Ubuntu

Udates kill gdm

Asked by art

When certain updates are performed I have to go to the /etc/X11 directory to copy the backup file to xorg.conf. I think this is because I have a NVIDIA chipset. After doing this then gdm will launch properly.

Also after certain updates I have to reload the NVIDIA driver (from their site, it's ver 1.0-9755). If I don't do that then I can't set the monitor resolution above 1024x768.

After I update the NVIDIA driver and use the system tool to set the resolution I tell it to save the changes to xorg.conf but it fails to do so - no error message but after a restart the resolution has to be set again.

These three things have to do with NVIDIA so I don't know if that is even in your jurisdiction but it was worth dropping a line.

Killer product but not quite ready for my mother yet :)

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Adam Smith
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Robert Clipsham (mrmonday) said : 		#1

With the nVidia driver installed, have you tried reconfiguring xorg?

To do this sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg.

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art (art-erickson) said : 		#2

That was interesting. It did solve one problem, the other two can't be tested until a suitable update comes along (I haven't really determined what has to change).

The most annoying problem of having to set the resolution after every restart appears to be gone. I was able to add the 1280x1024 resolution using the method you suggested. Now it seems to accept that as the default when starting.

I noticed some interesting things (like Modules) I knew nothing about, but since I knew nothing I changed nothing :) Is there a good reference I can read to learn about the xorg.conf file? I searched the web but the ones I found were pretty superficial.

I'll have to wait for some updates to see if I lose my working config again. I'll try to pay close attention to the files being updated. I'm using 7.04, if that is useful. I'll cat out the conf file to see what changes next time gdm won't launch.

This is not a serious problem and I really appreciate the rapid response - especially since it helped :) Thank you very much.

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Best Adam Smith (adamtropics) said : 		#3

I am sadly not an nvidia man! Even more sadly I am ATI, however I believe the updates you are interested in are the kernel updates (and so the restricted modules) The driver modules have to be compiled against the kernel you are currently using else it won't work. Therefore when the kernel is updated, then the video modules have to be done too. Every time.

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art (art-erickson) said : 		#4

I believe you are correct. The excellent script from NVIDIA seems to go thru this very process (of compiling a kernel). We can only hope the latest NVIDIA driver will be incorporated into Ubuntu soon. Till then I keep a copy of the NVIDIA driver on my desktop for use after the update :)

Speaking of these sad situations, it would be nice to have a "run as" function for some of this stuff. It wouldn't work for this particular problem since you have to kill the x server, but I have found other instances where it would be handy.