Kernel update broke Nvidia

[Alan Dacey Sr.]

On Thursday, January 27, 2011 12:12:02 pm Homer wrote:
> I find a lot of hits with google, but I'm not seeing a solution yet
> that I think is right for my situation.  I just ran an update and the
> kernel updated from 2.6.32-27 to 2.6.32-28.  On reboot I was dumped to
> a command prompt.  Rebooting to the older kernel still works.  Some
> pertinent messages in Xorg.0.log are:
> 
> (II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
> (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/extra-modules/nvidia_drv.so
> (II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
>         compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
>         Module class: X.Org Video Driver
> (EE) NVIDIA: Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module. Please check your
> (EE) NVIDIA:     system's kernel log for additional error messages.
> (II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
> (II) Unloading /usr/lib/xorg/extra-modules/nvidia_drv.so
> (EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module-specific error, 0)
> (EE) No drivers available.
> 
> What is the most straightforward way to deal with the nvidia
> module/drivers after kernel updates?
> 
> 

What probably happened is there is no nvidai driver for the new kernel.  

Did you install the nvidia-current package or did you install it manually?  If you installed it manually, you have to manually update it to the new kernel,  the exact command escapes me at the moment but it's not hard to find (?? nvida-xconfig ??).  

If you installed the ubuntu package then make sure that dkms is also installed, that will compile all nessesary apps for new kernels such as VirtualBox, Nvidia drivers, etc.  I believe that it will run automagically on installation.

Alan