Bug#903541: nvidia-driver: Nvidia-driver 390-67 displays SDDM black screen

[Michael Haag]

This is an update to my previous response (copied below). I purged Kodi and pulseaudio, since it was after installing those items that my system went completely black screen.

Surprisingly, a reboot brought up a working SDDM login screen, but after logging in I'm presented with a black KDE desktop just as before. I can enter commands to reboot, so the desktop is active, but all I ever get upon logging in is a black screen.


On Wed, Aug 29, 2018, at 21:22, Michael Haag wrote:
> There's some really weird shit going on here.
> 
> I'm going to start from the beginning, as best as memory serves:
> 
> I had problems with surround sound on my HTPC, primarily due to the 
> limitations of S/PDIF. I decided to upgrade to a video card that 
> supported audio over HDMI. I wanted fanless, so my options were very 
> limited. I went with a NVidia GT730 card. This was several months ago.
> 
> As it turned out, Debian stable (Stretch) did not support this card. I 
> think it was both a kernel issue and an nvidia-driver issue. So I 
> upgraded to Debian testing (Buster).
> 
> Initially, I ran into an SDDM black screen problem, which I reported. I 
> was able to type in my password (don't ask why I even tried this) and my 
> KDE desktop would load normally. This is why I thought is was an SDDM 
> problem.
> 
> After some time, Debian testing updated the nvidia-driver, and lo and 
> behold, I got an SDDM login and a subsequent functioning KDE desktop 
> session, no problem. I was happy. I think the update nvidia-driver 
> version was 384.??, but I'm not sure.
> 
> All was good for awhile, but then another nvidia-driver upgrade created 
> the same problem as before. SDDM black screen, but I was still able to 
> login to a functioning KDE session.
> 
> Another nvidia-driver update (390.77) resulted in an SDDM black screen 
> but I was still able to login to a KDE session with a working desktop. 
> However, a subsequent update to KDE resulted in an SDDM black screen 
> that also resulted in a black screen KDE session. What I mean by that is 
> that SDDM allowed me to login, but KDE then also presented a black 
> screen. I could enter commands to reboot the system, so the KDE session 
> was active but there was no display.
> 
> My setup is this:
> 
> HTPC connected to a Marantz AV7005 receiver via HDMI. Marantz receiver 
> connected to a Samsung 4k TV via HDMI.
> 
> The Marantz receiver is limited to 1920x1080 video input. The nvidia-
> driver correctly detects this.
> 
> The first time I experienced this problem I applied a firmware update to 
> my Marantz receiver, but the problem persisted.
> 
> When I connect my HTPC directly to the TV there is no display problem at 
> all, but there is no way to get surround sound working that way (ARC is 
> non-functional and S/PDIF outputs digital stereo, not surround).
> 
> I suspected some type of resolution "handshaking" issue, so I searched 
> the Internet for tips on forcing resolution settings with NVidia 
> drivers. I came across instances where people were using xorg.conf to 
> override system defaults (as you suggested) so I created a file using 
> the NVidia utility and placed it in /etc/X11/.
> 
> To my surprise (according to Debian xorg.conf is deprecated) it worked. 
> Unfortunately, the fix was temporary. I successfully logged in via SDDM 
> and was presented with a functioning KDE desktop session several times. 
> I was very happy.
> 
> I subsequently installed Kodi and a few other applications that I use, 
> but discovered sound was no longer working. I checked all the multimedia 
> settings, pulse audio, Kodi audio settings, etc. etc. etc. and could 
> still not get sound working. It was working briefly, which is why I went 
> and installed Kodi in the first place.
> 
> During the process of trying to resolve the sound issues, I rebooted, 
> only to find I now have both a black SDDM screen AND a black KDE 
> session. I'm right back where I started, several days and multiple 
> installations (Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Stretch, Buster) later, including trying 
> out experimental nvidia-driver.
> 
> Fuck me. Shit works, and then it doesn't, for no apparent reason.
> 
> 
> On Wed, Aug 29, 2018, at 19:27, Vojtech Bocek wrote:
> > Yeah, xorg should be self-configuring now, but I think you can still use
> > xorg.conf file. Doing this should have the desired effect, I think, and
> > it's worth trying out (if it doesn't work, just remove xorg.conf):
> > 
> > cp -i /etc/nvidia/nvidia-drm-outputclass.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf
> > 
> > On Sat, 25 Aug 2018 at 09:25, Michael Haag <haagmj at fastmail.net> wrote:
> > 
> > > Yes. I should have mentioned I was sending the bug report from another
> > > machine.
> > >
> > > Thanks for the response, but to my knowledge Xorg.conf has been
> > > deprecated. I know there is no such file on either of my PCs.
> > >
> > >
> > > On Fri, Aug 24, 2018, at 16:20, Vojtech Bocek wrote:
> > > > Hello,
> > > > I'm assuming the bug report in your message is from the PC where it is
> > > > working, since the Xorg.0.log contains only HD monitor.
> > > > Try adding contents of /etc/nvidia/nvidia-drm-outputclass.conf (installed
> > > > by xserver-xorg-video-nvidia) into your Xorg.conf.
> > > > For me, the issue was that libglx from xorg was loaded instead of the one
> > > > by Nvidia, and this fixed it.
> > > >
> > > > I think the xserver-xorg-video-nvidia is supposed to be adding those
> > > config
> > > > lines automatically, but it is not.
> > >