[00:18] I've been having trouble rebooting and it seems that Ubuntu fights over which gpu drivers to use. I'm currently using nvidia proprietary and would like to blacklist/uninstall nouveau drivers, so I can successfully restart my system. help? [00:19] you still dont need to blacklist noveau. [00:19] see in the logs what happens exactly on reboot. [00:20] ok, wish me luck [00:20] what logs do i look into? [00:22] okay, i'm pretty familiar with windows...there was an event viewer, like the crash log. I have no idea on Ubuntu. you're going to have to be specific. [00:22] Anthony-L: did you actually try the 15.10 with that nvidia drivers from the repo? [00:24] for beginners a development release is not the best startingpoint. [00:24] k1l, at first i started with 14.10. I couldn't even install or boot up to the GUI. [00:25] then i started 15.04, i believe it was. the same situation happened. [00:25] finally, i used 16.10 and it works! [00:25] i was able to install and get to the GUI. [00:26] it's been a rough road. now that i'm finally at the GUI, i'm getting all the speed bumps out. [00:26] 15.10* [00:26] 16.04* [00:27] sorry for the typos [00:43] alrighty [00:44] Anthony-L: the logs are in /var/log look for syslog or Xorg. the might be cycled to syslog.1 etc [00:45] how do i get to /var/log? everything is hidden in ubuntu? [00:48] Anthony-L: Open a terminal, and in it, type "cd /var/log" [00:49] ChibaPet, ok [00:49] ChibaPet, ls? [00:49] ChibaPet, i think [00:49] Then, for example, "less Xorg.0.log" [00:50] ChibaPet, okay, i bunch of text came up. [00:51] That would be the log. :) [00:52] chi [00:52] ChibaPet, okay, what do i do with this log? [00:54] Anthony-L: Sorry, I am not fully familiar with what you're going for. In that log you can find details of what drivers are used for your graphics. [00:54] If there are errors, there they will be. [00:55] ChibaPet, i'll send me you my question. [00:56] ChibaPet, I've been having trouble rebooting and it seems that Ubuntu fights over which gpu drivers to use. I'm currently using nvidia proprietary and would like to blacklist/uninstall nouveau drivers, so I can successfully restart my system. help? [00:56] ChibaPet, guaranteed crash on restart and cold boot it's intermittent. [00:57] http://askubuntu.com/questions/481414/install-nvidia-driver-instead-nouveau [00:57] The "intermittent" is odd and unpleasant. I use nVidia here and it's pretty solid. There was no manual blacklisting of Nouveau required. [00:57] hmm [00:57] my gpu is pretty modern. [00:57] Beware the forums. They are absolutely loaded with misinformation. Frankly, the IRC channels aren't very much better. [00:57] i'm not sure of what you have. [00:58] GTX 660 [00:58] ChibaPet, you hit the nail on the head there. everything is outdated. haha [00:58] So, that page suggests this ubuntu-x-swap ppa, and I've got no clue what that is, but I didn't need it. [00:58] ChibaPet, mine is a little newer, gtx 970 [00:59] Both can use current drivers. [00:59] I didn't add anything funky to get the nvidia drivers installed. As I remember, all I needed in place was "restricted" and it was happy. [01:00] deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main restricted [01:00] oh, and multiverse, but I don't think you need that for nvidia [01:00] The only PPAs I use are for Chrome and Wine. So, I'd back out anything funky and extra you've added as a start. [01:01] i think i only added one ppa, and it was for the nvidia. [01:01] Yeah, take that guy outy. [01:01] out* [01:01] let me show you something... [01:02] ugh, i can't find it. it was saying to install a ppa for nvidia 361 [01:02] that's the one i installed. [01:03] Nope, no PPA for that: https://bpaste.net/show/a770562f82d1 [01:04] https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa [01:04] that's the one i did! [01:05] Well. You have my advice anyway. Strip out unnecessary PPAs, only use things Canonical is shipping as part of Ubuntu proper. [01:06] how do i strip out ppas? [01:06] http://askubuntu.com/questions/307/how-can-ppas-be-removed#310 [01:07] that will automatically do it? [01:07] Beats me. I'm new to Ubuntu. I've never tried to remove a PPA. [01:07] or do i need to be more specific as to each individual ppa? [01:07] oh. :) [01:07] I think you need to be specific, yes. [01:07] i'm new too. how new are you? [01:07] i'm only about a week into it. [01:08] Well. I'd used Debian for years, and most of that knowledge is transitive, but I'm on my first Ubuntu desktop right now. [01:08] I installed a month or two ago, or something like that. [01:08] cool [01:08] i really like it. i don't want to go back to windows. [01:09] i just have to work out the kinks. [01:09] Oh, definitely don't go back to Windows. Ubuntu is pretty solid and usable. [01:19] Alright, a power supply has gone missing. Off to the hunt... Good luck and have fun. [01:19] thank you [01:27] anyway to downgrade the xserver-xorg? [01:35] I've been having trouble rebooting and it seems that Ubuntu fights over which gpu drivers to use. I'm currently using nvidia proprietary and would like to blacklist/uninstall nouveau drivers, so I can successfully restart my system. help? [01:39] Anthony-L: You've got the driver installed from Ubuntu itself, not some PPA, right? In which case you'll find that it does the blacklist for you automatically. [01:41] https://bpaste.net/show/3bceca1d8b24 [01:42] I'm mildly surprised you're repeating the question in here after I gave you the answer. [01:43] Actually, the whole thing under one cover: https://bpaste.net/show/23ec3036d1a3 [01:43] In-channel is fine. [01:44] ChibaPet, what do i do with that link? [01:44] Anyway, if you're having flakiness problems at start-up, I'd start off by verifying that you don't have weird packages installed from random places on the web. [01:44] Anthony-L: Your question was asking about blacklisting, and I showed that blacklisting is done for you by the Ubuntu-supplied package. So, get rid of the PPA stuff and install the package Ubuntu ships. [01:45] Pulling drivers from a third party is a bad idea a number of ways. [01:45] i don't know, i'm freakin lost. i'm about to throw up the white flag. [01:46] Go into /etc/apt/sources.list.d and see what files are in there. That's likely where your PPAs will live. [01:46] We can nuke them by hand if the instructions on the web page I listed don't work. [01:46] i type that in the command line? [01:46] https://bpaste.net/show/a5fefa4ccfd4 [01:47] ChibaPet, you have to be very specific with me. i'm super freaking new... [01:47] You can use bpaste to show me the results if you like. [01:47] Or just summarize here. [01:48] k [01:48] anthony@anthony-desktop:~$ cd etc/apt/sources.list.d [01:48] bash: cd: etc/apt/sources.list.d: No such file or directory [01:48] You need the leading slash. [01:48] You can copy and paste from bpaste if it's faster. [01:49] https://bpaste.net/show/54f293696d07 [01:49] there we go [01:49] Then, maybe there's a cleaner way, but https://bpaste.net/show/93738f09e384 might help identify anything added to your sources.list directly, which would be naughty but possible. [01:49] i like bpaste better than paste.bin [01:50] Okay, so, you have a ton of random stuff that screams "will make booting flaky" to me. [01:50] Half a sec. [01:50] okay. :) [01:50] this is kinda fun [01:50] It's also possible that some of the flaky packages from those places will not uninstall cleanly or properly. [01:51] In Debian-land, what you have might tend to be called a "Frankdebian." [01:51] ChibaPet, i'm pretty sure i've been having this problem even before i installed all that garbage. [01:52] You know, the only way I can think of to properly fix this is a little complex, so if you don't like what I paste in next, it might be worth waiting for someone who might have a better answer. [01:53] ChibaPet, thanks, and please help me in better rephrasing my question, so i can get a better answer. [01:54] my linux lingo isn't very well rounded. haha [01:55] https://bpaste.net/show/fad69dd14e25 [01:56] Note that depending on what random foreign packages do, this could go badly wrong for you. [01:57] If they're well-behaved, it'll all resolve nicely and you'll have the right packages and a stable, working system. [01:57] Badnesses could include DKMS breaking during a module build, leaving you without a valid initrd and an unbootable system. [01:57] badly go wrong? like i'd have to reinstall ubuntu? [01:57] Yeah. [01:57] i'm okay with reinstalling.. [01:57] But it might not go wrong. My main point is that you vastly increase the chances of having things go wrong when you start stuffing in random PPAs. [01:57] i'd rather have something run correctly than incorrectly. [01:58] yea. [01:58] This isn't to say PPAs are inherently bad. They're really useful, and you probably want the ones for Chrome and Wine once things are stable. But definitely don't use them when Ubuntu itself ships the software you need. [01:59] okay, so you're saying i should be grabbing everything from the ubuntu repo? [01:59] Everything possible, yes. [01:59] If they ship it, they test it and they support it. [02:00] Hell, a major reason for my recent switch to Ubuntu is that I want to spend more time on other hobbies, and Ubuntu does a lot of support I'd have to do myself with FreeBSD or Slackware or Gentoo. [02:01] It's like two commands for my new printer to be installed and working. Slackware, much harder and more labour-intensive. FreeBSD, it's in fact *impossible* unless I want to gut and rewrite their hplip port - which I don't want to od. [02:01] do* [02:02] As for rewording your question... The proper packages do blacklisting already, so you should only mention flaky boots and actual symptoms rather than asking how to do something that only comes up if you're not using the supplied packages. [02:02] brb [02:05] the safest route would be to blacklist first, at least i can rule it out. [02:05] there wouldn't be any harm in it. [02:05] It's already been done for you. [02:06] cd /etc/modprobe.d ; grep nouveau * [02:06] And if it hasn't, then no, blacklisting is an awful thing to focus on first. [02:06] wow, you're right. [02:07] Shocking. [02:07] https://bpaste.net/show/ff7fcc406420 [02:08] Mm, that's not at all what you want. It suggests that you do not have the Ubuntu-sourced nVidia drivers installed. [02:09] I'd expect to see nvidia-361-foo and so forth. [02:09] Anyway, I'll leave you with my list of instructions for now. I've got to search for this power supply some more. [02:09] ChibaPet, alright, thanks [02:10] (Wife brought in my new firewall, and said "What's this?" I countered with, "My new firewall. Where's it's power supply?") [02:10] i'll debate whether to try the nuke system thing. [02:10] I'd definitely do that before a full reinstall. [02:10] A reinstall would be easier, but if you do that, you'll have the potential to learn a bunch. [02:10] :) [02:17] ChibaPet, doing the nuke, i'm on step 10 on your instructions. [02:24] Ah, cool. On this end, I may have found my power supply. It fits and was in the right general area, but it's 12v-1.5A, not the 12v-2A the device wants. [02:25] haha [02:25] this is a long install... [02:25] I believe it. [02:25] what's it doing exactly? [02:25] it's downloading a lot of amd64 things. [02:25] Well. We've removed the "alien" repositories, and we're getting the latest conception of what's in the Ubuntu repositories. [02:26] okay [02:26] Once this is done, we're installing everything. [02:26] Upgrading everything, that is. [02:26] k [02:26] bpaste is a nice website. i don't know why everyone uses paste.bin. [02:26] i'm going to use that from now on. [02:27] and, your directions are very understandable. thank you for that. [02:28] Sure thing. I hope it all helps. [02:28] I've got my fingers crossed that nothing hoses you up and leaves you without an initrd. [02:29] i mean, worst case scenario, i just reinstall ubuntu. [02:29] Yeah. [02:29] i have nothing to lose because i already don't have anything. [02:29] :) [02:30] You're coming away with knowledge and battle scars. [02:30] haha [02:30] I can't remember what, but for most of this, I clearly had to slam into some wall at some point to have encountered any of it. [02:30] yea, i hope this helps. if not, i hope you have more ideas. :) [02:30] Before you know it, you'll be in here berating new users for installing skanky software from the underbelly of the 'Net. [02:31] HAHA [02:31] yea, yelling at people for asking the same questions. :P [02:32] This channel's pretty decent, as is #ubuntu-server. I can't get near #ubuntu. It sucks your brain out within minutes of entry. [02:33] i agree [02:33] too much going on in there [02:33] and answers come at you from all directions. [02:33] much like the askubuntu forums, someone should clean those out. [02:34] The sheer quantity of wrong answers you see fly by in #ubuntu is staggering. [02:34] Anyway, I'll try not to be negative. Reading about amperage now. [02:36] ChibaPet, in your instructions...i'm in aptitude. [02:36] you said to mark it with an underscore. [02:36] ok, this is where it gets hairy - 'u' to update first [02:36] i did the 'u' [02:37] i can't underscore the category. [02:37] If you want, from the local/obsolete entry, type [ to see what's in there [02:37] oh [02:37] Okay, then [ to expand, and try doing it with a more specific category [02:38] oh wow. [02:38] ok, what do i do? i expanded. [02:38] Arrow down and try underscore on the deeper categories if it won't do it on the top level. [02:39] hmm nope [02:39] Also, for what it's worth, I'd try to stick with apt-get, aptitude, and where needed dpkg, and ignore the GUI tools for package management. [02:39] What do you see there? (Hint: If you can't select to copy, press shift and try selecting again.) [02:39] uh, you're speaking that weird linux language. [02:40] right now i'm in the aptitude GUI [02:40] It's not in a terminal? Text? [02:40] hold on, i'll screen shot [02:40] okay [02:40] Here's what I get: https://bpaste.net/show/e66844348179 [02:41] Anyway, even if you can't do a whole category at once, you basically want to mark all those packages for purge. [02:41] http://imgur.com/RPhhnbS [02:42] Oh, that's fine. That's a terminal. [02:42] It seems to have worked. [02:42] yes, but you want me to delete. i haven't done that. [02:42] That "p" you see (and the purple) means the packages are marked for purge. [02:42] oh ok [02:42] then i can go ahead and push 'G'? [02:42] Lower-case. Not sure if upper-case will do the same thing. [02:43] For instance, 'u' and 'U' are distinctly different operations. [02:43] yea, i see the legend. [02:43] okay pushing 'g' now [02:43] Hey, for what it's worth, once you get things working again and have Wine installed, I recently noted that Plants vs Zombies works flawlessly under Wine. [02:44] hahah [02:44] okay, stop teasing me. [02:44] it's removing lots of things.. :) this looks promising. [02:45] If the things aren't packaged properly, this is where things could go badly. [02:45] They need to remove themselves cleanly. [02:45] if i get disconnected and don't respond, give me a sec and i'll log into my laptop and let you know what happened. [02:45] FWIW: http://imgur.com/36UFp0L [02:45] sure [02:46] it just uninstalled my google chrome browser. [02:46] i'm on your last step though. [02:46] Yeah, we removed those PPAs too. [02:46] apt-get install nvidia-361-updates [02:47] The alternative was individually moving PPAs and I didn't think you were feeling quite up to that. [02:47] ChibaPet, i'm back in aptitude. [02:47] But we can get Chrome and Wine back up easily, since we just renamed the directory they were in. [02:47] it removed and went back into the aptitude menu [02:48] okay, so... wait... you were supposed to install nvidia-361-updates from the command line [02:48] you have install nvidia as the last step. [02:48] I'm not sure how you're back in aptitude... You should press 'q' anyway and run the apt-get install nvidia-361-updates from the command line [02:48] ok [02:48] ok [02:48] back on the CLI [02:48] root [02:48] installing nvidia [02:49] Once that's installed, cd into /etc/modprobe.d and let's make sure we see the blacklist entries we expect [02:49] cd into? [02:49] cd /etc/modprobe.d [02:49] remember, you need to tell me exactly. haha [02:49] ok that's better. [02:49] grep nouveau * [02:50] and before we're done, I want us to add a step, so tell me when you're done with all this [02:50] before we try rebooting even [02:50] it's still installing nvidia.. [02:51] Yeah, it's building a module. Takes a bit even on a fast system. [02:51] you've been through all this BS? [02:51] I do this for work. [02:51] are you a CS? [02:51] Problems related to desktop use of Unix ends up being recreational. :P [02:51] haha [02:52] That smacks of education. I'm an obligate autodidact. [02:52] really? [02:52] pretty impressive [02:52] A lot of sysadmins are, as it turns out. [02:53] i guess i better drop my major then.. [02:53] When I was little I wanted to write software for NASA. Now I'm mostly content watching my kids exceed me. [02:53] CS major? [02:54] yea, but i haven't started my major. i'm working on general education right now. [02:54] community college [02:54] https://bpaste.net/show/88478dc00f85 [02:54] Here's a tip... Teach yourself Lisp, and one of Haskell or Erlang, on your own time, and you'll launch yourself into way more interesting jobs post-grad. [02:55] Anthony-L: That's odd. Please tell me what "dpkg -l | grep nvidia" gives you. [02:55] You should have the same stuff as me after that, but you don't. [02:56] https://bpaste.net/show/f2e9262e5c1d [02:56] Other CS tip [02:56] i've never even heard of Lisp. haha [02:56] Focus on databases and back-end / middleware systems and you'll have better jobs and less competition. [02:56] alright [02:57] Hm. That seems right. Not sure why you have a different set of modprobe.d files, but they include the right stuff so that all looks okay. [02:57] Alright, here's our extra step: update-initramfs [02:57] uh [02:58] the command line is 'root@anthony-desktop:/etc/modprobe.d#' [02:58] is that okay? [02:58] Sure. [02:58] Doesn't matter where you are when you do it. [02:58] The last bit is I'm curious if anything has mangled your /etc/default/grub file. [02:58] okay, here's what it did.... [02:58] https://bpaste.net/show/84a60d9b09fd [02:58] If you could bpaste your /etc/default/grub I'd be grateful. Shouldn't be anything unique in it. [02:59] sorry, update-initramfs -c -k all [02:59] okay, that worked. [02:59] what do you want me to do with grub? [02:59] it's updating.... [02:59] put /etc/default/grub on bpaste [03:00] permission denied. [03:00] nothing sensitive in it - I just want to make sure nothing has mangled it on you [03:00] believe me, i have nothing to lose. haha [03:00] Permission denied? And you're root? [03:00] yea, that's weird. isn't root like GODLIKE [03:00] ? [03:00] cat /etc/default/grub [03:02] https://bpaste.net/show/809c3b02217d [03:02] Cool. Nothing has mangled the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX* lines. [03:02] Alright, you should be good to reboot. [03:02] awesoome...i wish i knew what that was. [03:02] Oh, one more thing [03:02] before you go [03:03] you're a crazy dude. [03:03] i almost feel like i've been violated...hahah [03:03] I'm assuming it didn't wipe out your desktop environment. If you come back and you're at a login prompt, no graphics, log in and type "systemctl set-default graphical.target" [03:03] as root [03:03] or "sudo" [03:04] i don't really know how to do that root stuff before the GUI [03:04] and if you're for some reason missing your desktop environment, "sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop" will get it all back. But it should all be there. Just in case. [03:04] okay, you want me to reboot? [03:04] Sure. [03:05] *fingers crossed* [03:05] brb [03:14] ChibaPet: no bueno [03:15] ChibaPet: i can get to grub, but it freezes at the purple screen. [03:15] ChibaPet: just a purple blank screen [03:15] after the grub menu [03:18] argh [03:19] yea...sucks [03:19] Hrm. Can you hit escape after GRUB? [03:19] instead of 'enter' push 'esc'? [03:19] So, the purple screen is probably Plymouth or something, meant to cover text because text is outré. If you whack escape you might get it to show you text. [03:19] Then we might see what's going on. [03:20] I'd thought that as far as we got before, we'd be in good shape. [03:20] yea, 'esc' does nothing [03:22] Hrm. [03:23] it will boot to the GUI eventually [03:23] it takes a lot of reboots. haha [03:23] there it goes [03:23] the HDD is blinking. [03:23] GUI is coming up. [03:24] Is this the flakiness you saw before? [03:24] yup [03:24] that's why i'm scared to restart.... [03:24] it has to be a gpu issue [03:24] the only thing i can think of. [03:25] It's an interesting issue, because you should be pretty much okay with the software you're running. [03:25] lsmod will show you loaded drivers, and by looking at the output of lsmod you can convince yourself that nouveau isn't actually loaded [03:25] ...not that it helps us figure out what's going wrong. [03:26] Now, another idea I have is that what you're seeing could well be network-related. Funny delays in startup are often network issues. [03:27] that sounds really weird. [03:27] i'm just a typical guy with a router and residential cable internet... [03:28] just saying [03:28] when it freezes up, the HDD light is really dim and my keyboard locks up. [03:28] isn't there a log file you could look at to see the error? [03:30] Maybe. I'm new to systemd and I'm not sure how best to debug startup. [03:31] how could i get google chrome back? [03:31] hm, so, earlier we moved /etc/apt/sources.list.d to another name - that plus evil or something [03:32] cd into that directory [03:32] ls [03:32] look at the files and move the chrome file to the correct directory... mv foochromefoo.list ../apt.sources.d/ [03:32] sorry, my chat closed. [03:32] look at the files and move the chrome file to the correct directory... mv foochromefoo.list ../apt.sources.d/ [03:32] do the same for wine [03:32] i don't need wine. [03:33] i didn't really know how to use it anyway. [03:33] then apt-get update ; apt-get install google-chrome-stable [03:33] No Plants versus Zombies for you if you don't have Wine! [03:33] hold up here, you want me to mv? [03:33] or cp [03:34] please type it out. :) [03:34] exact direction. [03:35] Do you have the bpaste where I told you to mv (rename) the directory? [03:35] cd /etc/apt/sources.list.d-evil [03:35] if it's not that it's something like it [03:36] mv *google* ../sources.list.d [03:36] apt-get update ; apt-get install google-chrome-stable [03:36] no, but i don't need the older folder. [03:36] old* [03:36] you want the repository file for Google Chrome from it [03:37] Alternately, download a new package from Google. Easier to fish out the repo file. [03:37] ChibaPet: apt not apt-get!!!!!!!! [03:38] *ahem* [03:38] Sorry, I meant dnf. [03:38] * tsimonq2 runs [03:38] yea, i got denied. [03:38] it's okay. [03:38] Anthony-L: sudo -i first - you need to be root [03:38] or do it with sudo in front of each command - either way [03:38] apt-get update ; apt-get install google-chrome-stable [03:38] ? [03:39] s/apt-get/apt/ [03:39] * tsimonq2 would do apt update && apt install google-chrome-stable [03:40] none of that works [03:41] *i want to hit my comp with a sledgehammer. [03:43] i'm over this OS, i don't have the time. [03:44] Anthony 0 - Linux 1 [03:44] Anthony-L: I'm sorry you hit on the dodgy instructions for getting nVidia working. I think that burned a lot of time and goodwill. [03:44] ChibaPet, we tried our best. haha [03:44] Sticking to it wouldn't be a bad idea, FWIW, but we all have different pain thresholds. [03:45] A random note, if you're new to Linux, starting off with a pre-release version of the OS might be being a bit too adventurous. [03:45] I mean, stuff's *guaranteed* to be mildly broken in many cases. [03:45] ChibaPet, it actually worked better than the pre-releases on my system. [03:45] i think my pc is just too new for linux. [03:46] i have like the ultimate gamer setup. [03:46] Anthony-L: noo don't leave us :) [03:46] Shouldn't be. I just built a Skylake Xen system a couple weeks ago and it's all supported. [03:46] ^^^ [03:46] Xeon* [03:46]