Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-video-nv package

Ubuntu 11.04 "loses" monitor

Asked by John Filburn

Need your expertise troubleshooting the following symptom.

Intermittent "blackout": screen/monitor goes dark. cannot "wake up"; must do a hard reboot in order to be able to see anything.

Seems to be occurring with greater frequency over past week or so.

No changes to hardware for about a year or so, when I replaced the video card, migrating from a failed ATI to a NVIDIA.

Thank you for your time. I'll supply whatever data you need, but please post the commands.

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Ubuntu xserver-xorg-video-nv Edit question
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John Filburn
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Revision history for this message
Gilbert Tan TS (gilberttants) said : 		#1

I need to know if you are using an OEM system or a branded PC and the model of video card from nvidia you use. There seem to be a bug for nvidia video cards that will cause the problem you mentioned.

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John Filburn (john-filburn) said : 		#2

Is this what you're looking for?

PC:
description: Desktop Computer
    product: VGC-RA910G(UC)
    vendor: Sony Corporation
    version: 15624524
    serial: 3000001
    width: 32 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.3 dmi-2.3 smp-1.4 smp
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop cpus=1 uuid=A0FD3AFF-0DE0-D811-A17E-00112F504971

*-display
                description: VGA compatible controller
                product: G86 [GeForce 8400 GS]
                vendor: nVidia Corporation
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
                version: a1
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
                configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
                resources: irq:16 memory:fa000000-faffffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff memory:f8000000-f9ffffff ioport:cc00(size=128) memory:fbee0000-fbefffff

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Gilbert Tan TS (gilberttants) said : 		#3

Yap, that's the video card from nvidia. Failed on Compaq Presario SR5395CF Desktop on many of my client's workstation, there is a patch from the manufacturer for windows, but I wonder if there is for linux? Do u have another video card to try?

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John Filburn (john-filburn) said : 		#4

I do not have another video card to try.

Revision history for this message
John Filburn (john-filburn) said : 		#5

This problem is no longer relevant.

The nvidia-installer ( "*.run file" ) only updated the driver but not the kernel, thereby creating a mismatch. I quickly found that such a mismatch prevents the Ubuntu OS from booting, leaving me in terminal mode with no knowledge of how to roll back the driver, edit the Xserver appropriately, or otherwise make the required programming changes to get the OS to load - even in recovery/low-res mode!

After what seemed like my 50th reboot, I began smelling hot plastic and other materials smoldering from within the tower.

The next reboot attempt failed completely. The PC will now not even try to power on.

End result was that while I noticed some early warning signs and fired off a couple of posts in launchpad, I could not isolate the problem quickly enough to fix it ahead of time. I somehow got in over my head with the "troubleshooting" recommendation and now I'm dead in the water and need to pay somebody with test equipment to find the faulty component.

I did not think anything could be as painful as using Windows. It's been a liberating few years, though not without some occaisional frustrations. I didn't think I was naive, but the evidence proves otherwise.

I suppose I'll mark this case as "problem solved" because there's no button for "problem worsened" - though I cannot blame any of the moderators and kind helpers that monitor these posts.

Thanks for your time.