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I have a DELL XPS with an nvidia GeForce 1080 GPU, running Ubuntu 17.04. According to the nvidia webpage the compatible driver for this card is the nvidia 384.90

However after installation of this module (driver) either through apt-get or the software manager, the computer gets stuck in a login loop. Only after removing this driver and returning to the X.Org x server - Nouveau I can go back to normality.

How can I use/install the nvidia driver and avoid messing everything up?

Is this NOT the correct driver? (then how can I find out which one?) Am I installing it wrong? (then how can I do it right) Or is the problem rather based in other dependencies? (Problem arised when installing/updating the driver and CUDA)

UPDATE:

running cat ~/.xsession-errors shows between several messages: "Error: Couldn't find RGB GLX visual or fconfig"

There is no /proc/drivers/nvidia folder (only rtc). It all points to a faulty driver installation, but have tried several methods (software manager, apt-get) without luck.

Also nvidia-smi fails because "it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running"

LHM
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1 Answers1

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This is a Gnome issue (bug). Check your GDM. It is probably 3.18+. Seems it doesn't work very well with Nvidia and I had the same issue. Workaround?

I changed gdm3 to lightdm on Ubuntu. Works fine (I even used this on Ubuntu GNOME 16.04).

sudo apt install lightdm

Or use Noveau until the gnome guys fix this (at least you can use the computer).

If you read the entire bugzilla page, you will see this is not something they are prioritizing right now.

luisdarui
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  • I am using lightdm and not gdm. At least that is the output of cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager – LHM Oct 20 '17 at 16:32
  • That is weird. I can only have this issue if I use gdm3. With lightdm it works fine (with the NVIDIA proprietary driver). Is there any reason you wouldn't stick with Noveau?

    Did you tried the following:

     – luisdarui Oct 20 '17 at 16:41
  • Remove .Xauthority file from Your home dir and try again. – Michal Przybylowicz Oct 20 '17 at 16:44
  • I forgot to ask: there were similar errors:

    https://askubuntu.com/questions/832296/nvidia-proprietary-driver-on-ubuntu-16-04-causing-login-loop

    https://askubuntu.com/questions/943394/17-04-login-loop-after-installing-nvidia-drivers

    https://askubuntu.com/questions/771548/ubuntu-16-04-login-loop-no-launcher-nvidia

     – luisdarui Oct 20 '17 at 16:47
  • @luisdarui I cannot stick with Noveau because I need to use the CUDA toolkit which will only do with the nvidia drivers. @ MichalPrzybylowicz I tried that already without success. What I have not tried is disabling lightdm before installing the drivers. But I am not sure how to do it, as it is only mentioned rarely. – LHM Oct 20 '17 at 21:17