The problem
When I boot Ubuntu, the purple login screen is extremely pixelated. Once I log in, the display is perfectly fine.
Background
My system uses an old graphics card, a NVIDIA 8800 GT. When I initially installed Ubuntu, the boot process failed using the default Nouveau drivers so I booted with nomodeset (which stretched out the screen but it worked). I then installed the proprietary nvidia drivers supported by the GPU (sudo apt install nvidia-340). The nvidia drivers allowed the computer to boot, but the screen was pixelated. I believe this is because the graphics card only supported 60Hz output for 1080p, and my monitor is 1080p at 144Hz.
Attempted Solutions
I tried setting the refresh rate to 60Hz in the terminal, but I got an error message:
xrandr -s 1920x1080 -r 60
# Output
# > Rate 60.00 Hz not available for this size
I then tried setting the refresh rate manually to 60Hz in Ubuntu settings. This seemed to solve the problem, but after rebooting, the purple login screen was still very pixelated. Upon logging in, though, the display was fine.
I also tried setting the refresh rate to 60Hz in the NVIDIA X Server program, but that didn't do anything. (I also saved the 60Hz configuration to /etc/X11/xorg.conf in the program because I thought that might get loaded before login. It still didn't do anything when I rebooted.)
Finally, I tried xrandr again, but using an output parameter:
xrandr --output DVI-I-2 --size 1920x1080 --refresh 60
There was no error message, but it still didn't work. I also tried putting that same command as a startup program, but again, nothing happened.
Diagnostic Information
- Monitor: Acer XV240Y (144Hz@1920x1080)
- Monitor connection: DVI from GPU into HDMI adapter into monitor
- GPU: NVIDIA 8800 GT
- NVIDIA driver version: 340.108
I am able to provide more details as needed.
Log Files / Command Outputs
# sudo systemctl status display-manager
* gdm.service - GNOME Display Manager
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/gdm.service; static; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Tue 2021-02-16 19:52:47 PST; 19min ago
Process: 27678 ExecStartPre=/usr/share/gdm/generate-config (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 27708 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-wait-for-drm (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 27717 (gdm3)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 19072)
Memory: 8.0M
CGroup: /system.slice/gdm.service
└─27717 /usr/sbin/gdm3
Feb 16 19:52:47 desktop systemd[1]: Starting GNOME Display Manager...
Feb 16 19:52:47 desktop systemd[1]: Started GNOME Display Manager.
Feb 16 19:52:47 desktop gdm-launch-environment][27773]: pam_unix(gdm-launch-environment:session): session opened for user gdm by (uid=0)
Feb 16 19:52:54 desktop gdm-password][28089]: pam_unix(gdm-password:auth): Couldn't open /etc/securetty: No such file or directory
Feb 16 19:52:56 desktop gdm-password][28089]: pam_unix(gdm-password:auth): Couldn't open /etc/securetty: No such file or directory
Feb 16 19:52:56 desktop gdm-password][28089]: gkr-pam: unable to locate daemon control file
Feb 16 19:52:56 desktop gdm-password][28089]: gkr-pam: stashed password to try later in open session
Feb 16 19:52:56 desktop gdm-password][28089]: pam_unix(gdm-password:session): session opened for user felix by (uid=0)
Feb 16 19:52:56 desktop gdm-password][28089]: gkr-pam: gnome-keyring-daemon started properly and unlocked keyring
# cat /var/log/gpu-manager.log
log_file: /var/log/gpu-manager.log
last_boot_file: /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/last_gfx_boot
new_boot_file: /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/last_gfx_boot
can't access /opt/amdgpu-pro/bin/amdgpu-pro-px
Looking for nvidia modules in /lib/modules/5.8.0-43-generic/updates/dkms
Found nvidia module: nvidia.ko
Looking for amdgpu modules in /lib/modules/5.8.0-43-generic/updates/dkms
Is nvidia loaded? yes
Was nvidia unloaded? no
Is nvidia blacklisted? no
Is intel loaded? no
Is radeon loaded? no
Is radeon blacklisted? no
Is amdgpu loaded? no
Is amdgpu blacklisted? no
Is amdgpu versioned? no
Is amdgpu pro stack? no
Is nouveau loaded? no
Is nouveau blacklisted? yes
Is nvidia kernel module available? yes
Is amdgpu kernel module available? no
Vendor/Device Id: 10de:611
BusID "PCI:6@0:0:0"
Is boot vga? yes
Skipping "/dev/dri/card0", driven by "nvidia-drm"
Skipping "/dev/dri/card0", driven by "nvidia-drm"
Skipping "/dev/dri/card0", driven by "nvidia-drm"
Skipping "/dev/dri/card0", driven by "nvidia-drm"
Does it require offloading? no
last cards number = 1
Has amd? no
Has intel? no
Has nvidia? yes
How many cards? 1
Has the system changed? No
Single card detected
Nothing to do
After removing nvidia-340
# new gpu-manager.log
log_file: /var/log/gpu-manager.log
last_boot_file: /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/last_gfx_boot
new_boot_file: /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/last_gfx_boot
can't access /run/u-d-c-nvidia-was-loaded file
can't access /opt/amdgpu-pro/bin/amdgpu-pro-px
Looking for nvidia modules in /lib/modules/5.8.0-43-generic/updates/dkms
Looking for amdgpu modules in /lib/modules/5.8.0-43-generic/updates/dkms
Is nvidia loaded? no
Was nvidia unloaded? no
Is nvidia blacklisted? no
Is intel loaded? no
Is radeon loaded? no
Is radeon blacklisted? no
Is amdgpu loaded? no
Is amdgpu blacklisted? no
Is amdgpu versioned? no
Is amdgpu pro stack? no
Is nouveau loaded? no
Is nouveau blacklisted? yes
Is nvidia kernel module available? no
Is amdgpu kernel module available? no
Vendor/Device Id: 10de:611
BusID "PCI:6@0:0:0"
Is boot vga? yes
Error: can't access /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:06:00.0/driver
The device is not bound to any driver.
Error : Failed to open /dev/dri
Error : Failed to open /dev/dri
Error : Failed to open /dev/dri
Error : Failed to open /dev/dri
Does it require offloading? no
last cards number = 1
Has amd? no
Has intel? no
Has nvidia? yes
How many cards? 1
Has the system changed? No
Single card detected
Nothing to do
How can I get the login screen to load in at 60Hz? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
