nvidia-common package problem

[Giles Orr]

On 8 May 2011 07:58, Russell reiter <rreiter91-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On Sun, May 8, 2011 at 7:33 AM, Giles Orr <gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> I'm running Debian amd64 testing on a Core 2 system with an Nvidia
>> GeForce 8400 GS video card.  I'm using the nvidia proprietary driver
>> (although switching to the nouveau driver is looking like a better and
>> better idea ... does it do dual head?).  Whenever I try to do a system
>> upgrade ("aptitude update ; aptitude full-upgrade") it hangs on the
>> nvidia-common package, as below:
>>
>> # aptitude install nvidia-common
>> The following packages will be upgraded:
>>  nvidia-common
>> 1 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 352 not upgraded.
>> Need to get 13.3 kB of archives. After unpacking 12.3 kB will be used.
>> Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?]
>> Get:1 ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ wheezy/contrib nvidia-common
>> amd64 20110426+1 [13.3 kB]
>> Fetched 13.3 kB in 0s (19.4 kB/s)
>> Preconfiguring packages ...
>> dpkg: warning: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/available' near line 12505
>> package 'nvidiabinaryblob':
>>  error in Version string 'pkg2-1': version number does not start with digit
>> (Reading database ... 196539 files and directories currently installed.)
>> Preparing to replace nvidia-common 20110213+1 (using
>> .../nvidia-common_20110426+1_amd64.deb) ...
>> Unpacking replacement nvidia-common ...
>> Setting up nvidia-common (20110426+1) ...
>> dpkg: error processing nvidia-common (--configure):
>>  subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 30
>> configured to not write apport reports
>>                                      Errors were encountered while processing:
>>  nvidia-common
>> E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
>> A package failed to install.  Trying to recover:
>> Setting up nvidia-common (20110426+1) ...
>> dpkg: error processing nvidia-common (--configure):
>>  subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 30
>> Errors were encountered while processing:
>>  nvidia-common
>>
>>
>> I tried again:
>>
>>
>> # aptitude install nvidia-common
>> The following partially installed packages will be configured:
>>  nvidia-common
>> No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
>> 0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 352 not upgraded.
>> Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 0 B will be used.
>> Setting up nvidia-common (20110426+1) ...
>> dpkg: error processing nvidia-common (--configure):
>>  subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 30
>> configured to not write apport reports
>>                                      Errors were encountered while processing:
>>  nvidia-common
>> E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
>> A package failed to install.  Trying to recover:
>> Setting up nvidia-common (20110426+1) ...
>> dpkg: error processing nvidia-common (--configure):
>>  subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 30
>> Errors were encountered while processing:
>>  nvidia-common
>>
>>
>> Since this is failing, any number of other packages are refusing to
>> install as well because aptitude insists on attempting to install
>> nvidia-common first.  Also, several packages that require
>> nvidia-specific drivers ("hugin" and "k3b" at least) are currently
>> failing to work.  I rely on both these programs, so suggestions would
>> be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.
>
> You could try using module-assistant.
>
> # apt-get install module-assistant gcc nvidia-kernel-common
> # m-a update
> # m-a prepare
> # m-a auto-install nvidia

I thought this sounded like a good idea, but also thought perhaps I
should try it with the latest kernel.  So I installed 2.6.38 (miracle
of miracles, I actually succeeded in that).  I rebooted to that
kernel.  Then I attempted to get the latest nvidia-kernel-common ...
and it failed because it first attempted to configure nvidia-common.

For the most part, video is working properly with the old 2.6.32
kernel.  And rebuilding the nvidia module seems somewhat redundant
given that.  More importantly, I also don't think it'll fix the
package problems that exist for another kernel.  Anyone got any other
ideas?

If I get truly desperate I may uninstall all the nvidia stuff
entirely, do my upgrades, and then try to get the nouveau driver
working.  If nouveau doesn't work, I'd attempt to go back to the
nvidia driver on the new kernel - but I run the risk of getting
stranded without dual head, which is a pretty unpleasant thought when
you've used it for over a decade ...

-- 
Giles
http://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
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