linux-image-386 and nvidia driver

[sktsee]

On Sun, 2006-07-23 at 06:07 +1000, Serg wrote:
> Howdy All, 
> 
> I have recently upgraded package:
> Linux-image-386
> 
> This is basically (and as far as I can tell) an abstract of package:
> linux-image-2.6.15-26-386

> Previous (and now current) version I was/am using is:
> linux-image-2.6.15-23-386.
> 
> After the upgarde, the X server refused to start with message relating
> to it not being able to find Nvidia driver. So I uninstalled:
> linux-image-386
> linux-image-2.6.15-26-386

You shouldn't have needed to do this as you could have selected which
kernel image to boot from grub's menu if it was updated correctly. 
> 
> and reverted back to:
> linux-image-2.6.15-23-386
> 
> Is there any explanation as to why this happens? And is there a way to
> fix this?

It happened on my system as well. I'm not entirely sure where the error
originates, but my guess is that depmod should have been run after
installing the kernel package, or on bootup, but wasn't for some reason.
Of course, that's just a wild ass guess since I didn't spend any time
trying to recreate the problem for debugging purposes. Anyway, I would
suggest you re-install linux-image-386 (in fact, make sure all the
metapackages linux-386, linux-image-386, and
linux-restricted-modules-386 are installed) then update your system
again. 

If after rebooting using the updated kernel image you get same problem,
take the following steps:

1. Login to the terminal. That's where you should be dumped after X gets
finshed asking you if you want to see error logs (choose no).
2. At the prompt type "modinfo nvidia" If it's the same problem I had,
then you should get an error message saying that nvidia couldn't be
found.
3 Type "sudo depmod -a" and let it run. It'll take a few to several
seconds depending on how fast your system is.
4. When depmod is done, try "modinfo nvidia" again. Hopefully, you'll
see details of the nvidia module printed out. 
5. If the above modinfo is successful, type "sudo modprobe -v nvidia" to
load the nvidia module. If no error appears, then type
"sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start" to start the desktop manager.

If you had success following the directions above, then the problem
should be fixed for subsequent reboots.


-- 
sktsee