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In ubuntu 18.04 after discovering that the wrong nvidia driver was polluting my kernel.log I've tried different combination of nvidia drivers with no success.

When I sudo service gdm start the login screen shows up but after login a black page blocks everithing,

4.15.0-33-generic

nvidia-340:
  Installed: 340.106-0ubuntu3
  Candidate: 340.107-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1
  Version table:
     340.107-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1 500
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/graphics-drivers/ppa/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
 *** 340.106-0ubuntu3 500
        500 mirror://mirrors.ubuntu.com/mirrors.txt bionic/restricted amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

How can i diagnose/solve this?

UPDATE:

Same problem with a fresh install after installing nvidia recomended drivers. Resolved avoiding nvidia drivers.

Should this be a hardware error?

Btw video card runs with no problem in Windows.

lrkwz
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  • I found a suitable solution for this issue (ubuntu 19.10) at https://askubuntu.com/questions/1189993/verifying-nvidia-driver-on-ubuntu-19-10 – Gert Kruger Dec 20 '19 at 09:45

2 Answers2

4

I had same problem with both Ubuntu 18.10 and 19.04. I have a dell Vostro 3670 (see https://linux-hardware.org/?probe=0f87997cd1). This solution did not work for me. After reboot the screen stays blanc. I found a solution to restore the Ubuntu desktop at least. From #17 on proprietary drivers not showing up - Page 2

I found several proposed solutions for this issue to install the Nvidia drivers. None of them work for me. I found 2 methods that enable you to recover the Desktop environment when this happens:

First by Fossfreedom at - https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/nvidia-390-black-screen/97/14

You have to do a safe boot and go to root, then:

sudo apt-get remove nvidia-*
sudo apt install nvidia-prime
sudo prime-select intel

Then reboot.

Second form sgian entry #3 at https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2399985

Also do a safe boot and go to root. Then:

sudo apt purge nvidia*
sudo apt install --reinstall xorg xserver-xorg-core

Then reboot.

Gert Kruger
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  • I have installed Ubuntu 19.10 recently on the same box. Got a method to install Nvidia drivers from https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-the-nvidia-drivers-on-ubuntu-19-10-eoan-ermine-linux It gives the same issue. Black screen when you reboot. – Gert Kruger Dec 18 '19 at 10:31
  • I found a suitable solution for Ubuntu 19.10 at https://askubuntu.com/questions/1189993/verifying-nvidia-driver-on-ubuntu-19-10 – Gert Kruger Dec 20 '19 at 09:49
2

I tried countless solutions that were posted on the internet, and the one single thing that worked for me was to:

  • backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old
  • similarly backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ directory, if it exists
  • and then cp -r /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d /etc/X11/

I think that the xorg.conf file generated by nvidia-xconfig somehow prevents the login screen from loading.

EDIT:

Before doing the above, I did a few rounds of:

sudo apt purge 'nvidia*'

sudo apt install nvidia-390

(driver version may vary depending on the GPU)

See Gert Kruger's answer for more details.

axel22
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