[PLUG] Xbuntu starts up in a low resolution mode

Ben Koenig techkoenig at gmail.com
Tue Jan 21 23:52:42 UTC 2020


On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 3:43 PM Dick Steffens <dick at dicksteffens.com> wrote:

> On 1/21/20 3:36 PM, Ben Koenig wrote:
> > Since nouveau isn't loading, you have at least part of the nvidia driver
> > installed. But, for some reason the nvidia.ko module is not loading.
> >
> > The easiest thing to do here would be to uninstall/reinstall the nvidia
> > driver. This will force it to recompile the kernel interface and refresh
> > any other files that were lost. it might also be a good idea to run
> updates
> > before you reinstall the driver. I bet it pulled in a kernel update, but
> > for some reason the DKMS scripts weren't triggered, which will cause
> > exactly this issue. The nvidia module has to be rebuilt every time the
> > kernel is updated so when this happens reinstalling the driver usually
> > forces it to do the rebuild.
> >
> > Verify that you only have 1 version of the nvidia drivers installed to
> > prevent conflicts, and then reinstall all packages associated with that
> > version. After a reboot it should load nvidia.ko and put everything back
> in
> > it's rightful place.
>
> I'll try that next.
>
> However, I also can't start VirtualBox. Some of my reading points to:
>
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UEFI/SecureBoot/DKMS
>
> Does this make any sense? Or do I need to do for VirtualBox what you
> recommend for nVidia?
>
>
The problem with looking into Secure boot is that Secure boot is a firmware
level feature that is either on, or off. You say that it was working, and
suddenly stopped, so I find it highly unlikely that secure boot is to
blame. Chances are you already have it disabled, or if you do, canonical
already took the steps to sign your kernel so it's not an issue.

VBox does have a kernel like nvidia, so it's subject to the same DKMS
issues. I would try reinstalling nvidia and see if that works. if yes, then
do the same for vbox.

Secure boot is either going to work, or not. If ubuntu is pushing package
updates that randomly break on UEFI systems then that's just supreme idiocy
on their end, so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume
they aren't pushing catastrophically broken packages. that said, toss me
the model# of your laptop and I can find out where the secure boot settings
are hiding.



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