Hello all,
Recently on this list, we talked about a nasty bug, possibly with nVidia's
driver. The bug is reproducible, and goes something like this:
You start up your computer, and you get the KDM login screen. You log in, do
a few things, and log back out to the KDM screen. At this point, if you press
CTRL-ALT-F1 through F6 to get a virtual terminal, the screen sometimes locks
up, and only gives you a black screen, possibly with a non-moving mouse
pointer in the middle. This also happens sometimes when you choose "Exit to
Console" in the "Shutdown" menu in the KDM.
It has been my experience that I can ssh into the machine and reboot it
remotely when it goes all black, but if I attempt to CTRL-ALT-Backspace to
get out of X altogether, the entire machine locks up.
Also, most of the time when I choose "reboot" from the "Shutdown" menu, the
screen goes all colorful, and I can see it changing, but it's definitely not
the text based shutdown messages that I'm used to.
I have sent this information to nVidia, and have received a response, asking
for more information. Anyone that is having this problem, please reply to me,
and send me your machine's hard/software configuration, any settings that
might be relevant to the bug, and any other information that you feel might
be helpful in the folks over at nVidia in figuring out what the trouble is.
In return, I'll forward any more information that I get from nVidia.
Thanks, and have a great day! :)
-Steven
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: Re: nVidia driver problem on Linux
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 11:01:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: Andrew Ritger
Hi, I am having a problem with the nVidia drivers on linux. It appears that when I hit ctrl-alt-F1-F6 while in an X Session, my system locks up, and my screen goes blank. If I use the 'nv' driver that comes with my distribution (SuSE 7.1 Pro), the lock up doesn't happen. Running the "nvidia" driver + GLX results in a very fast system, with great 3D Acceleration. It's just this bug that is getting in the way of a perfect experience.
Also, when I exit out of KDE2 to KDM, and choose "reboot" or "halt", the screen goes all weird, and I see "movement", and then my system finally reboots. If I choose "Exit to Console", I get the same lockup as I get when I press ctrl-alt-Fx.
I am using the latest nVidia driver from your website, v1.0-1251. This problem was also apparent in the last v0.9-769.
On the SuSE-Linux-E users mailing list, there are several other people who have the same problem, so this isn't just my system.
Good luck, and I hope this helps. Let me know if you need any further information.
Thanks, Steven
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