Arch Linux

[dedanna1029]

I've already recommended Arch to more than several new users (in fact I've actually installed it for many, with no complaints so far); I make them aware of the time it takes to set up, and tell them to do like I did - print out the beginner's guide and installation/setup instructions from the wiki and follow them to the letter until they have the routine pat. I also promise them they'll never have to do it again, and that it will be rock stable if they do.

[dedanna1029]

With that having been said, updates have now crashed Arch on me, the same way as it did with Fedora. I think it has to do with that particular kernel. I need to roll it back, and the previous versioned-kernel is there in /var/cache/pacman/pkgs, but I don't know the command to do it; have never had to roll back a kernel before. Can you tell me how to go about it? Thanks.

Edit: Or, alternatively, what I need to add to the kernel line in grub to make the nvidia driver work?

[dedanna1029]

I found how to roll back here, but am wondering if something on the kernel line might help. If it works, then I'll try it on Fedora. Am on Fedora with the nv driver now, but really need the nvidia one. I mean I need it.

Thanks.

[viking60]

You probably have the most exotic configuration in the world. I update two Arch boxes and they both are stable and rock solid. In fact I do not get what your problem is only that you have one. Nividia driver is working just fine here.

[dedanna1029]

You probably have the most exotic configuration in the world. I update two Arch boxes and they both are stable and rock solid. In fact I do not get what your problem is only that you have one. Nividia driver is working just fine here.

It's not working on either distro, the latest one. Nvidia 7300 GT. What's so hard about that? Ask upstream. I have not changed anything, I did not do anything but updates, then reboot.

You may be able to tell better from the update log than I can if anything went awry during the updates if you scan it closely - I am not really seeing anything.

[dedanna1029]

I need to know how to install the nv driver for Arch please? I tried pacman -S nv, but it didn't find it.

FYI, here is the xorg.conf that it was working with, and is no longer:

Code: Select all

# Xorg configuration created by livna-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/default/Type1"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option        "AIGLX" "on"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier  "Mouse0"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option        "Protocol" "auto"
    Option        "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option        "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option        "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from data in "/etc/sysconfig/keyboard"
    Identifier  "Keyboard0"
    Driver      "kbd"
    Option        "XkbLayout" "us"
    Option        "XkbModel" "pc105"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier   "Monitor0"
    VendorName   "Samsung"
    ModelName    "SyncMaster 731B"
    HorizSync    28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh  43.0 - 72.0
    Option        "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Device0"
    Driver      "nvidia"
    VendorName  "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device     "Device0"
    Monitor    "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth     24
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option        "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Here is rc.conf:

Code: Select all

#
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# LOCALIZATION
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime", any other value will result
#   in the hardware clock being left untouched (useful for virtualization)
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
#
LOCALE="en_US.UTF-8"
HARDWARECLOCK="UTC"
TIMEZONE="America/Denver"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# MOD_AUTOLOAD: Allow autoloading of modules at boot and when needed
# MOD_BLACKLIST: Prevent udev from loading these modules
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.
#
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
#
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
#MOD_BLACKLIST=() #deprecated
MODULES=()

# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
#
HOSTNAME="dedanna.rocks.net"

# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
#
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
#   - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
#   - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
#
# DHCP:     Set your interface to "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#

#Static IP example
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(eth0)

# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
#   - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
 
# Setting this to "yes" will skip network shutdown.
# This is required if your root device is on NFS.
NETWORK_PERSIST="no"

# Enable these network profiles at boot-up.  These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
#   - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
#   - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
#
# This now requires the netcfg package
#
#NETWORKS=(main)

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
#   - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network netfs crond alsa hal alsa postgresql)

Here is /etc/inittab:

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#
# /etc/inittab
#

#  Runlevels:
#    0    Halt
#    1(S)   Single-user
#    2    Not used
#    3    Multi-user
#    4    Not used
#    5    X11
#    6    Reboot

## Only one of the following two lines can be uncommented!
# Boot to console
#id:3:initdefault:
# Boot to X11
id:5:initdefault:

rc::sysinit:/etc/rc.sysinit
rs:S1:wait:/etc/rc.single
rm:2345:wait:/etc/rc.multi
rh:06:wait:/etc/rc.shutdown
su:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin -p

# -8 options fixes umlauts problem on login
c1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty1 linux
c2:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty2 linux
c3:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty3 linux
c4:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty4 linux
c5:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty5 linux
c6:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty6 linux

# Hypervisor Virtual Console for Xen and KVM
#h0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 38400 hvc0 linux

ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

# Example lines for starting a login manager
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/xdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/sbin/gdm -nodaemon
x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/kdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/slim >/dev/null 2>&1

# End of file

If you see anything wrong, please let me know. I am thinking that it's the kernel - and that there's something I need to add to the kernel line in grub, but for the life of me I don't know what.

Found and added link to update log in the previous post.

[viking60]

In Xorg.conf try to remove the content of Section "Files". No Modules and font path - remove the lines.
remove hal from rc.conf deamons. Or put a "!" in front of it.
Make sure you have udev installed. (yaourt udev )

To install noveau you can do a

Code: Select all

yaourt nouv

and take it from there.

[dedanna1029]

That's for the nouveau. What about just nv? Nouveau I already know won't work - it doesn't on Fedora. For a more detailed description of symptoms, see the Fedora forum link I posted in the Fedora thread - it does it on both machines.

What's happening, is on boot when I get to "Starting atd", the monitor then flashes several times, and does nothing. I hit Ctrl+alt+F2 to try to fix it. I've replaced xorg.conf with a known working xorg.conf file that I had previously, I've tried reinstalling the nvidia drivers several times, I've tried several other things to no avail.

On boot, it says the nvidia drivers load Ok, and then when it comes down to starting X, say once again that there were no nvidia drivers found. I've worked xorg.conf with several paths for the Section "Files", the works. There literally isn't anything I haven't tried. The new driver just. won't. work. I'm blaming upstream this time on the 7300 GT. I have now uninstalled the nvidia drivers and am running on nv (still have to find that in Arch), and am very grumpy without functional things that I need using compiz.

[viking60]

Oh sorry my bad - do the other stuff first and I'll be back (How come I feel like Arnold Schwartzeneger:)
You should use pacman though that way it will be upgraded

[dedanna1029]

Edited the above post.

[viking60]

I take it you have installed nvidia-utils?

[dedanna1029]

Will check.

Edit: Yep, all that's done. Still no joy. I've run nvidia-xconfig with no joy a thousand times, I've run system-config-display with no joy, I've done it all. I've been battling this now for over two weeks in Fedora (this is the second kernel/Xorg update in a row where it hasn't worked). None of the nvidia 256 drivers have ever worked but one time. I sorely wish they had the 195 drivers still on the server. At least I could use those if they did.

Edit 2: I'm too tired now to deal with this - have been going at it since last night. I don't know what else to do but add something on the kernel line in grub. I just have to figure out what.