GLX Upgrade

[b0uncyfr0]

I just updated my glx new and it had a different kernel nake copared to 2.6.20-15. I think it had something about optimizing the kernel for glx. But my problem is i rebooted and at Grub there was no new kernel? Did i miss something?

[tiger99]

Re: GLX Upgrade

I am not sure if you really have a problem, or have been confused by a bad piece of terminology. There is something often confusingly called the "Nvidia kernel", and then there is the Linux kernel.

If Grub is not showing a Linux kernel update, then the update has not worked for some reason. That is unusual, in Debian/Ubuntu systems, if the kernel update was performed via the update manager (Adept, Synaptic etc). You could try it again.

But a Nvidia GLX update done by Adept or Synaptic will involve a new Nvidia binary driver and Nvidia kernel module, but will not result in any change to the Grub menu. It will not involve any kernel compilation (modules only) which only happens if you use the installer program downloadable from Nvidia, which I would not recommend as it does not integrate with the package management system.

The stuff you should have installed in Adept is "nvidia-glx-new" and "nvidia-kernel-common" if your graphics card is fairly recent, or "nvidia-glx-legacy" and "nvidia-glx-common" if it is an older card. Please do not install any other nvidia packages, as things will break! (I have wasted lots of time fixing nvidia problems!)

If you are still having problems, please post what kernel bits "linux-image-2.6......", "linux-headers-2.6......" and which "nvidia..." bits you actually have installed in Adept. Someone may then be able to determine the best fix.

[b0uncyfr0]

Re: GLX Upgrade

Currently i have linux-image- generic, linux-image-2.6.20-15-generic and linux-image-2.6.20-16-386. In the nvidia section i have nvidia-glx-new and nvidia-kernel-common. 2.6.20-16-386 shows up in GRUB but when i boot my GUI is gone..Does this have something to do with nvidia drivers?

[tiger99]

Re: GLX Upgrade

Which kernel are you actually booting? It should ideally be the 2.6.20-16-386 as it is the latest.

Whatever, if you get to the command line, and do "sudo apt-get update nvidia-kernel-common nvidia-glx-new" and then reboot into the same kernel, it should be OK.

Then boot the other kernel and do exactly the same, which should leave you with two bootable kernels, each with Nvidia drivers.

After doing that, you will want to check /etc/X11/xorg.conf and if necessary change Driver "nv" to Driver "nvidia", and restart X (CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE) so that you actually are using the Nvidia driver.

But if none of this works, switch back to the nv driver (just reverse the edit and restart X), so you can get a GUI, as it makes life easier. The nv driver is somewhat slow, but works, and will let you use Adept. If you then remove all nvidia stuff completely, select linux-generic, linux-headers-generic, linux-restricted-modules-generic and linux-image-generic for reinstallation, (and use Preview Changes to see that not too much other stuff will be removed!), and do the reinstallation, and then boot into the latest kernel (which likely will still be 2.6.20-16 unless they are releasing a new one right now), you should then have a clean system. Reboot and install nvidia-glx-new and nvidia-kernel-common and reboot, and switch the driver back in xorg.conf, and all "should" be well.

If it breaks at any stage, try "sudo dpkg --configure -a", as sometimes an unrelated package that wants to install breaks something.

I say "should", because I have been there many times, with many different Linux distros, and those pesky Nvidia drivers. SuSE is really bad, Kubuntu usually is a lot better, because the package management system is better. It would do no harm to grumble to Nvidia about their lack of open-source drivers, which is the root cause of all this. Good luck!

[b0uncyfr0]

Re: GLX Upgrade

Thanks everythings settled now except for the sluggishness. One minute it seems be be running smoothly and another minute it seems to have dropeed down to MESA which makes it quite slow.