NVIDIA API mismatch

I couldn’t boot into Unity after upgrades last night. Fortunately I didn’t need the lappy for the meeting I was heading to.

22 tabs later, I figured out the issue. Basically, the nvidia module loaded in the kernel was different from the driver I has installed, causing the “NVIDIA API MISMATCH” error. I don’t have the entire error, but it shows the two versions that are different, in my case they were 3.19 and 3.04. I don’t care, it shouldn’t have happened, I am bitter at the moment.

Here’s how I solved it.

From 12.04.1 partial upgrade broke X:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current-updates-dev
sudo reboot

That got me to the login screen, but when I tried logging in it would flash to the nvidia logo, go black, and load the login screen again. I had read about this, and soon found Kicked back to login screen when logging in:

sudo rm ~/.Xauthority
sudo service lightdm restart

And it works again. What is .Xauthority? I don’t care.

grml said:

I had so much trouble with Ubuntu (also especially after updates!) that I finally gave up on it and switched to OpenSuse. It runs much more stable for me so far… and KDE is extremely customizeable and powerful.

I’ve never met an OS that didn’t break when I used it. Computing devices have allowed me a fascinating life, but my usage generates what my friends call the “maiki tax”. Wares just break, given enough time around me. :slight_smile: