2c_algo_bit 13156 1 nouveau
> i2c_core 37955 5
> i2c_piix4,nouveau,drm_kms_helper,drm,i2c_algo_bit
> mxm_wmi 12823 1 nouveau
> wmi 18697 1 mxm_wmi
> video 18932 1 nouveau
>
>
> Could you please clarify the situation?
Ok, this is how it all works. The driver for your nVidia graphics hardware is
a kernel module. The module version has to match the kernel version, so you
need one driver module for each kernel. Technically speaking, the module needs
to be built "against the appropriate kernel", typically while that kernel is
running.
There are two different graphics drivers for nVidia cards. One is called
"nouveau", and is an open-source driver provided by Fedora out-of-the-box. The
other is called "nvidia", and is a closed-source driver provided by nVidia
(also commonly called "binary blob"). The nvidia driver mostly works better
than nouveau, since nouveau is still under development.
Nouveau and nvidia modules cannot coexist. If nouveau is to work properly,
nvidia driver must be uninstalled from the machine. If nvidia is to work
properly, nouveau needs to be blacklisted and unistalled from the initrd.
Since the Fedora's kernel automatically loads nouveau on boot (if it is not
blacklisted), one needs to reboot the machine in order to switch from nouveau
to nvidia (or vice-versa).
The nvidia driver can be obtained in two different ways. One way is to download
the appropriate .run file from nVidia website and run it. This is the *wrong*
way, since it doesn't play nice with Fedora, overwrites some system files, and
is a pain to remove once installed. The other way is to install (via yum) the
package called akmod-nvidia, which is provided by the rpmfusion repository.
This is the *correct* way, since that package was designed precisely for
Fedora, doesn't overwrite system files and can be easily removed. The driver
itself (the nvidia kernel module) is the same as the one provided by nVidia
website --- the difference is in the details of the installation procedure.
For your situation, I suggest the following:
(1) Run "yum update". There is a new kernel available (3.2.6-3), and you
should install it.
Done
(2) Run "mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf-backup". This will rename
the xorg.conf file (if you have it), and let X run with default configuration
(i.e. without an xorg.conf file) after a reboot.
Evey time that I create a xorg.conf file I cannot start the graphics.
The only way was to create a xorg.conf.d directory (see attached file)
Is it because I am running nouveau and not the nvidia package?
(3) Boot into the new kernel. Since you have just installed it, and since
there is no xorg.conf, the nouveau driver should be activated. Maybe it will
have problems running on your graphics card (it shouldn't, but...), and maybe
you will not have high resolution, or even X might not start at all. That is
ok, it doesn't matter, as long as you do the next step.
(4) Run "yum install akmod-nvidia". Let it install. It will provide the nvidia
driver matching your new kernel, it will write a new xorg.conf, it will
blacklist nouveau and remove it from initrd of your kernel. It might take some
time to complete.
It is already installed, should I keep it or remove it?
Thank for your help.
(5) Reboot the machine again into the latest kernel. This is necessary in
order to change from nouveau to nvidia driver.
If all is well, the nvidia driver should be loaded and X should work
perfectly, high resolution and all. If it doesn't work, post the contents of
/var/log/Xorg.0.log file back to us, so that we can see why it doesn't work and
tell you how to fix it.
I hope this was clear enough. Just follow the steps (1) - (5), and it should
start working again.
Note that once you have installed akmod-nvidia, in the future when a new
kernel gets installed with an update, everything will happen automatically and
you do not need to do anything in order to get the nvidia driver for that new
kernel. The above (1)-(5) procedure should be done only once, and after that
it will work automatically for every new kernel.
HTH, :-)
Marko
--
users mailing list
users at lists.fedoraproject.org
To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
Have a question? Ask away: http://ask.fedoraproject.org
--
---
==========================================================================
Patrick DUPRÉ | |
Department of Chemistry | | Phone: (44)-(0)-1904-434384
The University of York | | Fax: (44)-(0)-1904-432516
Heslington | |
York YO10 5DD United Kingdom | | email: patrick.dupre at york.ac.uk
==========================================================================
More information about the users
mailing list