Despite all the problems I had with Ubuntu updates over the last couple of years, I decided to update my work machine to Ubuntu 11.04 (“Natty Narwhal”). I expected problems and I wasn’t disappointed, after the upgrade I was left standing in the dark, without X.
Fortunately, the rest of the system worked, so I was able to log into the system via console. The log file in /var/log/Xorg.0.log showed the following error message:
[ 161.049] (II) LoadModule: "nvidia" [ 161.049] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/extra-modules/nvidia_drv.so [ 161.049] (II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation" [ 161.049] compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0 [ 161.049] Module class: X.Org Video Driver [ 161.052] (EE) NVIDIA: Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module. Please check your [ 161.052] (EE) NVIDIA: system's kernel log for additional error messages. [ 161.052] (II) UnloadModule: "nvidia" [ 161.052] (II) Unloading nvidia [ 161.052] (EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module-specific error, 0) [ 161.052] (EE) No drivers available. [ 161.052] Fatal server error: [ 161.052] no screens found [ 161.052]
After a bit of pondering I remembered that I was using a graphics driver from Ubuntu’s “restricted” repository for my nVidia 9500 GT. The upgrade process installed a new kernel (package linux-image-2.6.38-8-generic-pae, check uname -r to see which kernel you’re running) but wasn’t able to rebuild the graphics driver kernel module because it neglected to install the matching header files (package linux-headers-2.6.38-8-generic-pae).
Here’s what I did:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.38-8-generic-pae sudo dpkg-reconfigure nvidia-current
The nvidia-current package recompiled the kernel module and after a reboot (just in case), my graphical login was back and things worked normally. At some point I also removed my /etc/X11/xorg.conf and recreated it from scratch using sudo nvidia-settings, but I don’t think this step was necessary.
The next problem I encountered was with my dual monitor setup (I’m using two monitors with a single graphics card). Unity didn’t let me place windows on the second screen for some stupid reason. Using the nvidia-xconfig tool, I switched from “Separate X screen” configuration to “TwinView” and things worked again.
Sincerly, i love you.
you are a godsend. thankyou thankyou thankyou
I’m glad it worked for you, too :)
I had to re-visit this site again after the last kernel update. Is there a way to force ubuntu to download and install the matching headers?
You mean, from now on always install matching headers automatically when upgrading the kernel?
I don’t think there’s anything you can do as a user except for manual intervention. The only solution I see is Ubuntu adding dependencies to the headers to each kernel package they produce. I somewhat doubt that this will happen :-/
Fixed me up to! You = Awesome
Hi mafr,
Thanks you very much!!!. You saved lot of time and trouble. It worked for TOSHIBA TECRA M10 Laptop. Thanks Again.
Well, that fixed it for me too! However, what I cannot, for the life of me, understand is that Ubuntu cannot get this NVidia driver thing sorted out properly for once! All upgrades since Jaunty (if I recall correctly) have had a similar problem. I had to load the Nvidia driver directly from NVidia each time. This time round though, the latest driver was loaded, but didn’t load, as you experienced as well. Surely this should have been dealt with in the upgrade process?
Hi
After I installed linux headers, I put “sudo dpkg-reconfigure nvidia-current” Than it answered me following:
” Module build for the currently running kernel was skipped since the
kernel source for this kernel does not seem to be installed.”
What should I do know? Which kernel is not installed?
Perhaps you installed the wrong kernel headers. You need the header package that matches your kernel exactly. What does the “uname -r” command return?
I got similar errors, but the solution for me was to boot into the non-PAE version of the kernel. Not sure why this should be, but it worked for me! You can make this the default kernel by editing the /boot/grub/menu.lst and changing the default value (to 2 in my case – NB you have to count from 0).
Thanks man!
However, I had to rollback to my old kernel, just didn’t have time to fix it up properly.
Was trying to install 2.6.38, rolled back to 2.6.32… rebuilding and whatnot.
thank man….(from india)
had tried at least 20 different methods
but finally this was the one that worked
people like you make this world a better place…….
You’re welcome!
Holy shit thanks :)