[d_ave]

Hello, i have recently built an HTPC/home server based on HP Proliant G8 miniserver and a Nvidia 630 video card. Everything is running fine apart from one problem that i'm facing - sometimes when i switch on my TV i only get a black screen and i have to reboot the server to be able to view something. The TV (Toshiba) is hooked up to a Yamaha receiver via HDMI. The G8 is also hooked to the same receiver by HDMI. I searched the forum and found many times mentioned a solution to use drm_kms_helper. The problem is that i cannot find any further information on what exactly to do with it. I'm relatively new to linux and i think a lot of people facing that issue will appreciate to get some more detailed help on that matter. following the scarce information i updated my kernel to version 4.2.0-23, but i cannot find any further information on what exactly to do to force the output and not to lose HDMI connectivity. Can you please provide me with some details on how to use the drm_kms_helper?

P.S. I forgot to mention that i'm using Ubuntu 14.04 together with the latest Nvidia drivers. My server boots directly into Kodi and no other monitor is attached to it - only the HDMI cable to the receiver.

[fritsch]

Here: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2148505

You need a much, much newer kernel! I suggest kernel 4.4 from Ubuntu Mainline http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ as without the EDID information won't be overwritten.

[d_ave]

Thanks a lot for the quick reply, I didn't have time to try it but I definitely will tonight. Only bin one thing bothers me - you say it will work for Intel and radon -how about nvidia?
I also face another problem -there was a loss of power supply two nights ago. Now for some reason my sound do not work through pass-through. I also noticed that before that in video output I was able to see hdmi -now I see only default and it is grayed out. That's strange.

[fritsch]

nvidia with the binary nvidia driver use xorg.conf and their UseEDID param ... http://http.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/...dix-d.html

[d_ave]

OK now I face a real problem. I upgraded my kernel to 4.4 which was released a few days ago. Now Kodi does not start. The screen just flashes and I get Ubuntu login screen. When I try to login the screen just flashes and I get the login screen again. I have set Kodi to start automatically by editing the lights.conf in the following way:
File: /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
[SeatDefaults]
autologin-guest=false
user-session=kodi
autologin-user=" my user name"
autologin-user-timeout=0

[fritsch]

Can you ssh in? The name of the network device might have changed _if_ you somewhere wait for network.

/var/log/Xorg.0.log
dmesg | pastebinit

is needed.

[d_ave]

Ok, so i spent some time investigating and here's what happens:

with Kernel 4.2.0.23
- boots normally into Kodi
- for some reason it constantly changes from 50Hz to 59.94Hz. I changed the default desktop from Kodi to Ubuntu and managed to go to the Nvidia display settings page. There i set manually 1920x1080 as resolution @ 50Hz. I also set the TV to be the only and default display. This actually didn't change the strange behavior of the constantly changing 50 to 59.94 Hz.
- i updated the Nvidia driver from version 352 to 358, which i think is the latest one. During the build i saw passing some rows regarding both kernels 4.2.0.23 and the non-working 4.4

here is the pastbin from the Xorg.0.log and dmesg @ 4.2.0.23 in case you need to also check it.

dmesg
Xorg

with kernel 4.4.0-040400
- boots into ubuntu login screen
- as soon as i unput my password it just blinks and goes back to the login screen
- i can SSH
- i can start remote desktop

here's the pastebin from the Xorg.0.log and the dmesg @ 4.4.0-040400

dmesg
Xorg

I see in the 4.4.0 Xorg that it is trying to use some resolutions but for some reason it is not working.
Both times when i rebooted to take the Xorg and the dmesg my TV was working.
I noticed that the black screen on 4.2.0.23 is happening again. I also noticed that after i set the Nvidia settings to fixed 1920x1080 and 50Hz when i boot with TV off and turn it back afterwards i see a very small box with almost unreadable message that the video settings are not proper and it is switching to some simple mode or something like this.
Please let me know if you need some more information.

[fritsch]

[ 20.503468] kodi.bin[1847]: segfault at 0 ip 00007f8fe0ba3aea sp 00007ffc402cedc8 error 4 in libc-2.19.so[7f8fe0b1b000+1bb000]
[ 24.174911] kodi.bin[2489]: segfault at 0 ip 00007f9ddadacaea sp 00007ffe4f2ca658 error 4 in libc-2.19.so[7f9ddad24000+1bb000]
[ 24.633551] kodi.bin[2540]: segfault at 0 ip 00007f500e935aea sp 00007ffd9ba2f558 error 4 in libc-2.19.so[7f500e8ad000+1bb000]

This is your issue:

[ 25.101] (EE) NVIDIA: Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module. Please see the
[ 25.101] (EE) NVIDIA: system's kernel log for additional error messages and
[ 25.101] (EE) NVIDIA: consult the NVIDIA README for details.
[ 25.102] (EE) [drm] KMS not enabled

The driver is not built for 4.4

[d_ave]

I just tried to install a newer version of the Nvidia driver - beta 361.18 but i still got the following:
ERROR (dkms apport): kernel package linux-headers-4.4.0-040400-generic is not supported

does it mean i have to wait until Nvidia release a proper driver with kernel 4.4 support?

[fritsch]

OpenELEC is shipped with kernel 4.4 - so it should work ™

For your binary nvidia experience you can easily go with kernel 4.3 for now.

As you asked for howto overwrite the EDID, see this howto, here and adjust it to Ubuntu: http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php?title=...DID_nvidia

[d_ave]

I've been playing with that during the last few days and the bad news are that not a single nvidia driver works with kernels 4.3 and 4.4. The latest kernel which works fine with every nvidia driver i tried is 4.2.0.23. Do you know if the overwrite edit method will work with that kernel? Also is there a way to disable hot plug detection which supposedly will solve my black screen issue? The reason for not using openelec is that I use my server for several different things like personal cloud storage, plex server etc. I tried openelec before I get my server when I was using a raspberry as a media center but I wasn't able to accomplish half of the things I have right now. So any more ideas? I know I'm asking in the kodi forum even though my problem is nvidia/ubuntu related but you seams to be pretty well informed regarding such issues and I doubt that I will get any help in some other forum.

[fritsch]

It will work for every kernel.

Only intel / radeon need new kernels.

Nvidia does not use drm_kms_helper it all - it uses xorg.conf see: http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php?title=...DID_nvidia