Cannot use Unity or Classic desktop with effects after the latest nvidia+xorg update

Any hints on how to debug this? Or any tips for a workaround?

Right now this prevents me from using Unity and I have to resort to the Classic Desktop with no effects.

Thanks.

Well, the workaround would be to use -nouveau with the experimental 3d mesa driver. But YMMV... that is unsupported and is a bit hit-or-miss for some people.

Another thing to try would be to uninstall and re-install -nvidia, which should force a rebuild of the kernel driver. Kind of a long-shot though.

Booting an earlier kernel might be worthwhile just in case it is a kernel ABI inconsistency. Hold down <shift> while booting to see the menu to select previously installed kernel versions.

As far as debugging, you could peruse these general upstream links:
  http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=58498
  ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/270.30/README/knownissues.html

I briefly scanned through them myself but didn't spot anything obviously applicable here. Perhaps something relevant would catch your eye though.

Another place to check is the upstream forums:
  http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=14

There are a couple reports of black screen / freezing bugs, but the symptoms sound slightly different than yours:
  http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=159440
  http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=159544

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.

I have the same problem as the original poster. I am using Natty Beta 2. Previous versions of Ubuntu (Lucid and Maverick) have worked OK with Compiz. What further information is required?

Ian.

Changed from Expired because I am experiencing the same problem.

see answer on http://askubuntu.com/questions/37629/geforce-go-7300-7400-blacklisted-can-i-still-run-unity

Adding UNITY_FORCE_START=1 to /etc/environment as suggested worek for me, using nouveau drivers.
But I hope to a real fix, thanks!

Adding UNITY_FORCE_START=1 to /etc/environment as suggested worked for me as well.
using nvidia 270.41.06 (x86_64) on GeForce Go 7300

not sure if it works correcly, because it uses metacity (with composition anabled) instead of compiz

i can't get compiz to work:

pawel@xaos-laptop:~$ compiz --replace
Backend : gconf
Integration : true
Profile : unity
Adding plugins
Initializing core options...done
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 1
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 1
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 1
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 1
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 1
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 1
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 1
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map state isViewable? 0
Window created on XQueryTree, map ...

This bug affects me too.

To make it work anyway, I desactivated the recommanded nvidia driver and activate the 173 version instead.

After a reboot, I was in 640x480 so in Ubuntu classic session I went to nvidia settings clicked on save to xorg.conf and just previewed the change, launch the xorg.conf : gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and copy and past the content of the changes proposed and saved the file. After a logout and a new login, it worked.

My graphic card : Nvidia GeForce 7300 GS.

This bug effects me, too. Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce 7300 LE.

I am experiencing this same problem. On a complete install (amd64), the loaded nvidia driver is 173. Installing "current" and restarting results in a screen which looks like the Unity screen, but does not respond to mouse clicks.

the current nvidia driver is 270. marking the unity task invalid as this is an issue with your upgrade, not unity itself.

Also one thing is *weird* to me: if I select another driver than nouveau (using jockey) it will be installed.
Then after the reboot, if I launch jockey again I don't see nouveau in list anymore, even reinstalling nouveau* from apt.
I'm using GeForce Go7400 on my HP Laptop.

This affects me as well. (Nvidia 7300 LE)

When booting into "ubuntu classic (no effects)" and then enabling compiz with `compiz --replace` it causes the same problem. Killing compiz unfreezes it. Disabling the compiz 'OpenGL plugin' (pretty essential), also prevents the freeze.

Affects me too. Nvidia 7400 on HP Pavilion laptop. Enabling 173 driver appears to work so far.

@David Ireland: if you enable 173, and then reboot, can you still select nouveau driver from jockey? Nouveau entry disappears after I enable propietary drivers....

The appears to be yet another duplicate of Bug #728745 and others. But this is not upgrade issue. It is a problem for certain nvidia cards that has been there since alpha and is sadly still in the release version from a fresh install. I have heard it maybe an nvidia driver issue, but that does not explain the disappearing Nouveau entry in the jockey driver list.

This affects me as well
Unity appears to launch -mouse moves but all else appears frozen, Nouveau disappears from Additional Drivers
11.04
Kernel: 2.6.38-8-generic
GeForce Go 7300
Driver 270.41.06 attempted to use Recommended, Nouveau disappears from Additional Drivers
Dell Latitude D620

FPS dropping to 3/4 after a short period in game, was not an issue before upgrading from Ubuntu 10.10.

Xubuntu 11.04:

dusf@banshee:~$ lspci | grep nVidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G72 [GeForce 7300 LE] (rev a1)

dusf@banshee:~$ jockey-text -l
xorg:nvidia_173 - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, Not in use)

dusf@banshee:~$ lspci -k
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G72 [GeForce 7300 LE] (rev a1)
Subsystem: Dell Device 0405
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
Kernel modules: nvidia-173, nvidia-current, nouveau, nvidiafb

WINE HQ advised me 'You are using both the proprietary and FOSS drivers. Remove the FOSS
drivers (nouveau) and use only the nVidia supplied drivers. '

Because I could not find any single 'nouveau' package in synaptic I tried uninstalling xserver-xorg-video-nouveau, but on reboot lspci -k was still exactly as it was previously, with nouveua.

***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

If relevant, the contents of my xorg.conf:

 Section "Screen"
   Identifier "Default Screen"
   DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Module"
   Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier "Default Device"
   Driver "nvidia"
   Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Contents of /var/log/Xorg.0.log:

[ 22.519]
X.Org X Server 1.10.1
Release Date: 2011-04-15
[ 22.519] X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[ 22.519] Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.24-29-server i686 Ubuntu
[ 22.519] Current Operating System: Linux skyrocket 2.6.38-8-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 11 03:31:50 UTC 2011 i686
[ 22.519] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=ef405805-13f0-47e9-b625-ce8155ea3e4d ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
[ 22.519] Build Date: 19 April 2011 03:33:17PM
[ 22.519] xorg-server 2:1.10.1-1ubuntu1 (For technical support please see http://www.ubuntu.com/support)
[ 22.519] Current version of pixman: 0.20.2
[ 22.519] Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
   to make sure that you have the latest version.
[ 22.519] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
   (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
   (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[ 22.519] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sun May 8 02:51:41 2011
[ 22.519] (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
[ 22.519] (==) Using syst...

Running Nvidia current and 173 -> Unity doesn`t start nor work. Running Nouveau driver -> Unity seems to work without any problem.

GRAPHIC CARD
 VGA controller
  nVidia Corporation G73 [GeForce 7600 GS] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])

SYSTEM INFORMATION
 Running Ubuntu Linux, the Ubuntu 11.04 (natty) release.
 GNOME: 2.32.1 (Ubuntu 2011-04-14)
 Kernel version: 2.6.38-8-generic (#42-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 11 03:31:50 UTC 2011)
 GCC: 4.5.2 (i686-linux-gnu)
 Xorg: 1.10.1 (19 April 2011 03:33:17PM) (19 April 2011 03:33:17PM)

CPU INFORMATION
 AuthenticAMD, AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2000+
 Number of CPUs: 1
 CPU clock currently at 1662.500 MHz with 256 KB cache
 Numbering: family(6) model(8) stepping(0)
 Bogomips: 3340.77
 Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse syscall mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow up

MEMORY INFORMATION
 Total memory: 1506 MB
 Total swap: 1021 MB

I have this exact problem. I am using a GeForce 7300 LE. This seems to affect a lot of laptop users, but I have the desktop version of this card.

The unity_support_test passes completely, but the desktop hangs if I load either Unity or Classic Gnome with Effects. I had no video problems on multiple prior releases, but discover then which I upgraded from 10.10 to 11.04.

There are no errors in Xorg.0.log or anywhere else that I can find. What information can I provide that would be helpful for debugging?

billh@billh1:~$ /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce 7300 LE/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL version string: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 270.41.06

Not software rendered: yes
Not blacklisted: yes
GLX fbconfig: yes
GLX texture from pixmap: yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program: yes
GL fragment program: yes
GL vertex buffer object: yes
GL framebuffer object: yes
GL version is 1.4+: yes

Unity supported: yes
billh@billh1:~$ lspci | grep nVidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G72 [GeForce 7300 LE] (rev a1)
billh@billh1:~$ jockey-text -l
xorg:nvidia_173 - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, Not in use)

Ever after 270.XX version have to roll back to 260 version to get nvidia drivers working with compiz.
As described before, it gives still immage on log in, and the sollution is to kill compiz to "unfreeze" it. Xorg.0.log doesn't seem to have any errors...
Also have GeForce 7300 GS. The problem seems to affect especially these cards.

I have the same behavior as above. Just checking back today to see if there's been any progress. I'm using Classic no effects just fine, but am curious about Unity. Would be happy to help sort it though I don't know where to begin.
Dell Dimension E520, C2D, E4300 (1.8 Ghz)
GPU: Geforce 7300LE, TC, DIM, M
Monitor: Dell E770

I have problem as well :-( with Go7300
After installation of 173 nVidia driver, desktop is frozen but mouse is movable.

What do you suggest?

ps it happens under almost every single distribution of Ubuntu but with Mandriva 2009 and the latest version EVERYTHING works perfectly out of the box! How come??

Regards

GeForce Go 7300 and 7400 blacklisted in Ubuntu Oneric as well.

This problem has affected me since 11.04, but I thought if I stayed on 10.10 for an extra six months it would be worked out for 11.10. I was wrong. What are you folks doing to work around this?

@jpolmsted // don't know about others, but i switched to fedora...

GeForce Go7300 here... same deal. What kind of info do I have to provide to make this a valid bug report?

I'm also willing to provide any necesary info so this bug can be changed to valid and some progress can be done...

I'm using Ubuntu 11.10 and Unity 3d (gnome shell also works), adding
UNITY_FORCE_START=1 to /etc/environment and I'm using "NVIDIA (post release
updates)(version 173-updates)" drivers from system settings -> drivers (I'm
italian, don't remember the correct english path).
Using nvidia-settings drivers version displayed is: 173.14.30
Works good on my HP DV6000 (4 years ago laptop) and GeForce Go 7400 256Mb,
Ubuntu installed from scratch (no update from 11.04).

Hope it will help someone, cheers :)

2011/10/17 Felipe Castillo <email address hidden>

> I'm also willing to provide any necesary info so this bug can be changed
> to valid and some progress can be done...
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/726496
>
> Title:
> Cannot use Unity or Classic desktop with effects after the latest
> nvidia+xorg update
>
> Status in Compiz:
> Invalid
> Status in Unity:
> Invalid
> Status in “compiz” package in Ubuntu:
> Invalid
> Status in “nvidia-graphics-drivers” package in Ubuntu:
> Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: compiz
>
> After having updated nvidia+xorg, whenever I try to log into the
> session, either using Unity or the Classic deskop session with
> effects, the UI remains frozen.
>
> By frozen I mean I get either a static picture of the desktop, a black
> screen or a blank one, but I can still move the mouse cursor.
> Restarting compiz or unity does not make a difference.
>
> The only workaround seems to be to log back in using the Classic
> desktop (No effects) session.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
> Package: compiz 1:0.9.4-0ubuntu1
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-5.32-generic 2.6.38-rc6
> Uname: Linux 2.6.38-5-generic i686
> NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
> .proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] És un directori:
> '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
> .proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
> .proc.driver.nvidia.version:
> NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module 270.29 Wed Feb 23 16:16:53
> PST 2011
> GCC version: gcc version 4.5.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.5.2-3ubuntu3)
> Architecture: i386
> CompizPlugins: No value set for
> `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
> CompositorRunning: None
> Date: Mon Feb 28 12:41:46 2011
> DistUpgraded: Yes, recently upgraded Log time: 2011-01-17 22:01:54.962391
> DistroCodename: natty
> DistroVariant: ubuntu
> DkmsStatus:
> virtualbox-ose, 4.0.4, 2.6.38-5-generic, i686: installed
> nvidia-current, 270.29, 2.6.38-5-generic, i686: installed
> GraphicsCard:
> nVidia Corporation G72M [Quadro NVS 110M/GeForce Go 7300] [10de:01d7]
> (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
> Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3839]
> MachineType: LENOVO 0769AP2
> PackageArchitecture: all
> ProcEnviron:
> LANGUAGE=ca_ES@valencia:ca:en_GB:en
> LANG=ca_ES.UTF-8
> LC_MESSAGES=ca_ES.utf8@valencia
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-5-generic
> root=UUID=c1368c5e-eecd-4c2d-ac4e-883437f7455b ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
> ProcVersionSignature_: Ubuntu 2.6.38-5.32-generic 2.6.38-rc6
> Renderer: U...

Affects me as well. Took me forever to figure out i was running Unity 2D instead of 3D as I've never seen Unity before and they both look very similar. Please, lets get some movement on this issue.