SOLVED I can't get a good nvidia driver or get MX 23 live to boot? [Solved]

[entropyfoe]

I am posting from the system in the QSI below. This system is in my family room and uses a big LG TV as the monitor. I never have got a good or correct aspect ratio or desktop size on the TV screen. I tried many internal MX settings adn looked deep in the video options in the TV, no success, ....yet.
That is one small problem now, I have a workable desktop, the panel is a bit cut off on the outer edge, but it works. But this nice CPU (a Ryzen 5600X) is running an old MX-19. So I want to update to MX 23. But I can't get my USB to boot, it gives the initial boot options, but all give a black display , usually I have a blinking white cursor, unresponsive.

So, I have a nice recent CPU, probably an old graphics card. I have tried severl of the boot options like failsafe, maybe one other, I would have to try and re-boot from the live USB. I think the USB is good, as it installed at least one system, my main system.


So, how to troubleshoot the MX23 live USB booting?

I took a picture during the MX-19 boot (I think) and it said

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GFORCE GT 710 GPU installed in this system is  supported through NVIDIA 470.xx Legacy drivers.  ....The 525.125.06 NVIDIA driver will ignore this GPU.

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System:    Kernel: 5.10.0-5mx-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-5mx-amd64 
           root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.5 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.14.0 vt: 7 
           dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: MX-19.4_ahs_x64 patito feo March 31  2021 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME B550M-A (WI-FI) v: Rev X.0x serial: <filter> 
           BIOS: American Megatrends v: 1401 date: 12/03/2020 
Battery:   Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Keyboard serial: <filter> 
           charge: 50% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: N/A 
CPU:       Info: 6-Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3 
           family: 19 (25) model-id: 21 (33) stepping: 0 microcode: A201009 cache: L2: 3 MiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 88803 
           Speed: 2416 MHz min/max: 2200/3700 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 2416 
           2: 2885 3: 2873 4: 2827 5: 3354 6: 2583 7: 2893 8: 2277 9: 2404 10: 3085 11: 3089 
           12: 2783 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass 
           mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, STIBP: 
           always-on, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA GK208B [GeForce GT 710] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: N/A 
           alternate: nvidia bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:128b class-ID: 0300 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.10 compositor: compton v: 0.1~beta2+20150922 driver: 
           loaded: nouveau,vesa unloaded: fbdev,modesetting alternate: nv display-ID: :0.0 
           screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1024x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 271x203mm (10.7x8.0") 
           s-diag: 339mm (13.3") 
           Monitor-1: default res: 1024x768 
           OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 11.0.1 256 bits) v: 4.5 Mesa 20.3.5 compat-v: 3.1 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: NVIDIA GK208 HDMI/DP Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus-ID: 06:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0e0f class-ID: 0403 
           Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel 
           v: kernel bus-ID: 08:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.0-5mx-amd64 running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 12.2 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl bus-ID: 04:00.0 
           chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280 
           IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: ASUSTeK PRIME B450M-A driver: r8169 v: kernel port: f000 bus-ID: 05:00.0 
           chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200 
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Bluetooth: Device-1: Intel type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-5:2 chip-ID: 8087:0029 
           class-ID: e001 
           Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: N/A rfk-block: 
           hardware: no software: no address: <filter> 
           Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch sniff 
           link-mode: slave accept 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 1.14 TiB used: 635.2 GiB (54.6%) 
           SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 250GB 
           size: 232.89 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 
           type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B2QEXM7 temp: 34.9 C scheme: MBR 
           ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB 
           block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> 
           rev: 3B6Q scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 24.41 GiB size: 23.91 GiB (97.92%) used: 7.91 GiB (33.1%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 
           ID-2: /home raw-size: 73.24 GiB size: 71.59 GiB (97.75%) used: 923.9 MiB (1.3%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 32.32 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
           dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     Packages: note: see --pkg apt: 2236 lib: 1150 flatpak: 0 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
           2: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ buster ahs
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 294 Uptime: 6h 12m wakeups: 4 Memory: 31.33 GiB used: 1.73 GiB (5.5%) 
           Init: SysVinit v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 
           alt: 8 Shell: quick-system-in default: Bash v: 5.0.3 running-in: quick-system-in 
           inxi: 3.3.06 

[Charlie Brown]

At least according to here it seems to work on Debian 12 (and some Ubuntu etc..) and nvidia driver from 361.45.11 to 470.63.01 ...

though the device is also noted as problematic ...

On yours even Nouveau was not loaded for some reason.

Also xorg shows: loaded: nouveau,vesa

rather than just: modesetting.


On current system:

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sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

It may say "No such file or directory", ... no harm. But if it gives no output: just reboot.

[Charlie Brown]

... Here's a working example from the Forum, with MX 23.2 (though it's KDE):

viewtopic.php?p=764195#p764195

driver: nouveau


Another one: driver: nvidia v: 470.223.02

viewtopic.php?p=761331#p761331


And MX-21.3: viewtopic.php?p=753614#p753614

driver: nvidia v: 470.199.02

[Stevo]

You may want to backup your system first, or at least learn how to get it to a terminal in case the GUI borks out, but on MX 19, I'd try and install the proprietary Nvidia drivers first with the MX Nvida Installer, just to see if those can get you a better resolution there. It tells you which drivers your card supports before installing them.

[entropyfoe]

Stevo,

Yes I will try the MX Nvidia installer tool, it is usually bullet proof.

But, I am more worried long term, about getting the live USB to boot so I can go to MX 23 and beyond.

Lots going on now, but I could make a new live USB install stick, from the latest release. Or I could try and get a different video card, though not a good option, because I like the fanless -quiet cards.

[entropyfoe]

OK,

I downloaded the latest 23.2. md5 was good, so I burned to to USB,and tried the install again.

After two tries, I used failsafe nomodesetting as the boot option.

That booted to the live session, so I installed, but the installed system gets to run level 5, and goes black with only a blinking cursor in the upper left.

I tried some key combinations, a startx, silly little tricks that worked in the past.
Nothing.

If I use the reset button, I see the system shutting down, so linux was running, just no display.

So, how to either fix that installation from the live USB? Or, reinstall with some direction or option to get a graphics driver that works for this GeForce GT 710.

Any tips from our experts?
Thanks

[Eadwine Rose]

When you boot the live, at the grub screen press e at the top entry, and at the end of the first line add: xorg=nvidia

That will make the live boot to a screen.

(oh wait, that is for snapshots and such with nvidia, sorry, didn't read properly)

[entropyfoe]

I was able to boot the USB to a live session with failsafe nomodesetting

But when I did the install to the drive, the installed MX23.2 goes to tun level 5, then a black display with a white blinking cursor, no response from the keyboard.
When I kill it with the reset button, linux shuts down, so it was running, just no display.

How can I fix the installed version from the live session?

Or, if I reinstall, what can I do to get a video driver to install to that GeForce card?

[fehlix]

That booted to the live session, so I installed, but the installed system gets to run level 5, and goes black with only a blinking cursor in the upper left.

Suggest to boot to the runlevel 3 console without splash
by changing the boot parameter "splash" to "nosplash"
or remove "splash"
and add a number "3" space separated to the line starting with linux.
Press E-key "E for edit" to change the boot menu entry, and F10 to boot.

After login try to get nvidia installed with:

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sudo ddm-mx -i nvidia

[OKie]

During the boot, does it say anything about "ibt" not being loaded? I had to turn this off in grub.cfg to get my nvidia card to work with MX-23.