Nvidia problems...

[omelette]

I think I have bitten off more than I can chew here. I was prompted that there were proprietary drivers available for my GeForce 7400 chipset (laptop), which I opted to install. This it did perfectly and without errors, I was then prompted to reboot, which I did. I was treated to the command-prompt, advising that (paraphrasing) Nvidia's place was occupied by something else, also adding it was probably Nouveau drivers that should be uninstalled. Back to Fedora, I found info on the uninstall-from-cli command 'urpme' and after rebooting and back at the command-prompt, proceeded to remove the 2 Nouveau packages it listed. it also informed after the uninstalling that there were loads of orphaned-installs, but I left things as they were. Another reboot, and another CLI - nothing seemed to have changed. I then decided to try removing Nvidia itself, which I did successfully, again being warned that there were loads of orphaned installs after doing it. Reboot again, nothing but the same CLI...

It was at this point I decided to take the easy way out and reinstall from scratch. Once done, after a little Mageia forum reading, I decided that rather than go with what was in the repository, to generate rpms from Nvidia's latest binary with the script found in this thread - https://forums.mageia.org/en/viewtopic.php?p=3708#p3708. Following the instructions there, it also went perfectly and I installed the rpms plus the required kernel-development stuff without a problem. Back to rebooting, I was now treated to a successful boot to the desktop - things were looking up! I then went to '3D Effects' and selected Compiz as it works perfectly with Fedora. It informed me it needed to download & install more drivers, which it did, again without errors. I was informed that I needed to then log-out. Unfortunately Compiz now fails to boot fully - it get to the part were it materialises the disk, tools and globe onto the bottom part of the screen, then it stops - it's 'stuck' there as opposed to the system having froze!

The thing is I cannot even figure out how to boot without Compiz now. The 'safe mode' option from the boot-menu only drops me to a shell - is this what it's supposed to do? I wouldn't have thought so.

[doktor5000]

First things first. If the X-Server doies not start, then you should

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grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log

to look which error caused it to not start,
not uninstalling blindly some packages.

The Failsafe boot option is there to get you a running system without the X-server, to fix problems or the like.

And finally, at the Login Manager you can select the desktop session, there you would choose drak3d and disable 3d desktop aka Compiz.
I don't know further about Compiz, been really long since i used it, because normally i want to work with my box and not play with all those effects.
If you're using KDE, i'd also advise you to use the desktop effects there, which are a replacement for a big part of Compiz and working better.

[omelette]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I've just run the command and from memory (don't know what CLI editor Mageia uses - it not 'nano' anyway!) there are three 'EE' lines;

1 says Query no Synaptics: 600c38.
2 says something along the lines of it cannot initialise the hardware.
3 says (something)Init returned 11 on Synaptics touchpad.

I just tried grep'ing the same file from Fedora and these warnings are not there.

By login manager, do you mean the GUI part where you are prompted to select the username & enter your password? All I see there is the options to restart Xserver or choose the CLI.

[doktor5000]

2 says something along the lines of it cannot initialise the hardware.
[...]
I just tried grep'ing the same file from Fedora and these warnings are not there.

The exact error message please. And no need to use a text editor, just do like i suggested, you can also

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grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log > xorg-errors.txt

and after a normal boot you can post the contents of xorg-errors.txt. And of course the error message is not there if the hardware is working in Fedora. You know, compare Apples with Apples.

And yes, that's what i meant by login manager. You can select a desktop session there, it should offer you at least KDE/GNOME (depending on what you're using), default and drak3d. You were clicking on the wrong button, the one you used gives you the options to open a text login, shutdown/restart computer and the like.

[omelette]

2 says something along the lines of it cannot initialise the hardware.
[...]
I just tried grep'ing the same file from Fedora and these warnings are not there.

The exact error message please. And no need to use a text editor, just do like i suggested, you can also

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grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log > xorg-errors.txt

and after a normal boot you can post the contents of xorg-errors.txt. And of course the error message is not there if the hardware is working in Fedora. You know, compare Apples with Apples.

Hee hee, I meant that with Fedora running, I went to Mageia partition & grep'ed Mageia's Xorg.0.log file for the errors, not Fedora Xorg.log. They obviously don't survive a normal reboot.

And yes, that's what i meant by login manager. You can select a desktop session there, it should offer you at least KDE/GNOME (depending on what you're using), default and drak3d. You were clicking on the wrong button, the one you used gives you the options to open a text login, shutdown/restart computer and the like.

Having just installed Mageia yesterday, I'm not familiar with what's available where yet. That and the fact that Compiz freezes before the login screen appears. I've just figured out that pressing CRTL/ALT/DELETE a few times in this state will bring up the login GUI. I was going to the console using CTRL/ALT/F1 till now!

Anyway, here's what Mageia's Xorg.0.log contains ;

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(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[   344.556] (II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
[   345.552] (EE) Query no Synaptics: 6003C8
[   345.552] (EE) SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad Unable to query/initialize Synaptics hardware.
[   345.564] (EE) PreInit returned 11 for "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"

[doktor5000]

Well, there is no error about the graphics driver, everything should work normally.
Then, i'd like to see the output of

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grep -i driver /var/log/Xorg.0.log

after a failed start of the X-server.

You can also run drak3d from a terminal if i remember correctly, and disable compiz from there.

Also Ctrl+Alt+Delete should not bring up the login manager, they should restart the system. Strange.
You can use Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to restart the X-Server, though.

[omelette]

Sorry, CTRL/ALT/BACKSPACE it should have been.

Here is the output you requested, but the circumstances are slightly different - it would appear I have discovered another twist on the problem! Having done as you suggested, namely with Compiz active and the desktop freezing, I enabled 'Drak3d', turned off Compiz from the dialog produced, logged-on with the KDE desktop and was back in business! Now with Compiz still turned off, I went playing with the Desktop Effects called up from the 'Settings' button (which is next to Clear Desktop etc) on the menu bar on the bottom left of the desktop. Specifically I enabled the "exploding windows" effect. Nothing happened except for the desktop freezing with the exception of the mouse pointer. On logging back in, I found that the desktop is back to freezing again, this time getting a little further - it starts to materialise the big 'K' before freezing! Also note that the 'grep EE' output is identical to what I posted above. Restarting the pc doesn't resolve it either. The only way I am able to access the desktop now is if I select 'Custom'. Again, Compiz is turned off. I have tried turning it on to see if it made a difference to no avail...

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[  1754.360]    X.Org Video Driver: 10.0
[  1754.360]    X.Org XInput driver : 12.2
[  1754.362] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/v4l_drv.so
[  1754.363]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 10.0
[  1754.395]    Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[  1754.396] (II) v4l driver for Video4Linux
[  1754.396] (II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver  280.13  Wed Jul 27 16:57:12 PDT 2011
[  1754.396] (II) NVIDIA Unified Driver for all Supported NVIDIA GPUs
[  1755.069]    Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
[  1755.069]    ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 12.2
[  1755.069] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'Video Bus'
[  1755.117] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'Power Button'
[  1755.122] (II) No input driver/identifier specified (ignoring)
[  1755.122] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'Sleep Button'
[  1755.128] (II) No input driver/identifier specified (ignoring)
[  1755.128] (II) No input driver/identifier specified (ignoring)
[  1755.129] (II) No input driver/identifier specified (ignoring)
[  1755.129] (II) No input driver/identifier specified (ignoring)
[  1755.134] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'UVC Camera (046d:08c6)'
[  1755.149] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'AT Translated Set 2 keyboard'
[  1755.158]    Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
[  1755.159]    ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 12.2
[  1755.159] (II) Using input driver 'synaptics' for 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad'
[  1755.269] (II) Using input driver 'synaptics' for 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad'
[  1755.317] (II) Using input driver 'evdev' for 'Dell WMI hotkeys'


So my question now is, how do I call up that 'Settings' dialog - from the 'Custom' desktop, I can call up the CompizConfig settings dialog, but not the dialog that caused my current dilemma?

[omelette]

A little addendum. I discovered that I could log-in with the Guest account - this is only with Compiz off - and managed to find out that "systemsettings" is unsurprisingly the command to call up the System Settings dialog, so was able to restore access. As it turned out, it wasn't the fact that I had check the 'exploding windows' effect that causes the freezing, but enabling 'Desktop Effects' itself!

I wonder if this is at the root of the overall problem?