Video problem with 7.2.0

[dataworx22]

I've been happily running Knoppix 6.7.1 off a USB stick for some time now and decided to upgrade to 7.2.0

Everything works just the same as 6.7.1, with the bonus that 7.2.0 now recognizes my iPhone so I can manipulate songs and photos. The problem is that after a period of use, typically browsing, the display (Acer Aspire 5520) starts producing strange artifacts and menus etc become hidden/unusable. Eventually I have to force a shutdown. This has happened three times in the last few hours.

When I boot to 6.7.1 again the display works as expected and does not degenerate so there has to be some difference in the two versions that is causing this behavior. Can someone here help to resolve this issue?

[dataworx22]

Unable to edit original post, so I'll continue here. I've searched for more information on this, the best I can come up with is that i need to install the nVidia GeForce drivers to resolve the issue. Is it likely that this will provide a solution: ie can one of the members with more insight into the differences between 6.7.1 and 7.2.0 be able to verify that it is likely a driver problem?

I note also that the driver install also necessitates re-compiling the kernel - is this really practical or should I just go back to 6.7.1?

[klaus2008]

Hi,

you forgot to tell us what graphics chipset your Acer Aspire 5520 uses.

If you decide to use the nVidia drivers you do not need to recompile the kernel but you need the kernel header files because you have to build a kernel module.

[dataworx22]

Klaus, the information at hand is:

nVidia GeForce 8400MG 128MB

Is that sufficient and could you direct me to information on where to source kernel header files to build a kernel module? In fact I'll need a fairly comprehensive tutorial since this is all new ground to me.

[klaus2008]

The kernel header files are included in Knoppix 7.2.0.

At NVIDIA's website you can find out that your graphics adapter is supported by the Linux driver 325.15. This driver is available in the experimental branch of the Debian distribution.

I will describe how I managed to install the nVidia driver under Knoppix 7.2.0 (CD version on a USB stick with 4 GB persistent store).
After boot up I established a connection to the internet and opened an LXTerminal. I issued the following commands in order to update the list of available packages and to download and install the nvidia-driver plus the configuration tools.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -t experimental install nvidia-driver nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig nvidia-kernel-dkms
sudo reboot

When the Knoppix boot screen showed up I quickly pressed the 'k' key and entered the following line at the boot prompt.

knoppix xmodule=nvidia 2

Then I pressed the enter key. The system booted up into a shell where I issued

nvidia-xconfig
init 5

The usual desktop appeared and I used the nVidia tool in the settings section of the menu to examine the system.

The next time I booted Knoppix 7.2 from that USB stick I did not have to use any cheat codes.

I hope your system will work more stable and usable.

[dataworx22]

Thanks very much for this Klaus, I will try a little later and let you know how it went...

[dataworx22]

The kernel header files are included in Knoppix 7.2.0.

At NVIDIA's website you can find out that your graphics adapter is supported by the Linux driver 325.15. This driver is available in the experimental branch of the Debian distribution.

I will describe how I managed to install the nVidia driver under Knoppix 7.2.0 (CD version on a USB stick with 4 GB persistent store).
After boot up I established a connection to the internet and opened an LXTerminal. I issued the following commands in order to update the list of available packages and to download and install the nvidia-driver plus the configuration tools.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -t experimental install nvidia-driver nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig nvidia-kernel-dkms
sudo reboot

When the Knoppix boot screen showed up I quickly pressed the 'k' key and entered the following line at the boot prompt.

knoppix xmodule=nvidia 2

Then I pressed the enter key. The system booted up into a shell where I issued

nvidia-xconfig
init 5

The usual desktop appeared and I used the nVidia tool in the settings section of the menu to examine the system.

The next time I booted Knoppix 7.2 from that USB stick I did not have to use any cheat codes.

I hope your system will work more stable and usable.

I copy/pasted the code to terminal, it proceeded as expected but before the machine rebooted I was prompted for a reply, result was the following;

/snip
After this operation, 78.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
Abort.
knoppix@Microknoppix:~$

I assume this is not the desired result so I'll wait for further instructions

EDIT: I've just tried this again but just hit enter after the prompt (no Y) and it is now proceeding...

[klaus2008]

I am not sure what happened.

Did you issue "sudo apt-get update" and waited until the list was updated?

Did you issue "sudo apt-get -t experimental install nvidia-driver nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig nvidia-kernel-dkms", answered the question(s) and waited until the download and installation of packages finished?

[dataworx22]

I issued "sudo apt-get update" and waited until the list was updated.

I then issued "sudo apt-get -t experimental install nvidia-driver nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig nvidia-kernel-dkms", answered the question(s) with lower case 'y' (no quote marks) and got the abort message.

Restarted the machine, went through the same process but suspected that the required answer may be case-conscious so answered the question with capital 'Y' and still got the abort message. That's when I posted the problem.

The third time I followed the same procedure but just hit the enter key instead of 'y' or 'Y' and the download went ahead.

Beats me.

But anyway, it's now installed, I followed the rest of your instructions and the machine boots to desktop, but more problems have arisen:

From the desktop I was able to modify the syslinux.cfg file to fix the time variance. Clicking on the Iceweasel icon to launch the browser resulted in the machine freezing ie. desktop display remained normal but the bowser did not launch, the only thing working was mouse pointer movement, no left click or right click on anything was working. The only way out is to force a power down.

[dataworx22]

To follow on from previous post, I've forcibly restarted the machine a few times to test - basically, once the machine has booted to desktop, clicking on or attempting to launch most applications, including System Information, IceWeasel etc cause an immediate and irreversible freeze.