How can I get TTYs to work with NVIDIA drivers?

Question

If I'm debugging my graphics driver, I rely on the commandlines I can access by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1-F6. However, after installing the latest NVIDIA drivers, the screen goes black when I switch to those TTYs. How can I get the TTYs to work with the NVIDIA drivers?

I tried some of the proposals from other questions, like the "closed as too localized" question here: How do I get my blacked out ttys back? and the very involved suggestion here: Can't view output in tty. (Ctrl+alt+f1 to f6 don't work, and display a black screen).

I'm running Ubuntu 14.04 with all the latest updates. Here's some system information:

└─>lspci | grep -i vga
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107M [GeForce GT 640M Mac Edition] (rev a1)

└─>lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
pci_stub               12622  1 
vboxpci                23194  0 
vboxnetadp             25670  0 
vboxnetflt             27613  0 
vboxdrv               409768  3 vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt,vboxpci
bnep                   19624  2 
rfcomm                 69160  12 
nls_iso8859_1          12713  1 
arc4                   12608  2 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     46254  1 
btusb                  32412  0 
bluetooth             391196  22 bnep,btusb,rfcomm
uvcvideo               80885  0 
videobuf2_vmalloc      13216  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops       13362  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_core         40664  1 uvcvideo
videodev              134688  2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
b43                   387371  0 
snd_hda_codec_cirrus    18855  1 
mac80211              630653  1 b43
cfg80211              484040  2 b43,mac80211
ssb                    62379  1 b43
snd_hda_intel          52355  5 
snd_hda_codec         192906  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_cirrus
snd_hwdep              13602  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm               102099  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc         18710  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_seq_midi           13324  0 
snd_seq_midi_event     14899  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi            30144  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                61560  2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
intel_rapl             18773  0 
x86_pkg_temp_thermal    14205  0 
intel_powerclamp       14705  0 
coretemp               13435  0 
snd_seq_device         14497  3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
kvm_intel             143060  0 
snd_timer              29482  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
kvm                   451511  1 kvm_intel
crct10dif_pclmul       14289  0 
crc32_pclmul           13113  0 
snd                    69238  21 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_cirrus,snd_seq_midi
ghash_clmulni_intel    13216  0 
applesmc               19308  0 
input_polldev          13896  1 applesmc
aesni_intel            55624  0 
aes_x86_64             17131  1 aesni_intel
lrw                    13286  1 aesni_intel
gf128mul               14951  1 lrw
glue_helper            13990  1 aesni_intel
ablk_helper            13597  1 aesni_intel
cryptd                 20359  3 ghash_clmulni_intel,aesni_intel,ablk_helper
parport_pc             32701  0 
ppdev                  17671  0 
lpc_ich                21080  0 
lp                     17759  0 
bcma                   52096  1 b43
parport                42348  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
nvidia              10527448  31 
soundcore              12680  1 snd
drm                   303102  2 nvidia
video                  19476  0 
mac_hid                13205  0 
apple_bl               13993  0 
mei_me                 18627  0 
mei                    82276  1 mei_me
hid_apple              13386  0 
hid_generic            12548  0 
tg3                   166442  0 
sdhci_pci              23172  0 
sdhci                  43015  1 sdhci_pci
ptp                    18933  1 tg3
pps_core               19382  1 ptp
ahci                   25819  4 
usbhid                 52570  0 
libahci                32560  1 ahci
hid                   106148  3 hid_generic,usbhid,hid_apple
uvesafb                28686  0

Edit: I'm using the package nvidia-340 from the xorg-edgers PPA:

└─>apt-cache policy nvidia-340
nvidia-340:
  Installed: 340.24-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.1
  Candidate: 340.24-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 340.24-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.1 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/xorg-edgers/ppa/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

I also tried disabling the framebuffer as described here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=168108#p864284. Still no luck.

Edit: I'm now using the package nvidia-343 from the xorg-edgers PPA:

└─>apt-cache policy nvidia-343
nvidia-343:
  Installed: 343.13-0ubuntu1~xedgers14.04.1

Still no luck.

I would start with adding vga=773 to the kernel params during boot. Or disable KMS by adding nomodeset. — Rinzwind, Aug 08 '14 at 14:19
Have you got webmin installed ? This shows you all the things that load at startup (amongst other things) and you can enable and disable the TTYs. (There are other ways to do this also but I find webmin real easy to use). Are they enabled ? — hatterman, Aug 14 '14 at 11:41
If you use a greeter instead of startxing, it's kinda hard to debug since any modification might break things and you'd have to fix'em without seeing what you type. Try ALT+CTRL+F1, Ctrl+C a few times, wait a few seconds, and then, blindly, sudo modprobe -r nvidia;sudo modprobe nvidia. — Alex, Aug 16 '14 at 01:23
@hatterman, it's not that TTYs aren't enabled, it's that the display is black when I switch to them. — Jonathan, Aug 18 '14 at 12:56
@Alex, that didn't seem to have any effect. I also tried logging in blindly, entering those commands, then entering my sudo password, and that also didn't seem to have any effect. — Jonathan, Aug 18 '14 at 13:02
If the screen is black when pressing ctrl-alt F1 etc, then ttys are disabled, no ? — hatterman, Aug 19 '14 at 12:40
@hatterman, no, they definitely enabled, because typing commands blindly still works. They just aren't being displayed. This is apparently a common problem with NVIDIA drivers. — Jonathan, Aug 19 '14 at 13:18
Thinking outside the box, have you tried this? http://askubuntu.com/questions/463306/change-color-of-command-line-text — Elder Geek, Jan 16 '15 at 15:47
Nvidia 340+ drivers have not worked for me on Ubuntu (14.10). I believe I'm using version 331. My card is a GTX 460 so it's a few years old but theoretically it should still be supported in the latest Nvidia drivers. Unfortunately I'm stuck using an old version indefinitely.. — nick, Mar 13 '15 at 02:58
Also, I still get error messages every time I boot into my desktop. Not sure exactly what they're for but it's definitely Nvidia related. My machine is perfectly stable though, I have not had any issues with 331. If anyone else has this problem I would recommend downloading the .deb from Nvidia's official site. — nick, Mar 13 '15 at 03:01
@Jon Can you [edit] your question to give us an update of what you've tried in the way of offered solutions and suggestions and the results? — Elder Geek, Mar 16 '15 at 21:56
Have you looked at the rather expansive answer here? http://askubuntu.com/questions/61396/how-do-i-install-the-nvidia-drivers — Elder Geek, Apr 21 '15 at 15:42
Related: http://askubuntu.com/questions/162535/why-does-switching-to-the-tty-give-me-a-blank-screen — Elder Geek, Apr 21 '15 at 16:22
@all + this looks to me after a missing matrix for display-situations ?! (would be necessary to scan the given ram-size for this) + — dschinn1001, May 04 '15 at 08:02

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 02 '15 at 17:40

2

First,

fix grub resolution:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Now, locate the line

#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

and change it to this changing 1280x800 to the desired resolution:

GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x800 
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

Next,

add framebuffer (no, that's not a typo; use echo twice):

echo "echo FRAMEBUFFER=y" | sudo tee /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash

finally, update grub and initramfs:

sudo update-initramfs -u
sudo update-grub

reboot for the changes to take effect

answered Jun 02 '15 at 17:40

mchid

43,546
8
97
150

what's framebuffer? and what exactly does this echo line do? – 842Mono Jan 18 '16 at 19:47
@minamichael https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_framebuffer – mchid Jan 20 '16 at 00:32

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 11 '14 at 13:29

0

Did you try installing the Lastest Nvidia Drivers using this link ?

http://www.binarytides.com/install-nvidia-drivers-ubuntu-14-04/

I have the lastest Nvidia and tty works fine on 14.04 64x. P.S: Are you using the standard kde (Unity) ?

answered Aug 11 '14 at 13:29

Itachi Sama

324
2
10

Yep. In the edit above I show which version (nvidia-340). I'm using neither KDE nor Unity, but that shouldn't matter, since TTYs should be before/behind any desktop environment anyway. – Jonathan Aug 11 '14 at 13:44
1

While this link may theoretically answer the question, please try to summarize the link in your post. Links sometimes go down. Also, "P.S." isn't really the proper form, especially for questions. Instead, comment on the original post. – Kaz Wolfe Aug 30 '14 at 10:24
@Whaaaaaat, just for the record, the above link doesn't answer the question. In the question, I explain how I use the guide from that link to install the xorg-edgers PPA, which provides the drivers I'm using which are causing this problem. – Jonathan Sep 05 '14 at 14:21
@Jon That's why I said may. – Kaz Wolfe Sep 05 '14 at 17:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 10 '14 at 21:50

0

First remove the xorg-edges drivers and pa from your system

Second go here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/78469/en-us

Third download the drivery

Give

 chmod +x filename

Last but not least

./filename

edited Dec 10 '14 at 21:50

marcocassisa

103

answered Nov 01 '14 at 11:45

Josh

1,440

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 31 '15 at 12:21

I had the same issue after updating packages/kernel last night and installing these helped my nVidia card gets detected again:

nvidia-331
nvidia-331-updates
nvidia-current
nvidia-current-updates
xserver-xorg-lts-raring
nvidia-prime

Of course you can replace 311 with other versions in repositories, but I think what fixed it is xserver-xorg-lts-raring

Then run

glxinfo | grep renderer

It should show your card (earlier it wasn't showing for me).

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 30 '15 at 06:03

have you also tried to download the driver for you specific device and run the installation through WINE? It's a possible route you could try. i have done the same when i ran ubuntu 13.10 and it wouldn't recognize my nVidia graphics card. i put the installation disk in and went to my computer and over the disk drive, right clicked 'run in wine.' then when the installation was done, i just adjusted ubuntu to the correct resolution and it worked for me. i just had to move the driver to C drive under drivers and restarted ubuntu. im not sure if this would work for all different devices, but it's worth a shot, if you ask me.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 25 '15 at 21:22

Have you tried using all the boot options?

nomodeset, noapic no1apic,

etc (the livecd provides the whole list, as does this link: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

When I had display problems I experimented with these until I found one that got me to a usable system. Then from there I was able to solve the problem and remove the boot option.

David · Answer 7 · 2015-03-12T18:47:38.900

0

open this with your text editor

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

edit this to your resolution:

GRUB_GFXMODE=1920x1080
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

save and exit:

press ctrl+o to save

press ctrl+x to exit

update grub and reboot:

sudo update-grub
sudo reboot

edited Mar 12 '15 at 18:47

answered Mar 10 '15 at 21:40

David

146
10

Could you expand on this answer? How does setting the initial GRUB Graphics mode to a specific resolution keep the terminals from showing up as a black screen? – Elder Geek Mar 10 '15 at 22:40
its just something to try. i know my TTY is running in high resolution. something that "may" be happening is that the monitor itself may not be supporting a low resolution. so trying to set it to a higher resolution may fix the issue. – David Mar 11 '15 at 00:13
Good thought. We should find out what his monitor supports. – Elder Geek Mar 11 '15 at 02:51
added a couple extra steps that i forgot to mention since its important to update grub and reboot or you wont see the resolution changes. – David Mar 12 '15 at 18:48

How can I get TTYs to work with NVIDIA drivers?

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