Nvidia Driver crashed problem? / screen lock in Dell E6410 - NVS 3100M - Is it driver problem? How to resolve it?

Support and Help
1

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for having me and allow me to ask questions.
I am kind of new to Linux, and trying to install Iinus in my old laptop to learn from it.

The laptop is Dell Latitude E6410 with Nvidia NVS 3100M video card.
Ubuntu verison is 24.04 stable. I follow the instruction, and make a bootable USB and installation goes smoothly, even wifi works!

However, after using it for 15 min or so, I starts experiencing problem.
The main issue seems like screen lock up… I mean I can move the mouse but the clicking does not on the GUI, file folder, the left side meun bar, the top meau bar, or even the “right” click option would not show up or move. I can even select different windows on the screen.
In fact, sometimes, even I do “ctrl + alt + del”, it still wouldn’t reset. I need to press the power shut down buttom manually in order to reset.

It happens everytime, but it would happen randomly. The bookup is always ok, but once I open some folder or move around the folder windows or other stuffs, it would crash.
I am so surprise becasue Youtube and GIMP works… color shows up ok.

So, I use the command, journalctl -p err -b -1 to check the log before it crashes.
It shows the following 6 lines:

kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: msvld: unable to load firmw
kernel: nouveau 0000:01:00.0: msvld: init failed, -19
gdm-password [17990: gkr-pam: unable to locatdaemon con
system[1808]: failed to start app-gnome-gnome\x2dkeyring
system[1808]: failed to start app-gnome-gnome\x2dkeyring
system[1808]: failed to start app-gnome-im\x2dlaunch-227

this is an old labtop, so I assume most of the drivers should be stable enough.
from the reasch, it seems " nouveau" is the nvidia driver… I remember back 15 / 20 yrs ago, Nvidia had more support for linux, and AMD did not.

would someone please comment on it and provide some insight?

Thanks

2

That video adapter was released by Nvidia back in January 2010. Over time Nvidia drops support for their video adapters and that is why Ubuntu does not have Nvidia proprietary video drivers for older Nvidia video cards.

You can check this by opening the Software & Updates utility and go to the Addititional Drivers tab. If the OS is connected to the internet then the utility will check for proprietary drivers and if any are available the utility will offer to install one.

Regards

3

Hi graymech,

thanks for your quick response.
I follow the procedures you suggested, and there is no other drivers on the “Additional Drivers” .
It is blank, there is nother driver for me to select… and everything is grey-out.

I follow the instruction from Ubuntu to find the current version of the video driver, by typing
lshw -c video.

It shows it is driver “a2” .

I also goes to Nvidia web site, and they seems have a linux driver for this video card.
I downloaded the file… it is something like xxxxx.run

my question is, how do I install the Nvidia driver? I wonder how to install it.

Or should I install older version of Ubuntu ? like version 16.04 ?
I also come across this…
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/uidipv/how_to_install_nvidia_driver_340_on_ubuntu_2204/

Thanks

4

Typically the .run file directly from nVidia is not recommended. Older drivers then are not well supported in newer kernels. Some have secuity issues, since not updated. The nouveau driver is supposed to work for those older systems. Are you using Xorg or Wayland? With 22.04 nVidia suggested using Xorg. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Changes Default For NVIDIA Driver Back To Using X.Org Rather Than Wayland
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-22.04-NVIDIA-XOrg-Back

5

Hi Oldfred,

Thanks for your response. I don’t know which one I have, it is whatever the default when it was install, and during installation, it didn’t let me choose.

hmm… I just read that Ubuntu use Wayland as default… and I just find out that on the login screen’s lower right corner, there is the “gear” icon. If I select it, it shows 2 options. Ubuntu and Ubuntu Xorg. I guess that is how I select?

6

Do not know if that is soluiton, but worth a try. Yes the gear icon on logon screen is where you choose different gui, if you have multiple.

7

Hi odfred,

thanks for response. I just tried the Xorg by going to the “gear” icon and select Ubuntu Xorg.

It seems a little better in terms of stability. I was able to work/use Ubuntu desktop a little longer before it crashes again. Also, I notice that, when using Xorg, the performance seems little laggy company with the default Wayland.

I guess, I really need to install the Nvidia driver to test it out. If all above doesn’t work, should I go back to older version or Ubuntu? May be the 14.04 or 16.06 version?

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks

8

Both 14.04 & 16.04 are beyond normal support. Do log files show reason for crash? Have you updated UEFI firmware to latest available from Dell. May be old, but newer than one you have. Compare to vendors support site:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version
udisksctl status