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I have a problem with the nvidia driver. Did a apt update and the machine powered off in the night. After power on I get the blinking cursor. Even did a complete reinstall on a spare disk (with update during installation on) and have the same situation. nvidia-340 fails to build.

ubuntu-drivers autoinstall 
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 305 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up nvidia-340 (340.108-0ubuntu2) ...
dpkg: error: version '-' has bad syntax: revision number is empty
dpkg: error: version '-' has bad syntax: revision number is empty
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
INFO:Enable nvidia-340
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/put_your_quirks_here
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/dell_latitude
DEBUG:Parsing /usr/share/ubuntu-drivers-common/quirks/lenovo_thinkpad
Removing old nvidia-340-340.108 DKMS files...



Deleting module version: 340.108
completely from the DKMS tree.




Done.
Loading new nvidia-340-340.108 DKMS files...
Building for 5.8.0-36-generic
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 5.8.0-36-generic
ERROR: Cannot create report: [Errno 17] File exists: '/var/crash/nvidia-340.0.crash'
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 5.8.0-36-generic (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/nvidia-340/340.108/build/make.log for more information.
dpkg: error processing package nvidia-340 (--configure):
 installed nvidia-340 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 10
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.31-0ubuntu9) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.136ubuntu6.2) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.8.0-36-generic
Errors were encountered while processing:
 nvidia-340
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

nvidia-340.0.crash -> https://controlc.com/fb556872 make.log -> https://controlc.com/5bf2520a

Uhura
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  • File exists: '/var/crash/nvidia-340.0.crash' <<- try to manually delete that file before installation – pLumo Jan 12 '21 at 15:11
  • The build fails nevertheless.

    Setting up nvidia-340 (340.108-0ubuntu2) ... dpkg: error: version '-' has bad syntax: revision number is empty dpkg: error: version '-' has bad syntax: revision number is empty [...] Building initial module for 5.8.0-36-generic Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 5.8.0-36-generic (x86_64)

     – Uhura Jan 12 '21 at 15:34
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    The 340 driver won't build with the 5.8 kernel. You can revert and use the 5.4 major kernel or use a patched driver from a PPA. I would suggest reverting the kernel. – Pilot6 Jan 13 '21 at 09:39

2 Answers2

1

Revert back to an older kernel other than 5.8.0-36-generic.

Hold down shift while powering up. Choose an older kernel and boot up.

From there you will have a working machine and can research how to remove the bad kernel.

Keep in mind that until you remove the bad kernel and heading it will try to use it at every re-boot.

I'm going through this right now as well. Seems a lot of people have been affected.

syntaxerrorsix
  • 11
1

Yes, boot a 5.4 kernel.

If you need to reboot often, you can always use grub-customizer unitil the bug is fixed:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-hwe-5.8/+bug/191113

LarsAamo
  • 416