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[Xog <Xogmaster@xxxxxxxxx>]

Public bug reported:

OS: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala 32-bit
Video Card: Nvidia 9800 GTX and any related series that matches with 185 driver-version.

Problem: After updating to the 185 driver for Nvidia, rebooting results
in a black screen or the option to boot into low-graphics mode among
other options.

Why it's doing this: The kernel is not being recognized as a dependency
when you install the driver, and it's not installing the correct kernel.

After a kernel upgrade, my Ubuntu Karmic started the X server in low-
resolution mode. My Xorg.0.log said:

(II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//nvidia_drv.so
(II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
Module class: X.Org Video Driver
(EE) NVIDIA: Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module. Please check your
(EE) NVIDIA: system's kernel log for additional error messages.
(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
(II) Unloading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//nvidia_drv.so
(EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module-specific error, 0)
(EE) No drivers available.

I tried modprobe nvidia and such, but it seemed that the module actually
did not exist. This module should be installed by the package nvidia-185
-kernel-source, which was present on my system. However, it turns out
that the kernel module is compiled on-the-fly by a program called jockey
which controls DKMS, the Dynamic Kernel Module Support.

It is possible to force a recompile using dpkg-reconfigure:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure nvidia-185-kernel-source
Removing all DKMS Modules
Done.
Loading new nvidia-185.18.36 DKMS files...
Building for architecture x86_64
Module build for the currently running kernel was skipped since the
kernel source for this kernel does not seem to be installed.

I need the kernel source, eh? Why the hell is that not a dependency, if
the driver package is useless without it? Anyway, let's install the
kernel source then:

$ uname -r
2.6.31-19-generic
$ sudo apt-get install linux-source-2.6.31

Installs fine, but makes no difference. Turns out that dpkg-reconfigure
was lying: I just need the headers. Here we go:

$ sudo apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.31-19-generic
...
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure nvidia-185-kernel-source
Removing all DKMS Modules
Done.
Loading new nvidia-185.18.36 DKMS files...
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 2.6.31-19-generic
Done.

nvidia.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
- Original module
- No original module exists within this kernel
- Installation
- Installing to /lib/modules/2.6.31-19-generic/updates/dkms/

depmod......

DKMS: install Completed.
$ modprobe nvidia
$

This should fix it. It should be brought to some attention so that we
shouldn't have to jump through hoops to find solutions like this.

** Affects: nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

-- 
Black Screen after updating nvidia drivers to 185 version. Found Why It's A Bug
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/521515
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