# nvidia-drivers-319.30/325-08 failing

## Mark Knecht

Hi,

   The newest nvidia-drivers packages ( 319.32 & 325.08 ) are failing silently here. I see a bit of graphics start for a second but it disappears quickly. I'm dropped back to the console and never see a login screen. nvidia-drivers-313.30 works fine. There are no error messages (EE) in Xorg.0.log. There is however this warning which has been there for awhile including 313.30 which I'm using while I write this post:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> [    33.201] (WW) NVIDIA: The Composite and Xinerama extensions are both enabled, which
> 
> [    33.201] (WW) NVIDIA:     is an unsupported configuration.  The driver will continue
> ...

 

QUESTION: What 'Composite' are they talking about here and where do I disable it? (Assuming I should...)

   The machine has 2 NVidia cards and 3 monitors set up with Xinerama to create 1 desktop. 

   I will post the complete Xorg.0.log file from the failing setup in a few minutes. xorg.conf follows.

Thanks,

Mark

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> # nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
> 
> # nvidia-settings:  version 275.09.07  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-03.nvidia.com)  Wed Jun  8 14:38:19 PDT 2011
> ...

 Last edited by Mark Knecht on Sun Aug 04, 2013 4:09 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## Mark Knecht

Here is the log file for 3225.08 which fails immediately when running /etc/init.d/xdm start from the command line:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> c2RAID6 ~ # cat Xorg.0.log-325.08 
> 
> [  5807.530] 
> ...

 

   Doing just a simple visual scan there are some differences early on:

Working:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> [    32.619] (II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver  313.30  Wed Mar 27 15:33:21 PDT 2013
> 
> [    32.619] (II) NVIDIA Unified Driver for all Supported NVIDIA GPUs
> ...

 

Failing - the message "Unresolved symbol: fbGetGCPrivateKey" is troubling...

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> [  5807.541] (II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver  325.08  Wed Jun 26 17:32:32 PDT 2013
> 
> [  5807.541] (II) NVIDIA Unified Driver for all Supported NVIDIA GPUs
> ...

 

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## PaulBredbury

Composite can be disabled in xorg.conf:

```
Section "Extensions"

    Option      "Composite"     "False"

EndSection
```

Or can be compiled out from xorg-server, with the ./configure option:

```
--disable-composite
```

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## Mark Knecht

 *PaulBredbury wrote:*   

> Composite can be disabled in xorg.conf:
> 
> ```
> Section "Extensions"
> 
> ...

 

Thanks for that. I used the Section "Extensions" version and indeed the warning is now gone.

Unfortunately that change didn't solve the larger issue of X not working with the newest stable or ~amd64 versions of nvidia-drivers, and somewhat disappointingly the machine is apparently developing a new issue. It now takes about 2 minutes from the time I enter my password until the KDE desktop comes up. The machine just sits with the KDM login graphics on the screen and nothing else until finally about 2 minutes later the KDE shows it is starting and finally the desktop comes up.

As some of the messages looked to be possibly framebuffer related I tried booting without the grub framebuffer options but that didn't fix anything.

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## Wallsandfences

There is currently no working nvidia-driver for kernels above 3.10

Solution: stick with 3.9.xx till nvidia can cope with kernel development speed   :Rolling Eyes: 

Rüdiger

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## Mark Knecht

 *Wallsandfences wrote:*   

> There is currently no working nvidia-driver for kernels above 3.10
> 
> Solution: stick with 3.9.xx till nvidia can cope with kernel development speed  
> 
> Rüdiger

 

I'm running 3.8.13 so I wouldn't think that's the problem, although maybe the newer nvidia drivers only work with 3.9 or something?

mark@c2RAID6 ~ $ uname -a

Linux c2RAID6 3.8.13-gentoo #5 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jul 19 10:28:53 PDT 2013 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU X 980 @ 3.33GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

mark@c2RAID6 ~ $

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## 666threesixes666

solution, boycott, and get everyone you know to boycott them too. 9600 gt you are my last nvidia card, unless they open their sources.

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## Wallsandfences

I have it not at hand, but the driver versions are known to work only within a specific kernel version number range. It should spill out a message during emerge, if it finds an unsupported kernel in /usr/src/linux, though.

Rüdiger

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## Mark Knecht

 *Wallsandfences wrote:*   

> I have it not at hand, but the driver versions are known to work only within a specific kernel version number range. It should spill out a message during emerge, if it finds an unsupported kernel in /usr/src/linux, though.
> 
> Rüdiger

 

I wondered about that but it appears to me that NVidia at least intends to support what's on my system. I typically look at this page:

http://www.geforce.com/drivers

and then do a search for the version I'm considering for emerge vs my card (GTX 465). Currently the two revisions that don't work for me (319.32 & 325.0 :Cool:  have these comments in the release notes:

For 319.32:

Nothing I can see

For 325.08:

Removed support for Linux 2.4 kernels. The NVIDIA Linux driver now requires Linux 2.6.9 or later.

So that at least seems reasonably forgiving.

I guess at this point I'm at a loss as to where to go. Looking in the Gentoo Bugzilla there aren't very many nvidia reports. Maybe I'll find some help in the NVidia forums somewhere.

Anyway, that's for your help.

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