No GUI after installing nvidia-drivers on Debian 10

[frbell]

Hello all, I have a problem with Debian 10 that has lead me to format and re-install it three times now, I'd kindly appreciate some help.

"sudo inxi -Ibxxza" gives me this result:

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System: Host: Mr.PC Kernel: 4.19.0-6-amd64 x86 bits: 64 compiler: gxx v: 8.3.0 Console: tty 2 dm: LightDM
Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (Buster)
Machine: Type: Desktop Mobo: Gigabyte model: B450 AORUS M v: x.x UEFI American Megatrends v: F41 date: 07/22/2019

CPU: 6/Core: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 type: MT MCP arch: Zen+ speed: 1378 MHz min/max: 1550/3400 MHz

Graphics: Device-1: NVIDIA GK106 [GeForce GTX 660] vendor eVga.com. driver: N/A bus ID: 06:00.0 chip ID: 10de:11c0

Display server: X.org 1.20.4 driver: nouveau, vesa unloaded: fbdev, modesetting alternate: nv tty: 128x48
Message: Advanced graphics data unavailable in console for root.

Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL811/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel

Device-2: Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter type: USB: driver: xpad bus ID: 3-4:3 chip ID: 045e:0719

Drives: Local Storage: total: 550.53 GiB used: 7.98 GiB (1.4%)

Info: Processes: 212 Uptime: N/A Memory: 31.42 GiB used 319.2 MiB (1%) Init: systemd v: 241 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: bash v: 5.0.3 running in:tty 2 inxi: 3.0.32

So when I try to install the nvidia-drivers, after rebooting, the OS becomes CLI only, I have tried startx, and setting the display manager to be the deault and rebooting, and nothing, I've already spent some 15-20 hours in the span of several days tring to solve this with web searches to no avail.

The first time I installed the nvidia-drivers I was just following the debian wiki (so, esentially "sudo apt update" after adding the contrib and non-free sources, and "sudo apt install nvidia-drivers") and I didn't install the headers, the second time I did install the headers and got the same result, the third time I did it through the apper package manager, and made sure to install an older driver, I went with version 390.

I blacklisted nouveau with these commands:

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sudo echo blacklist nouveau > /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nvidia-nouveau.conf

sudo echo options nouveau modeset=0 >> /etc/modprobe.dblacklist-nvidia-nouveau.conf

The error I get is something like this:

xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to server: Connection refused
xinit: server error

These are the errors in /var/log/Xorg.0.log

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(EE) failed to load module "nv" (module does not exist, 0)

(EE) failed to open DRM for device PCI: 0000:06:00.0 -19

(EE) open /dev/dri/card0: no such file or directory

(EE) unable to find a valid framebuffer device

(EE) screen 0 deleted because of no matching config section

(EE) screen 0 deleted because of no matching config section

(EE) fatal server error cannot run in framebuffer mode. Please specify busIDs for all framebuffer devices.

The Debian 10 I have is from an ISO I downloaded in December, Linux 4.9.0-8-amd64 x86_64

What's weird is that in late December I had a different installation and I installed the nvidia driver with no problem at all, I have no idea what I did right then that I'm doing wrong now, as basically to do anything on linux I look it up, and follow the steps on a website.

What makes the situation worse is that any solution I find requires me to download nouveau from the internet to install it again, but my only internet access is from a mobile broadband usb dongle, and I simply don't know how to connect to it from the command line. Even "ifconfig" gives me a command not found.

[stevepusser]

I still don't see any mention of you installing and running nvdia-detect to determine which driver to use, or ever installing the necessary compilers, though the wiki specifically says to do so and you said you followed it. If you want help, do so, and list here precisely each step you took and the terminal output in code tags.

A successful build and install of the drivers from the Debian repo will also blacklist nouveau automatically and show a message that it's doing so, so it seems you never got that far, either.

[frbell]

I still don't see any mention of you installing and running nvdia-detect to determine which driver to use, or ever installing the necessary compilers, though the wiki specifically says to do so and you said you followed it. If you want help, do so, and list here precisely each step you took and the terminal output in code tags.

A successful build and install of the drivers from the Debian repo will also blacklist nouveau automatically and show a message that it's doing so, so it seems you never got that far, either.

When I said I followed the wiki, I meant I followed the wiki, I installed nvidia-detect, and all it did was tell me what graphics card I have (which I already knew) and tell me that it was compatible with the nvidia driver and that I should just install nvidia-driver. What about when I used apper? Did I miss something there too? Because as far as I can tell... when using an package manager, it should do everything itself... That's the whole point of the package manager, to be user friendly and automatic.

The first time I used the steps on this website:
https://linuxx.info/installing-nvidia-d ... debian-10/
Now that I see it, it has a step for the linux headers, I'm not just gonna skip a step, so I must have installed them the first time too even now knowing that I did.

The second time I followed the wiki verbatim. The wiki (https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers) only mentions installing compilers for debian 9, I'm using 10.

Here's what I did anyway:

added contrib and non-free to sources.list, it kept telling me that it didn't find the package, so I had to change buster/update to just buster.

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 sudo apt update 

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sudo apt install linux-headers-amd64

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sudo apt install nvidia-detect

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sudo nvidia-detect

"It is recommended to install the
nvidia-driver
package."

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 sudo apt install nvidia-driver

I reboot, and no GUI, no matter what I do.

The first website says at some point it will ask these questions:

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        Ignore CC version check
        Abort installation

    Install NVIDIA’s 32-bit compatibility libraries?

        Yes
        No

    An incomplete installation of libglvnd was found. Do you want to install a full copy of libglvnd? This will overwrite any existing libglvnd libraries.

        Don’t install libglvnd files
        Install and overwrite existing filesort installation.
        Abort installation

    Would you like to run the nvidia-xconfig utility to automatically update your X configuration file so that the NVIDIA X driver will be used when you restart X? Any pre-existing X configuration file will be backed up.

        Yes
        No

All I got asked both times is something among the lines of "the driver cannot be loaded, probably because of nouveau, it will be fixed by reooting when it will not load it", but not with those exact words, what I got from that was basically "you need to reboot", which is something I'm supposed to do anyway, so I did. And there were no options, all I could hit was "OK" or something similar.

[kedaha]

Hi,
Have you checked that the GTX 660 card does not require the "legacy driver?" See NvidiaGraphicsDrivers#Version_390.132_.28legacy_GPUs.29

[frbell]

I checked the compatibility list for the 418 driver: http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... chips.html
And my GTX 660 is there.

I checked the compatibility list for the 390 driver that I installed with apper: http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... chips.html
And my GTX 660 is there.

In any case, if it weren't compatible, wouldn't nvidia-detect have told me? Version 418 is for 600 and newer, GTX 660 is 600 series, the 390 driver is for 400 and newer.

[cds60601]

Quick question - what login manager are you using?
While I had a similar issue (not with nvidia), at the time I was using lightdm.

It was suggested to me I do the following - Keep in mind that this may not be relevant to you.
Switch to console mode: Ctrl+Alt+F1
Kill x server:

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sudo service lightdm stop

Generate new xorg.conf file:

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sudo X -configure

This will create xorg.conf.new file in your current directory.
Rename and move:

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sudo mv xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Return to GUI:

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sudo service lightdm start

Again, this worked for me after an upgrade and the screen when black

[frbell]

Quick question - what login manager are you using?
While I had a similar issue (not with nvidia), at the time I was using lightdm.

It was suggested to me I do the following - Keep in mind that this may not be relevant to you.
Switch to console mode: Ctrl+Alt+F1
Kill x server:

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sudo service lightdm stop

Generate new xorg.conf file:

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sudo X -configure

This will create xorg.conf.new file in your current directory.
Rename and move:

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sudo mv xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Return to GUI:

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sudo service lightdm start

Again, this worked for me after an upgrade and the screen when black

Nope, no dice, thanks anyway.
When I got to:

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sudo X -configure

It reported it had two errors.

By the way, I love your avatar, it feels so late nineties world wide web.

[stevepusser]

The wiki is rather lame. Do they mention that you'll need to manually sign the drivers if you're running with Secure Boot enabled?

You need compilers to compile the driver, no matter what. Debian does not install those by default.
If you peruse the output of the build, you would see that it failed because of that, which is why you didn't see the message about nouveau being automatically blacklisted--it only appears if the build and install succeed.

Here's the quick way to install headers and compilers--don't know why the wiki has that miserable command instead:

install module-assistant

run as root or with sudo:

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m-a prepare

Answer yes if it asks you whether to install anything.

If all this seems a big hassle, we made installing the drivers a lot easier on MX Linux, a Debian derivative.

[dilberts_left_nut]

Here's what I did anyway:

added contrib and non-free to sources.list, it kept telling me that it didn't find the package, so I had to change buster/update to just buster.

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 sudo apt update 

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sudo apt install linux-headers-amd64

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sudo apt install nvidia-detect

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sudo nvidia-detect

"It is recommended to install the
nvidia-driver
package."

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 sudo apt install nvidia-driver

I reboot, and no GUI, no matter what I do.

You should also post the output of these commands so there is some data to offer some suggestions.

[kedaha]

The wiki is rather lame. Do they mention that you'll need to manually sign the drivers if you're running with Secure Boot enabled?

So why not just disable Secure Boot? That ought to fix it.

[frbell]

Alright, I tried disabling secure boot as it was the simplest solution, but CSM was enabled on the bios, and when CSM is enabled, secure boot is disabled, I disabled CSM just the same anyway and saw the option for secure boot appear (it hides it when CSM is enabled), it was disabled. Booted to debian, no change, same situation.

I ran sudo "install module-assistant" and it told me "install: missing destination file operand after 'module-assistant'. Try 'install --help' for more information.

Could it have to do with the fact that I have no internet with no GUI? I connect to the internet with a 3G+ dongle, I simply don't know how to connect to that via CLI.

Internet from an ethernet cable is simply not an option for me. NetworkManager and "if up connection" don't work either, those needs to be installed separately.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

I ran sudo "install module-assistant" and it told me "install: missing destination file operand after 'module-assistant'. Try 'install --help' for more information.

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sudo apt install module-assistant
sudo m-a prepare

I simply don't know how to connect to that via CLI

If you have NetworkManager then use the curses interface:

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nmtui

If you don't have NM then use ifupdown: https://wiki.debian.org/WiFi/HowToUse#W ... d_WPA2-PSK

When I got to:

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sudo X -configure

It reported it had two errors

You do not need an X.Org configuration file, even for the proprietary NVIDIA drivers. Delete any X.Org configuration files you have created.

And if you want help with errors then post the actual errors rather than a vague description.

[frbell]

I'm only vague with the errors I've gotten after reformatting and re-installing three times, other than that I've either posted the errors as I've gotten them, or they have been the same errors as before, nothing new. "xinit: giving up, xinit: unable to connect to server: Connection refused, xinit: server error" is the error I get most of the time.

Asking for help is my absolute last resort, I've literally spent hours trying to solve this myself without asking anyone, it's no surprise I don't remember the myriad of errors I get for following the steps exactly as they are on the wiki.

[frbell]

Ok, I was able to install module-assistant.

This is what happened with "sudo m-a prepare"

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sudo m-a prepare
Getting source for kernel version: 4.19.0-6-amd64
apt-get install linux-headers-4.19.0.6-amd64
Reading package lists... Done
Building depdency tree... Done
E: Unable to lacate package linux-header-4.19.0-6-amd64
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'linux-headers-4.19.0-6-amd64'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-headers-4.19.0-6-amd64'
Creating symlink...
apt-get install build essential
Reading package lists... Done
Reading state information... Done
build-essemtial is already the newest version (12.6)
build-essential set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 206 not upgraded.

Done!

This is what "uname -r" outputs "4.19.0-6-amd64", and this is what "uname -r" outputs "linux Mr.PC 4.19.0-6-amd64 #1SMPT Debian 4.19.67-2+deb10u1 (2019-09-20)"

[kedaha]

[ ...]my only internet access is from a mobile broadband usb dongle, and I simply don't know how to connect to it from the command line. Even "ifconfig" gives me a command not found.

Well please identify that dongle; maybe someone else can advise how to connect it from the command line. Find it with the command
$ lsusb
You might need to install the package usbutils first.

[frbell]

I used nmtui like head_on_a_stick said, I was able to connect to the internet that way and download module-assistant.
This is the result that "sudo m-a prepare" gave me.

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Getting source for kernel version: 4.19.0-6-amd64
apt-get install linux-headers-4.19.0.6-amd64
Reading package lists... Done
Building depdency tree... Done
E: Unable to lacate package linux-header-4.19.0-6-amd64
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'linux-headers-4.19.0-6-amd64'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-headers-4.19.0-6-amd64'
Creating symlink...
apt-get install build essential
Reading package lists... Done
Reading state information... Done
build-essemtial is already the newest version (12.6)
build-essential set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 206 not upgraded.

Done!

I had internet access, the errors were not because of that.

[stevepusser]

That kernel is not the current version in Buster--it's all the way up to 4.19.0-9 now. The old kernel and headers are gone. You installed an older version of Debian 10, but you can update it in your terminal as root or with sudo:

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apt update

apt upgrade

You also have hundreds of other security updates from the message, so apply those also. It will probably take some time, and you'll need to reboot to the new kernel, but "m-a prepare" should work after that.

[frbell]

That did it! Thanks all.


Yeah, it took its time, it updated pretty much everything debian came with, I would have preferred to update only the essential as I have limited data and where I live it's kind of expensive, I mean, I didn't need to update thunderbird, I just don't use that, but it's done now, and the problem is solved.