Comment 0 for bug 1159269

Installing any nvidia-* driver package manually via apt-get or using System Settings -> Software & Updates -> Additional Drivers results in black/blank screen on boot on a MacBookAir3,1. No xorg.conf is getting generated during install and I'm guessing that the video card may not be getting properly probed on boot resulting in the black/blank screen.

After installing/purging every nvidia-* package and not having a usable X after reboot I finally reinstalled nvidia-experimental-310 and manually ran nvidia-xconfig. This finally generated an xorg.conf and I had a working X after reboot.

I'd expect to have a working X "out of the box" after installing an nvidia-* driver package; I didn't think I'd have to manually run nvidia-xconfig.

nvidia-xconfig generated the following xorg.conf:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 310.14 (<email address hidden>) Tue Oct 9 13:04:01 PDT 2012

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "Layout0"
    Screen 0 "Screen0"
    InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier "Mouse0"
    Driver "mouse"
    Option "Protocol" "auto"
    Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier "Keyboard0"
    Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor0"
    VendorName "Unknown"
    ModelName "Unknown"
    HorizSync 28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Device0"
    Driver "nvidia"
    VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device "Device0"
    Monitor "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth 24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Running nvidia-settings and saving the default config then resulted in the following xorg.conf (with drastically different settings than nvidia-xconfig generated) which has been working flawlessly:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 304.51 (buildd@batsu) Fri Oct 12 12:53:54 UTC 2012

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 310.14 (<email address hidden>) Tue Oct 9 13:04:01 PDT 2012

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "Layout0"
    Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier "Mouse0"
    Driver "mouse"
    Option "Protocol" "auto"
    Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier "Keyboard0"
    Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor0"
    VendorName "Unknown"
    ModelName "Apple Color LCD"
    HorizSync 30.0 - 75.0
    VertRefresh 60.0
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Device0"
    Driver "nvidia"
    VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName "GeForce 320M"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device "Device0"
    Monitor "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth 24
    Option "Stereo" "0"
    Option "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-2"
    Option "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth 24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: nvidia-experimental-310 310.14-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-13.23-generic 3.8.3
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-13-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia wl
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 310.14 Tue Oct 9 11:52:41 PDT 2012
 GCC version: gcc version 4.7.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.7.2-22ubuntu4)
.proc.driver.nvidia.warnings.fbdev:
 Your system is not currently configured to drive a VGA console
 on the primary VGA device. The NVIDIA Linux graphics driver
 requires the use of a text-mode VGA console. Use of other console
 drivers including, but not limited to, vesafb, may result in
 corruption and stability problems, and is not supported.
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
Date: Sat Mar 23 19:38:01 2013
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: raring
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 bcmwl, 6.20.155.1+bdcom, 3.8.0-13-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-experimental-310, 310.14, 3.8.0-13-generic, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard:
 NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:08a2] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Apple Inc. Device [106b:00d4]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-03-23 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Alpha amd64+mac (20130320)
MachineType: Apple Inc. MacBookAir3,1
MarkForUpload: True
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.8.0-13-generic root=/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root ro
SourcePackage: nvidia-graphics-drivers-experimental-310
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 01/24/12
dmi.bios.vendor: Apple Inc.
dmi.bios.version: MBA31.88Z.0061.B07.1201241641
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag#
dmi.board.name: Mac-942452F5819B1C1B
dmi.board.vendor: Apple Inc.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Apple Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: Mac-942452F5819B1C1B
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAppleInc.:bvrMBA31.88Z.0061.B07.1201241641:bd01/24/12:svnAppleInc.:pnMacBookAir3,1:pvr1.0:rvnAppleInc.:rnMac-942452F5819B1C1B:rvr1.0:cvnAppleInc.:ct10:cvrMac-942452F5819B1C1B:
dmi.product.name: MacBookAir3,1
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: Apple Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.9~daily13.03.20-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.42-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 9.0.3-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 9.0.3-0ubuntu1
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.13.3-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.3-0ubuntu2b2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.1.0-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.21.5-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.6-0ubuntu3b1
xserver.bootTime: Sat Mar 23 16:49:13 2013
xserver.configfile: /etc/X11/xorg.conf
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:

xserver.version: 2:1.13.3-0ubuntu3