Ubuntu won't boot after activating a driver??

[Luffypsp]

Ok as you guys knew, i just successfully dualbooted windows 7 and ubuntu 9.10 a couple of days ago. Today i got a notifications saying that i have a driver needed to be activated. Its my nvidia graphic card driver. Then i click activate. After finished downloading and installing i was asked to reboot my pc for the changes to take effect. i did and lolz the usual balck screen appears but it keeps on flickering with words(my username and login) non-stop. I cant boot into it anymore. Why is it? Somebody help...i need help ASAP...

I'm using the 64-bit ubuntu 9.10. is it because the driver is incompatible that it appeared to be like that? if so, can i just re-install the 32-bit version over it without messing with my windows 7? if i did, it wont mess my GRUB loader options right?

[mjc]

Sounds more like a refresh rate/resolution issue...can you do a console/text login in Ubuntu?

[Luffypsp]

How do i do that?

[jlreich]

Probably just a bad driver install, or as MJC said a configuration for the screen. It happens.

When at the Grub boot menu use your arrow keys to choose "recovery mode". Once booted there will be an option to fix the x-server at or near the bottom. Follow the prompts and that should get you back into the system. Once you are back in check your video settings and make sure they are correct, then reactivate the nvidia driver and try it again.

If that doesn't help or you need more specific help post back.

I have a had a few issues with video drivers in Ubuntu. The fix is usually pretty easy once you have the correct information. A little couple commands to manually remove your current drivers and that gets you back into the system, then reinstall video drivers and you are good to go.

[Luffypsp]

Tried going into recovery and all i can see is,

Recovery Menu

resume resume normal boot
clean try to make free space
dpkg repair broken packages
grub update grub bootloader
netroot drop to root shell prompt with networking
root drop to root shell prompt

nothing as such fix x-server. well i've tried the grub, it does updates the bootloader. i've tried dpkg, it downloads something after asking me Y/N, and when it finished it asked me to press enter. I did and i have to insert my login and pass. i did again and nothing happens, just a line waiting for me to give instructions just like in Terminal.

then i tried netroot, same result as above; a Terminal thingy.

When do i find the x-server thing?

[mjc]

If you can log in and get dpkg, try rolling back the nvidia update or alternately, (I don't Ubuntu) try mc at the prompt (for midnight commander, a console file manager) then look around for Nvidia configurator.

Here's a thread on the Ubuntu forums on how to configure the Nvidia driver

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=57368

[jlreich]

nothing as such fix x-server

I am still running 9.04, they either have changed it in 9.10 or since I am running Ultimate Edition it may be something that was included during customization.

Go back in to recovery mode and drop to root with networking (just in case you need to install the program).

EnvyNG may already be installed by default, so once at a command prompt try -

envyng -t

That should bring up envyng in text mode, choose to uninstall all drivers and when done choose to reboot. That should get you back in the system with standard video drivers.

If the commend above gives an error or says it can't find it then try this to install it -

apt-get install envyng-qt

Then y at the prompt. When the install is complete run the program with envyng -t again.

Once you get back into the desktop try reinstalling the proprietary video drivers.

[Luffypsp]

ok i've tried it. installed the envyng-qt but when i tried to execute it, it says something about line 4; fatal error and something like that...i'm gonna give this up.

btw if i just install a 32-bit ubuntu over this partition will it affect my windows 7? i guess no right? but it wont have any problem if i do that am i?

[jlreich]

Originally Posted by Luffypsp

btw if i just install a 32-bit ubuntu over this partition will it affect my windows 7?

It shouldn't be a problem. Ubuntu should see and make an entry in the boot menu for windows just as it did the first time. If you wanted to give 64bit a shot again you can simply reinstall it instead of 32bit. I think you just got a bad driver install and it had nothing to do with it being 64bit, just as likely it would have happened in 32bit. But like I said before, 32bit will work fine for your situation, so either way.

BTW, when you get Ubuntu back up and running it is a good idea to make sure EnvyNG is installed. That way if video driver issues come up again, and they may, it is already there and working. Though since you had errors it is possible it isn't ready for the new 9.10 Karmic yet. As you can see in my sig I am still running 9.04 Jaunty. I have used that fix three times without any problems. Once when I changed from an nvidia card to an ATI card to remove the nvidia drivers, and two other times when the drivers crapped out on me when I was messing with stuff I probably shouldn't have been messing with. But then again messing is how you learn.

EDIT - I want to mention that I usually don't use EnvyNG to install video drivers, only to remove them. Once you install drivers with Envy you can't use any other way to install drivers or it will cause conflicts and cause issues like the one you dealt with. Envy can give you access to newer drivers that are not fully tested with Ubuntu so it is desirable at times, but I play it safe and stick with currently tested drivers usually. If you use Envy to install drivers you need to use it to uninstall all before trying any other method or trying to do a version or kernel upgrade or there will be problems. They are currently working to eliminate these conflicts between Envy and the "Linux Restricted Modules". I guess what happens is Envy black lists LRM and then during an upgrade or kernel update conflicts arise.

Also wanted to mention that if you find your self not having video but are booted into the system you can hit Alt-F2 to drop to a command prompt and use envy to uninstall drivers or to restart the system, among the many many other things you can do at the cmd prompt in Linux.

[Luffypsp]

Thanks a lot for the explaination. I guess i'll be using the 32-bit of 9.04 Jaunty then since i only have that...Not bothered to download the 64-bit though.

Well i'll report back once i've successfully re-installed them.

Thanks again.

[Luffypsp]

I've reinstalled the 64-bit Karmic. But i dont install the nvidia drivers. just using the integrated intel graphics. i think it is because of driver conflitcs. since i had this problems with windows 7, except it can be booted.

Btw i also think because my laptop is built using the hybrid graphics so maybe thats why and the solution inst there yet by ubuntu.