NVIDIA 343 drive crashes X server

linux-mint xorg nvidia x-server

6,379

Execute these commands in a terminal, in this order. Step 4 adds the Xorg Developers PPA. Once completed, tell me if step 7 installs the same version you downloaded. Step 3 removes the offending module that is still loaded. Step 5 removes the need for nomodeset on your kernel command line, so please remove whatever edit you made to /etc/default/grub

sudo service mdm stop
sudo apt-get purge nvidia-current
sudo apt remove --purge xserver-xorg-video-nouveau libdrm-nouveau2
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo echo blacklist nouveau > /etc/modprobe.d/nouveau-blacklist.conf
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-settings
reboot

Update

After installing Mint 17 as a VirtualBox Image, I have been experimenting with options, and believe these will solve the issue, in conjunction with the steps above. Nvidia-343 is the package name from the edgers PPA

sudo service mdm stop
sudo apt-get purge nouveau*
sudo apt-get purge nvidia-current
sudo apt-get-install nvidia-343

6,379

ewok

Software engineer in the Greater Boston Area. Primary areas of expertise include Java, Python, web-dev, and general OOP, though I have dabbled in many other technologies.

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

ewok over 1 year
In my Mint 17 install, I recently tried updating to the new proprietary NVIDIA 343 driver. When I reboot after install, X server fails to start. I can get a shell in recovery mode and tried running nvidia-xconfig, but no luck

The log file says:
```
(EE) no screens found(EE)
(EE)
Please consult The X.Org Foundation support
        at http://wiki.x.org
 for help
(EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
(EE)
(EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
```
- eyoung100 over 9 years
  
  On Gentoo, I commonly fix this by rebuilding the kernel module. The issue is there is no module in your modules directory in your kernel source.
- ewok over 9 years
  
  Can you explain how to do that?
- eyoung100 over 9 years
  
  Reverse what you've done, and try this forum post.
- ewok over 9 years
  
  Tried that. The second time i ran the script i got an error saying nvidia driver is i compatible with nouveau driver and i need to disable it. Ive already done that.
- ewok over 9 years
  
  I have no idea. I added a blacklist line to /etc/default/grub and i executed the uninstall of nouveau the forum post told me to. The first time i ran the install script i had no problem but now it says nouveau is installed and its incompatible.
- ewok over 9 years
  
  When i boot the machine now, i get my login page, but when i try to log in the desktop never appears. I just get a black screen with a responsive mouse pointer.
- eyoung100 over 9 years
  
  1. Grub has nothing to do w/ blacklisting modules. 2. The NVIDIA installer should have blacklisted it for you. 3. Read the readme file included in the nvidia drivers you downloaded. Make sure the version you downloaded supports your Card and your Kernel.
- ewok over 9 years
  
  There was no readme. Its just a .run file. And it definitely is supported by my card. No clue how to even check what kernel I'm running. Its a standard Mint 17 install.
- ewok over 9 years
  
  lspci | grep vga yeilded nothing, uname -a yielded Linux Mint-PC 3.13.0-24-generic #47-Ubuntu SMP Fri May 2 23:30:00 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux, and its a custom build PC
- eyoung100 over 9 years
  
  then ill need all of lspci
- ewok over 9 years
  
  I cant really post it, because i cant get a desktop, so i cant paste it to pastebin. But if you meant lspci | grep -i vga i got 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF114 [GeForce GTX 560 Ti] (rev a1)
- eyoung100 over 9 years
  
  See answer, then we can remove these comments.
ewok over 9 years

Well my whole system is broken now, so for the 4th time since trying to install this driver, i have to do a complete reinstall of Mint. Ill report back once its done
ewok over 9 years

But as an aside, when i previously installed the drivers from the repo I've never been able to get newer than 340. The 340 drivers lag horribly for me so i was hoping 343 might fix it. I'm sure I'm just kidding myself
eyoung100 over 9 years

The whole system is not broken. You've just removed the Xorg driver. Do the commands I gave in a plain terminal. Press Ctl + Alt + F2 to login to a plain terminal. Once you get the 340 drivers installed properly, we will update them to 343.
ewok over 9 years

While we wait, does step 3 have to be run as sudo?
eyoung100 over 9 years

OK, for future reference Ctrl + Alt + Fn where n is 2 thru 6 will give you a login, 7 and 8 will give you the current X Server, and some systems use 9 -12 for debug and status messages. F1 will be black because it was controlled by the bootup process that failed, and F7 will behave as you describe because your driver isn't correct, and yes, I'll update Step 3
ewok over 9 years

Also, should i start from the forum post or from this answer on the new install?
eyoung100 over 9 years

Start at this post. We'll use that forum post to get from 340 to 343. Step 2 may report nothing to purge.
ewok over 9 years

Ok. I ran these commands and have the same issue. The desktop doesn't load. CTRL+ALT+F2 does give me a terminal. What's next?
eyoung100 over 9 years

Did they all run successfully? Add sudo nvidia-xconfig
ewok over 9 years

The only exception is there was no libdrm-nouveau1, but there was a libdrm-nouveau2, so i purged that. Did i screw it up?
ewok over 9 years

After nvidia-xconfig, i still get no desktop.
eyoung100 over 9 years

Type sudo service mdm stop && startx If you get a desktop, I'll update my post.
ewok over 9 years

startx froze after * Restoring resolver state... [ OK ]
ewok over 9 years

I rebooted and tried it again. No desktop. I have to get ready for work though so ill just leave it and see if it eventually boots. Random question: could it be a cinnamon issue? x seems to be working, since i get a login page and no errors, just no desktop. Should i try installing MATE?
eyoung100 over 9 years

Let me put a Mint install in a virtualbox while you're at work. I'll get back to you.
ewok over 9 years

Still no luck. With the new suggestions. I'm gonna give Mate a try. See what happens
ewok over 9 years

Here's a new development: i installed nvidia-343, and executed sudo startx. It froze at Restoring resolver state, so i hit CTRL+ALT+PrtScn+K, and got an error saying "API Mismatch: the client has the version 343.22, but this kernel module has the version 304.123. Please make sure that this kernel module and all NVIDIA driver components have the same version"
ewok over 9 years

After reinstalling mint-meta-cinnamon (which uninstalled nvidia-343), i can boot into Cinnamon and select the 331 driver, but cant select 340 (it just reverts to whatever was selected before). I'm starting to wonder if this is worth it. I think I'm just destined to never have a working piece of technology
eyoung100 over 9 years

Do you mind experimenting? What are your Update Settings on. Default should be 2. Try 4. Download the newest kernel, reboot and reinstall nvidia-343
ewok over 9 years

No luck with the newest kernel. Still getting a black screen on cinnamon, then after installing mate, mate gives a desktop and cinnamon crashes
eyoung100 over 9 years

Is mate using nouveau or nvidia?
ewok over 9 years

At first, nouveau, but managed to switch over to nvidia 340. 343 still doesn't show up in driver manager. After reinstalling cinnamon, i can get into cinnamon in 340.
Admin about 9 years

In my case I needed to preinstall libwayland-egl before the nvidia driver install.