Bug#861138: xwindows runs slow and crashes frequently

Luca Boccassi luca.boccassi at gmail.com
Tue Apr 25 10:18:51 UTC 2017


On Mon, 2017-04-24 at 18:53 -0400, Kenneth Howlett wrote:
> Package: nvidia-legacy-304xx-driver
> 
> I installed amd64 stretch. Nouveau did not work, so I tried
> installing the
> nvidia driver with:
> 
> dpkg --add-architecture i386
> apt update
> apt install nvidia-legacy-304xx-driver
> cat << endcat > /etc/X11/xorg.conf
> Section "Device"
>      Identifier     "Device0"
>      Driver         "nvidia"
>      Option         "IgnoreEDIDChecksum" "CRT-0"
> EndSection
> endcat
> 
> I rebooted in graphical mode. Xwindows ran slowly and frequently
> crashed.
> Crashes usually returned to the display manager login screen, or
> sometimes
> to a text login screen.  Crashes usually did not lock up the
> computer.
> Crashes usually occurred when starting a program.  I tried several
> variations of xorg.conf, but the results were the same.

Performance problems have nothing to do with the packaging, being the
nvidia driver's kernel modules and GL libraries proprietary closed
source binary blobs there is nothing that we can do about it. If you
have performance issues with your card you should report this upstream:

https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/board/98/linux/

> I tried uninstalling the nvidia driver with:
> 
> apt autoremove nvidia-legacy-304xx-driver
> 
> I edited xorg.conf to use the vesa driver and rebooted. xwindows
> would not
> start.  I suspect the nvidia driver did not uninstall cleanly, and
> the
> remnants of the nvidia driver are interfering with the vesa driver.
> I vaguely recall that apt install said it would use 300M of disk
> space,
> and apt autoremove said it would free up 40M of disk space.
> After uninstalling, there remains 15,406,296 byte file
> /lib/modules/4.9.0-2-amd64/updates/dkms/nvidia-legacy-304xx.ko.

As always remember to run apt autoremove --purge which will get rid of
anything left behind.
Then you can check if there's any stragglers, which at this point will
be because they were manually installed, with dpkg -l | grep "304.135"

> Sorry, I forgot to record the nvidia driver version before I
> uninstalled 
> it.
> It is whatever version was in stretch April 21.
> 
> The computer is hp pavilion a6110n with amd 64 bit cpu. Display 
> controller is:
> 
> 00:0d.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation C61 
> [GeForce 6150SE nForce 430] [10de:03d0] (rev a2)
>      Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:2a58]

Kind regards,
Luca Boccassi
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