Nvidia 340xx causes flickering desktop, no dual Monitor possible, no HD videos on Archlinux/(X)Ubunt

Hi,

I’m keeping track of this thread and I would really like to see some solution from nVidia. I’m using Quadro NVS 140M on archlinux and like you and many other users I’m also encountering some serious problems with monitor detection using recent release of 340xx driver (just before splitting driver to nvidia and nvidia-340xx everything was working just fine).

It’s really not a solution to use nvidia-304xx version of driver as it’s old and slow… But unfortunately this is our only solution for now. Recently user with nick ‘syner’ just repackaged some locally cached older version of driver… Nvidia 340xx has problems recognizing the monitor / Kernel & Hardware / Arch Linux Forums but should it really look like this? don’t think so…

and here’s mine thread: [SOLVED] Quadro NVS 140M doesn't work with 340.46-3 / Kernel & Hardware / Arch Linux Forums

nVidia - please provide a working 340xx driver.

@blairNV - thanks for your input to this case.

Internally tracking this issue Bug 200053019 : “efi: HP EliteBook 8540p WH130AW: No output on external DP Monitor connected through displayport”

Same problems here. Very frustrating. My Linux system was working great under the previous driver version, but after the update I couldn’t even log in except in recovery mode. I’ve since recovered somewhat, but my external monitor still doesn’t work and graphics performance on my notebook’s built-in screen is terrible.

Some details, from bug report submitted to OpenSuSE:

Following software updates pushed out yesterday, I cannot log in except in recovery mode. I suspect problems with the nvidia driver.

Symptoms: Can’t get past login splash screen. No login text box is displayed. Cursor and mouse function normally, and I can log in via text console. I think the X server is failing to start.

This is just a preliminary report to make sure someone is aware of the problem. I am happy to investigate further, but I don’t want to spend hours if you already know about the problem.

Here are the software updates yesterday that broke my system:

x11-video-nvidiaG03-340.46-30.1.x86_64 Thu 16 Oct 2014 08:54:44 AM EDT
nvidia-computeG03-340.46-30.1.x86_64 Thu 16 Oct 2014 08:54:40 AM EDT
nvidia-glG03-340.46-30.1.x86_64 Thu 16 Oct 2014 08:54:38 AM EDT
nvidia-uvm-gfxG03-kmp-desktop-340.46_k3.7.10_1.1-30.1.x86_64 Thu 16 Oct 2014 08:54:15 AM EDT
nvidia-gfxG03-kmp-desktop-340.46_k3.7.10_1.1-30.1.x86_64 Thu 16 Oct 2014 08:52:55 AM EDT

It could be a hardware problem or otherwise unrelated to the software updates, but the timing is too suspicious for that.

I’m assuming I don’t need to manually re-install the nvidia driver? If so, it would be good to warn users that they won’t be able to log in following the software update ;-)

More info on my system and the hardware:

lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107 [Quadro K2000M] (rev a1)

uname -a
Linux enigma.steve-wickert.net 3.7.10-1.40-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Jul 10 11:22:12 UTC 2014 (9b06319) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Lenovo ThinkPad W530

Thanks!

SW

===================================================================
I wonder if the problem is related to my monitor configuration. My ThinkPad W530’s display is 1920x1080, but I also have a docking station with a 1920x1200 display attached. I use the notebook both with and without the docking station and external monitor. It has always autodetected the connected monitors and configured itself properly for either one or two displays. I use Xinerama when there are two displays available, but I normally don’t have to change any configuration manually when switching between one and two displays, since it’s autodetected.

Yesterday morning I was NOT using the external monitor during the software updates. Just as a side note, when shutting down I always first log out of my session, get back to the login screen, and shut down from there. I’m paranoid about losing my session (open windows and so on) or corrupting my desktop settings if the system doesn’t shut down cleanly, and I figure it’s safer to log out first and then shut down. Anyway, when I logged out and got back to the login splash screen, I noticed that the fonts and so on looked different, don’t know if that’s significant.

Next time I booted up (immediately following the driver updates), I was connected to the docking station and external monitor. The external monitor never displayed anything, though it was online and powered up.

In /var/log/Xorg.0.log, I notice this:

13.980] (II) NVIDIA(0): Virtual screen size determined to be 3840 x 1080

I was NOT using the docking station or external monitor when this log was produced.

Maybe the X server is presenting the login text box on part of its virtual display that doesn’t correspond to any physical display? Don’t know how the settings would have been corrupted or why the autodetection of connected monitors doesn’t work anymore.

SW

===================================================================

Update: This seems to be a problem with the new nvidia proprietary driver, and not exactly a problem with OpenSuSE. Still, a software update did break my perfectly good system to the point I couldn’t log in except in recovery mode, and it’s still broken though I was able to recover partially.

Perhaps the OpenSuSE team should think about reverting to the previous nvidia driver until the new one is ready for primetime?

Current status is my external monitor on the docking station is not working at all, and graphics performance on the built-in display is noticeably worse (slower and choppier) than before. I’ve poked around my settings but it’s possible I missed something that I had configured differently when I initially set it up.

The problem that prevented logins was (as I suspected) that the driver update somehow got the external display as the primary device, even though the driver isn’t able to drive it anymore and it’s not even connected most of the time. I had set up Xinerama and the configuration with two displays is retained whether the second display is connected or not. So after the update, the primary screen where login info, the taskbar, and everything else is displayed got mapped to a device that the driver is no longer able to drive, even when it’s connected.

I could log in in recovery mode, using another video driver, but I couldn’t run nvidia’s configuration utility because it only runs if the nvidia driver is running. So I temporarily configured autologin for myself without a password, to get past the non-displayed login screen under the nvidia driver. Then I was able to run the nvidia config tool and set the primary display back to the built-in screen.

But as I said above, the driver is still not able to drive the external display at all. And my observed graphics performance on the built-in display is noticeably worse than it used to be. My system worked great with the old driver! :-)

SW

nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (202 KB)

As of this morning, SuSE has closed my bug report since the problem is with the nvidia driver and there’s nothing they can do about it. Looks like it’s nvidia’s problem. I’m happy to provide any requested info and logs.

Hoping nvidia is aware of these problems and working to fix the new driver. I have to say, this is the worst experience I’ve had under Linux in the last ten years or more. In the very old days, sometimes a kernel update would break my system, but that hasn’t happened for a very long time. This driver update didn’t break my system, but it certainly hobbled it. It’s enough to make me think about avoiding nvidia hardware in the future.

SW

dude this shit has been going on for years. they break suspend or cripple the desktop and take months to fix it.

just look at this 8-month-old bug that they haven’t done squat about:

Yeah – I guess I was hoping things might be getting better

SW

Hello.

Same problem of screen detection on debian testing amd64 with 9600m GT and driver version 340.46. Had to came back to version 340.32.
Please fix this bug.

Another thread with same problem
[url]https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/780903[/url]

Hi guys,

i am glad more people are joining this thread. Still no news from the NVidia Customer i am in touch with.
Even after “the big update” to linux drivers from NVidia in the last couple of days this issue isn´t solved.

I could not stand this anymore and simply bought me a new notebook with intel card, everything works like a charm. Absolutetly no problems. So i am out of this issue and out of this thread.
But you can be sure, as soon as NVidia contact me again i will posts it here.

I hope for you guys that nvidia will do something so that you all can use your hardware like it should be possible in 2014.

man, good for you. the very few times I’ve had to file bug reports for intel it’s been fixed within the month with great communication (they were hard bugs to solve, too!).

this is stupid. currently I’m just using an older card as that eases the pain but it still sucks. but this thug of a company is only alive and floating because amd is too busy drooling on the floor.

i wish we could do something like a mass exodus to intel as they actually have great drivers and pretty decent graphics but that’ll hardly do anything.

Anybody tried version 343.22?

I’ve been running that for a long time now.

i run 346.16 with my GTX 760 in Xubuntu 14.04 and have dual monitors, i can watch HD videos. not sure what your issue is? i do use compton for compositing though

I have to enable powermizer to prefer max performance in order to not get screen tearing but other than that it’s all working just fine

Also 343.22 works.
Download here: [url]http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html[/url]

Well op had dx10 graphics chip which is in legacy support now(340.xx) so 343+ driver is not an option for all users. And I don’t think this bug occurs on desktop graphics cards.

Don’t you see? He should just buy another graphics card, like their next-generation NVIDIA® Maxwell™ architecture, it delivers incredible performance, unmatched power efficiency, and cutting-edge features.

Seriously, Nvidia, your shit is getting really tiresome. Where’s Aaron? Did he leave? He used to be very good at responding to things.

Using a Notebook you can´t just buy another graphic card…
As i already said i got a new Notebook with Intel Graphic, no problems at all since i use that.
And still no answer from nvidia dev support.

I think you misunderstand me, friend. I was quipping at the absurd ‘solution’ to the problem if one wants to still use Nvidia. Good for you on getting a better laptop.

Ah ok thats right, i misunderstood you dude.
Sorry for that, my fault.

Same here, Fedora 20, Notebook Quadro FX 880.

Too bad that NVIDIA did nothing so far…