5

I am utterly surprised that this question is considered off-topic: https://askubuntu.com/questions/400044/nvidia-x-server-flickers-hangs-and-segfaults-on-start-up . It represents a genuine configuration issue with using Ubuntu 12.04 with Nvidia drivers on a very specific set of hardware, NOT necessarily a bug as it was working fine before. I am genuinely hoping to solve the original issue via this question and the AU community, but this cannot happen if the question is deleted.

So what is going on? And why is this question not appearing on my profile (not even in the list of recently deleted questions)? And why aren't users notified when their question gets closed/deleted?

1
  • BTW, only 10kers can see the deleted question.
    – Braiam
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:23

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
5

SEGFAULTS and crashes like this (especially when they have ugly workarounds) are almost always bugs and need to be reported. Especially with graphics drivers. Just because it worked yesterday doesn't make it not a bug either, there are tons of reasons why it could have worked yesterday, but it doesn't work today.

Your question was closed per the bug policy here on Ask Ubuntu. Your question was deleted by the janitor bot (Community) as described here.

Users aren't notified if their question gets closed because it only brings unnecessary conflict, if a user really cares about their question they will keep an eye on it and notice the closure. They can then take whatever action is needed.

btw, I have a Nvidia Quadro card (1000M) and I find that the only driver that works is the 304-updates one from Nvidia.

8
  • Thank you for explaining. Well the unnecessary conflict is clearly here. I do believe this specific case is moderator over-reach. As explained in comment above, I really want to know how to load X (whichever driver). But I guess moderators have made up their minds, so perhaps arguing isn't of any help here. :(
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:38
  • @landroni actually, if you look at your question, it was closed by 5 normal users, not a moderator. If you need to know how to load the Nvidia drivers from the command line there is a question about that.
    – Seth Mod
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:41
  • Semantics: users with moderator powers. As for the relevant question, it is something I hoped to get as a comment/duplicate/whatever in the deleted question.
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:44
  • 1
    @landroni Ah, I see. As for point two: Your question wasn't very clear on that. You didn't say all you wanted was to install other drivers. I'll go grab that post for you.
    – Seth Mod
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:45
  • 1
    Thank you. Well, the question was clear as day for me, even using bold markup: "How can I fix the loading of X, be it with Nvidia proprietary or generic open-source drivers?". If it wasn't, I would have improved it given comments.
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:47
  • Check this answer out. It's a bit long, the important part is right around the middle.
    – Seth Mod
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:48
  • Hopefully the problem will be fixed in 14.04, which will be released soon.
    – Seth Mod
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:50
  • Thank you. I was aware of that question, and thought I followed it already, but perhaps I need to look at it again. As for 14.04, I'm also hopeful, but also wary: last time I upgraded the LTS on this laptop, performance worsened (including this X issue). I'm just not sure that newer releases/kernels play nicely with this oldish hardware.
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 23:08
1

ok, lets look at this:

[   614.349] 
Backtrace:
[   614.349] 0: X (xorg_backtrace+0x37) [0xe85837]
[   614.349] 1: X (0xcfd000+0x18c5ba) [0xe895ba]
[   614.349] 2: (vdso) (__kernel_rt_sigreturn+0x0) [0xcb440c]
[   614.349] 3: /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/xorg/extra-modules/nvidia_drv.so (0xc61f000+0xec446) [0xc70b446]
[   614.349] Segmentation fault at address 0x82050284
[   614.349] 
Caught signal 11 (Segmentation fault). Server aborting
[   614.349] 
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support 
     at http://wiki.x.org
 for help. 
[   614.349] Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
[   614.349] 
[   614.372]  ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log
[   614.372] Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.

Applications shouldn't segfault. It's a genuine bug. You should take your issues to developers so they can fix it. We here can't fix segfaults applications. We can tell you what's wrong, but that's the end of our abilities.

17
  • The question is: "How can I fix the loading of X, be it with Nvidia proprietary or generic open-source drivers?" I don't ask for fixing the bug in the Nvidia drivers (although I still suspect it's more of a configuration issue, and requires some config files magic/purge/reinstall or the like). I ask for help on how to configure the proper loading of X (be it with any drivers). (I can do so now using a very hackish method, as described in an answer, but I want a proper configuration channel that I understand.)
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:27
  • @landroni the neater solution has to come from developers, not us.
    – Braiam
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:31
  • 1
    I'm sorry, but I do not follow: This concerns the use of Ubuntu, which is clearly on-topic on this site. I am hoping to find someone with some experience in these cases, and give me useful advice.
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:34
  • @landroni the most useful advice you will get is report a bug. Why are you so fixated in that we can fix this? We can't.
    – Braiam
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:35
  • OK, I don't want the community to fix this. I want a simple answer to the question: given that Nvidia drivers fail (crash, mood, whatever), what other drivers can I use to load X? That can't be a bug report, can it?
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:37
  • @landroni basically only VGA drivers which are limited to 640x480.
    – Braiam
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:40
  • Definitely not, as per askubuntu.com/questions/403342/… . I do have proper resolution using the workaround, I just don't know which drivers power it. The two questions are linked, but are different in scope. (And please don't close the 2nd question!)
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 22:42
  • @landroni the issue here is that something had a "segmentation fault" which is a fault in the program. Program faults that are inside the program are bugs and need to be addressed by the developers. Ask Ubuntu cannot fix bugs.
    – Thomas Ward Mod
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 23:09
  • @ThomasW. This point specifically wasn't the core of the question, only a description of the symptoms. See my other comments here.
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 23:10
  • @landroni you're missing the point. Your symptoms are irrelevant the moment that a segmentation fault comes up. You need to file a bug to get this fixed/diagnosed.
    – Thomas Ward Mod
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 23:14
  • @ThomasW. I respectfully disagree. The crash is irrelevant, as long as my question asks "how to load X" (even if the solution requires to remove all binaries that caused the original segfault). I just want to load X, not fix Nvidia binaries.
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 23:17
  • Unless the issue is that the X binaries are broken with that specific driver for your system, in which case your crash is relevant. In most cases of a crash, it is usually absolutely important to send the crash data to devs who can interpret it correctly.
    – Thomas Ward Mod
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 23:27
  • @landroni but you can't load X until you fix Nvidia. Is a XY problem, you are fixated on fixing something isn't broken when the easier solution is just to fix the real issue, Nvidia drivers.
    – Braiam
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 23:28
  • @Braiam not really: there is nouveau and possibly other solutions. I can load X without fixing Nvidia; I know this for fact, as I am currently using this laptop with X. I just don't know why it works, or how. Let me give you a different example: If I reported that LibO crashes and asked how else to finish writing up the .doc file, the answer would probably be along the lines "install abiword or koffice, and use that". This can't be a bug report, can it? I am not sure that I am the one who is fixating in this case. The question is a legit usage question.
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 7:11
  • @ThomasW. Sure, it is important to report the crash. But this is a different issue. How can I load X differently so as to be able to report the crash? That's a usage question.
    – landroni
    Commented Mar 8, 2014 at 7:13

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