17

I made the mistake of installing the Nvidia Linux drivers direct from their website. It failed because it could not remove the nouveau driver.

Next I manually installed the nvidia drivers from the repository which successfully installed the nvidia driver, but the Ubuntu desktop does not function; no launcher, no menu bar, no windows. (Gnome seems to work though).

So I want to revert back to the vanilla installed nouveau driver. I tried

sudo stop lightdm
sudo apt-get purge nvidia*
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
sudo reboot

but lshw -c video reveals I still have one nvidia driver and one i915 driver. nouveau has not returned and the desktop will not function.

I am considering a complete reinstall, is there anything else to try?

I have followed the other threads with the same issues, but the solutions did not work

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

Creates an error.

sudo apt-get install --reinstall xserver-xorg.core libgl1-mesa-glx

Did not make a difference.

cccm

Same.

Andreas Løve Selvik
  • 103
leepubuntu
  • 183

6 Answers6

14

Had the same problem.

sudo apt-get install --reinstall xserver-xorg-core libgl1-mesa-glx

This actually fixed it. Ubuntu 13.10 x64 + nVidia 740M. Thank you very much!

You did not mention your GPU. If you've had that problem on a laptop, I'd suggest its because of the so-called "Fusion" system (which uses your integrated GPU in lieu of discrete one when you don't need it).

chaos
  • 28,186
Inertia
  • 141
11

Ultimate fix:

sudo stop lightdm
sudo apt-get purge nvidia*
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
sudo apt-get purge bumblebee
sudo reboot now

Do not remove xorg.conf file, I repeat do not remove xorg.conf.

shaneonabike
  • 358
Arsalan
  • 111
9

Be sure you remove all blacklist entries involving nouveau from /etc/modprobe.d as well.

Otherwise even if the system is configured to use it, it will not. I believe blacklist-local, and the nvidia backlists will be of primary concern.

nux
  • 39,152
Tyler
  • 91
2

I would like to add, that it's possible that there is an additional .conf which blacklists nouveau, usually when the official nvidia installer was used. So, please don't forget to check also:

/usr/lib/modprobe.d/nvidia-installer-disable-nouveau.conf

and to make a .bak of it and deleting after that the original file.

127 001
  • 45
  • 5
1

I had the same issue. Mine turned out to be a badly configured bumblebee.conf referencing nvidia-304 in one place and nvidia-current in another.

Eliah Kagan
  • 119,640
tom
  • 11
1

Try this:

cd /etc/modules-load.d/ 
mv nvidia.conf nvidia.conf.backup

cd /etc/modprobe.d/
mv nvidia-blacklists-nouveau.conf nvidia-blacklists-nouveau.conf.backup
mv nvidia.conf nvidia.conf.backup
mv nvidia-kernel-common.conf nvidia-kernel-common.conf.backup

Good luck!

Weyler
  • 11