How to uninstall an old installation of nvidia

[ckosloff]

I loadaded nvidia form an alternative source, because wiki not yet updated, lame excuse.
Probem is that it is not compatible with Debian version.
I need help to uninstall this installation and install nvidia-driver from repo.

[phenest]

What version of Debian are you running, and where did you get the driver from?

[ckosloff]

I am running buster+backports.
Driver came from script sgfxi, I think that it downloads form nvidia site directly, all I know is that when I run

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apt install --reinstall nvidia-driver

, it reports an incompatibility with Debian, and prompts to uninstall but the uninstall cannot complete because it stops when I check the default not to change X configuration.

[ckosloff]

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ckosloff@crosshair:~$ su -
Password:
root@crosshair:~# apr intall --reinstall nvidia-driver
-bash: apr: command not found
root@crosshair:~# apt install --reinstall nvidia-driver 
E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
root@crosshair:~# dpkg --congfigure -a
dpkg: error: unknown option --congfigure

Type dpkg --help for help about installing and deinstalling packages [*];
Use 'apt' or 'aptitude' for user-friendly package management;
Type dpkg -Dhelp for a list of dpkg debug flag values;
Type dpkg --force-help for a list of forcing options;
Type dpkg-deb --help for help about manipulating *.deb files;

Options marked [*] produce a lot of output - pipe it through 'less' or 'more' !
root@crosshair:~# dpkg --configure -a
Setting up glx-alternative-mesa (1.0.0) ...
Setting up nvidia-installer-cleanup (20151021+9) ...

WARNING: The '--no-runlevel-check' option is deprecated:  nvidia-installer will
         ignore this option.


Welcome to the NVIDIA Software Installer for Unix/Linux

Detected 8 CPUs online; setting concurrency level to 8.

If you plan to no longer use the NVIDIA driver, you should make sure that no X
screens are configured to use the NVIDIA X driver in your X configuration file.
If you used nvidia-xconfig to configure X, it may have created a backup of your
original configuration. Would you like to run `nvidia-xconfig
--restore-original-backup` to attempt restoration of the original X
configuration file?
  [default: (N)o]: No


[sunrat]

I haven't used smxi for ages but doesn't it provide an option to uninstall?

[stevepusser]

The system was attempting to do the right thing with nvidia-installer-cleanup, but it seems you didn't follow through.

Description: cleanup after driver installation with the nvidia-installer
This package ensures that no remnants of the non-free NVIDIA graphics
drivers that were installed with the nvidia-installer remain on the
system. Such an installation conflicts with the packaged drivers.
.
Furthermore using the nvidia-installer to install a new version of the
drivers is prevented as long as this package is installed.

[ckosloff]

I could not follow through, after selecting default option No system stopped.
I want to do the cleanup and reinstall

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ckosloff@crosshair:~$ su -
Password:
root@crosshair:~# nvidia-installer-cleanup
-bash: nvidia-installer-cleanup: command not found
root@crosshair:~#


[ckosloff]

I haven't used smxi for ages but doesn't it provide an option to uninstall?

I would have to run sgfxi again to answer that, I don't think that an option is present since I just type sgfxi at the prompt.
Thank you.

[Dai_trying]

Can't you take a backup copy of xorg.conf and then answer yes to the question to complete un-installation and then simply copy it back afterwards?

[stevepusser]

Sgfxi has a large amount of options. You just need to enter "sgfxi -h" to get help for them.

[ckosloff]

Can't you take a backup copy of xorg.conf and then answer yes to the question to complete un-installation and then simply copy it back afterwards?

Yes, did that, thanks for suggestion, but the same thing happened, process is halted, I think that I have to submit bug.
FYI, this is what happens when typing Y or N:

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Welcome to the NVIDIA Software Installer for Unix/Linux

Detected 8 CPUs online; setting concurrency level to 8.

If you plan to no longer use the NVIDIA driver, you should make sure that no X screens
are configured to use the NVIDIA X driver in your X configuration file. If you used
nvidia-xconfig to configure X, it may have created a backup of your original
configuration. Would you like to run `nvidia-xconfig --restore-original-backup` to
attempt restoration of the original X configuration file?
  [default: (N)o]: N

Progress: [  0%] [..................................................................]

[ckosloff]

Sgfxi has a large amount of options. You just need to enter "sgfxi -h" to get help for them.

I followed suggestion and ran sgfxi -n to cleanup with no effect.
I think I have to submit bug because I am continuously being prompted to run dpkg --configure -a which yields the same result of stopping the system after asking the above-mentioned questions.
I don't know how to uninstall previous installation of nvidia and I cannot even update system because commands apt-update && apt dist-upgrade fail also.
So, report bug?

[ckosloff]

I got tired of trying to solve this problem with gentle manners, so finally I had to use brute force because I was left without video and desktop.
SO i decided to reinstall system from the netinst CD, this time i installed it with generic drivers and selected KDE as desktop environment, system booted into nouveau , which gave me a quite satisfactory experience of using a desktop with two monitors although it still seems a bit weak because it crashed video more often, anyway I will stick with it, mostly because there is no maintainer in Debian for nvidia.