[Ubuntu 12.04.1/12.10] nVidia drivers 304.51 prevent autohidden Unity launcher from revealing

Currently setting to high since we dont have that version of the driver in Ubuntu yet.

How do you even revert to 304.43? Synaptic lists 304.51 as the only available ppa version, the other two versions (295) are in the standard ubuntu repo and have enough problems of their own (like 3D not working!).

As a temporary fix, here's how I downgraded my Nvidia drivers and regained the default behavior of Unity 5.16:

First, disable the Ubuntu-X team PPA if it is enabled:

 - Hit ALT + F2 and run software-properties-gtk
 - Click on the Other Software tab
 - Find the following entries and uncheck them:
   * http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates/ubuntu precise main
   * http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates/ubuntu precise main (Source Code)

Next, log out and on the login screen, hit ALT + F1 to continue.

Back up the current xorg.conf file:

 - sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.NVIDIA

Now, remove the existing Nvidia drivers:

 - sudo apt-get --purge remove nvidia-common nvidia-current nvidia-settings

Next, reboot:

 - sudo reboot

After restart, hit ALT + F1 and download the previous NVidia drivers:

 - Ubuntu 32-bit:
   * cd $HOME/Downloads && wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/304.43/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-304.43.run

 - Ubuntu 64-bit:
   * cd $HOME/Downloads && wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/304.43/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.43.run

Once downloaded, time to install the previous driver release, but first, we need to kill the current X Server/LightDM instance:

 - sudo service lightdm stop

To install for 32-bit Ubuntu:
 - sudo chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-304.43.run
 - sudo sh $HOME/Downloads/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-304.43.run

To install for 64-bit Ubuntu:
 - sudo chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.43.run
 - sudo sh $HOME/Downloads/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.43.run

When prompted in the setup to generate the Nvidia settings or xorg.conf file, click "No". You should be able to use the same settings you already had before installing the newest version of this driver.

Now we can restore our previous settings file:

 - sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.NVIDIA /etc/X11/xorg.conf

And finally, reboot one last time:

 - sudo reboot

Once the either the Nvidia drivers or Unity get updated to resolve this bug, then just re-enable the Ubuntu-X team PPA and run the following to install the current driver:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-common nvidia-current nvidia-settings

Hope this helps. Just remember to keep tabs on when the next driver is released because you will have to run the previous command manually to get it back from the Ubuntu-X team PPA.

+1 and fixed the language of the title.

This is very likely a regression of the issue in bug 937792, which was actually problem in xorg-server that became noticable from a change in nvida-current.

It that case, xorg didn't properly calculate velocity when the cursor hit the edge of the screen as a result of nvidia clamping the mouse into the visible screen area (which is a reasonable thing to do).

Perhaps something has been reverted in xorg or nvidia's clamping method has changed.

launcher is ok after downgrading nvidia to 304.43.
Thanks.

it's not only nvidia. my intel catch this bug too. and i dont have nvidia drivers. so, what i should do to fix?

Skai, you should read this comment: https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/931982/comments/9 and see if that helps

Same here. Nvidia drivers downgraded to fix temporary.

It's obviously not a nvidia problem. The newest version of closed driver is working all fine. If should something be patched it has to be unity itself, not the video driver. Stop thinking in this wired way, which does no good for a better linux D.E.

@funicorn It is a driver problem, but probably only afecting the beta version. If you have the latest stable version it won't affect you, at least until they push it to final version if they don't solve it first.

Nvidia 304.51 run very well with unity 5.14.

unity, unity-service, unity-common and libunity-core 5.14 are always in the pool yesterday.

I have downloaded them just before they were removed.

You can found them here to try downgrading unity : ftp://home.maisondouf.fr/unity-5.41/

No. Nvidia 304.51 is a stable version and I still have the same problem. By driver problem do you mean it cannot be fixed by patching unity alone ?

oups : ftp://home.maisondouf.fr/unity-5.14/

I am confused now. So you mean that even with the latest version of the nvidia driver it works fine with unity 5.14? i.e. the launcher reveals fine? Could anyone else please confirm that as well.

I have an iMac with up to date stock install of Ubuntu 12.04.1 + Unity 5.16.

Pushing to edge reveals the launcher.

I added ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates and upgraded so I now have nvidia-current 304.51-0ubuntu1~precise~xup1. Now the launcher won't reveal. I then downgraded to Unity 5.14 and the launcher still won't reveal.

I then rolled back the nvidia driver to 295.40 using "sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates" and using Unity 5.14 it works fine.

Which leads me to believe this is an issue relating to the nvidia driver and not directly as a result of the Unity 5.14 -> Unity 5.16 upgrade.

I have to apologize, nvidia 304.51 does'nt reveals the laucher with unity 5.14.

shame on me, i have too mixed amd64 versions and I have seen my mistake when I have tried to test this on a PC with x86 arch.

I think the bug is critical not only high. Many users won't find a temporay solution for this even googoling around. Bug affects the panel which contains the links to all programs, thus the O.S. becomes unusable.

If a user can install that version of the driver, I don't think he/she is non-technical enough to find a solution on the web. Since installing drivers from a ppa is not recommended. Precise do have nvidia-current-updates 304.43 in -proposed repository which is proven to work quite well.

Bug confirmed. I have the same issue. Problem was intorduced by standard Ubuntu update schedule.

I am also experiencing this bug. I think this may also be related to a problem I am seeing with Ubuntu 12.04 running in Virtualbox (with an Ubuntu 12.04 host) in that I cannot get the launcher to show at all in Virtualbox unless I use Unity 2D.

For the record, my system is running Ubuntu 12.04 and GeForce 9400 GT/PCIe/SSE2.

Turning off auto-hide is a temporary fix, so I will wait for an NVidia patch to become available.

Update to comment #20: After re-booting my system, I am no longer experiencing the problem with Virtualbox instances.

Still have to turn off autohide, however.

After a standard Ubuntu update (no ppa's) I'm also affected by this bug. I hope this will be fixed soon, this is really a critical bug.

I have the same issue on 12.04 in a regular (non-virtual) installation. The launcher no longer reveals when bumped. My nvidia driver update came from ubuntu-x-swat ppa.

This bug has nothing to do with VirtualBox.

Some (many?) of us are running nvidia packages from the ubuntu-x-swat PPA because of the following show stopper bug that *still* exists in 12.04 LTS:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers/+bug/973096

For anyone caught between the two, you can install a specific version of the x-swat drivers (eg, 304.43) by downloading the correct packages from a previous build:
https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates/+builds?build_text=nvidia-graphics-drivers&build_state=built

12.04 amd64:
wget https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates/+build/3747934/+files/nvidia-current_304.43-0ubuntu1~precise~xup1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg --install nvidia-current_304.43-0ubuntu1~precise~xup1_amd64.deb

12.04 i386:
wget https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates/+build/3747935/+files/nvidia-current_304.43-0ubuntu1~precise~xup1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg --install nvidia-current_304.43-0ubuntu1~precise~xup1_i386.deb

To temporarily stop apt from upgrading the package:
echo nvidia-current hold | sudo dpkg --set-selections

To allow the package to be upgraded again (when this bug is fixed?):
echo nvidia-current install | sudo dpkg --set-selections

Just so that *everbody* knows. nvidia drier 304.43 is *already* in precise proposed repository. You don't need to install 304.51 neither you want to use any third party ppa when a stable version is already in archives. Thanks

see https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers-updates

Thanks Omer. You may wish to update bug #973096 with this information too since there is nothing on there to suggest this.

Thank you David for your instructions.

If what #4 said is true then this should be fixed on Ubuntu's end, not Nvidia's. It seems reasonable to not calculate velocity of the mouse if it hitting the edge of the screen.

Omer, thanks for that information. Indeed updated drivers in that form are rare and I assume this one has been pushed through at the request of Valve. Anyway, thanks for the notification. Can we expect to have updated drivers through the official repositories in the future?

On a side note, I am also affected by this bug. Reverting to 304.43 solves the problem with Unity.

Sounds more like a glitch in the pointer barriers code actually.

Chris, can you take first crack at looking into this?

Looks like Alberto has already uploaded 304.51 to quantal. If the bug is not in pointer barriers, or if it is but is not immediately fixable, maybe we should consider keeping nvidia-common to 304.43 and move 304.51 to nvidia-current-updates.

Btw has anyone tested if this issue also affects 304.51 when used on precise? If it does then we should add a precise task for this bug as well, as it may impact the nvidia-experimental drivers when they arrive.

Yes, this bug also affect Precise, I'm running Precise on two PC with NVIDIA card (1with x86 arch and 1 with amd64 arch) and the 304.51 driver produce the bug.

Bryce Harrington <email address hidden> writes:

> Btw has anyone tested if this issue also affects 304.51 when used on
> precise? If it does then we should add a precise task for this bug as

Yes, Precise is affected as well, when using nvidia driver 304.51.

This doesn't seem to different then last time this occured, same temp fix add the option to xorg.conf
Option "ConstrainCursor" "no"

I can confirm that the workaround in #35 works! I just had to add that line to the Device section of xorg.conf where the nvidia card is configured (at first I thougth it should be in the input section but it seems that the problem is more related to the graphic drivers, not the mouse management.
The only problem is that it didn't work in my user xorg.conf (the hidden one in my home folder) but editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf worked perfectly. Thanks a lot Doug! Please spread the fix because the last weeks I've been googling for a solution I've noticed an increasing number of people having this problem and this is the first real solution I've found.
I'm still Waiting for an nvidia update but at least my desktop is useful again. Unity without the launcher is a real show stopper.
I've also used tabulation between the words Option and "ConstrainCursor" instead of a single space (I'm not sure if it makes any difference, just wanted to make sure the line had the same structure that the rest of the file).
Good luck everyone.

To be a bit more verbose - for those looking for a tmp workaround till fixed -
if no current /etc/X11/xorg.conf then create one with this in it

Section "Device"
  Identifier "NVIDIA GeForce"
  Driver "nvidia"
  Option "ConstrainCursor" "no"
EndSection

If there already is an xorg.conf with a device section then just add a line line in the section
 Option ConstrainCursor" "no"

This bug was fixed in the package nvidia-graphics-drivers - 304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1

---------------
nvidia-graphics-drivers (304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1) quantal; urgency=low

  * Revert to 304.43 (LP: #1057000).
  * debian/nvidia-current.dirs.in:
    - Add /usr/share/applications. This should fix
      nvidia-cuda-toolkit FTBFS (LP: #950963).
  * debian/nvidia-current.{postinst|prerm}.in,
    debian/rules:
    - Make sure that the packaging knows how to deal with
      reverted versions such as this one.
 -- Alberto Milone <email address hidden> Fri, 05 Oct 2012 18:52:59 +0200

I also confirm that the workaround in #37 works! The correct option is

Option "ConstrainCursor" "no"

...and not...

Option ConstrainCursor" "no"

(it also needs a " before the Constrain )

I have 304.43-0ubuntu0.1 from precise-proposed and still can't get the launcher to auto-reveal. nvidia-settings confirms the NVIDIA driver version is 304.43.

Adding the constrain-cursor option to /etc/X11/xorg.conf had no effect (though, worryingly, it still had 'Driver "intel"' rather than 'nvidia'. But even changing that, and multiple restarts hasn't changed the behaviour.

>>38
I don't think this should be marked "fix released", but "workaround" as the bug in the title and description is not fixed by downgrading, it is only avoided.

I've just install Quantal beta2 (i386) with NVIDIA driver 304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1.

No problem with launcher, mouse reveal it very well.

Workaround in #37 works for me too! Thanks...

Forcing a revert to the 304.43 driver breaks things for me, because 304.51 has a fix that stops the nvidia driver crashing the kernel so frequently. Isn't modifying xorg.conf a better solution than forcing a revert?

@Rocko in #44 Modifying the xorg.conf worked for me, and it's a less aggressive workaround that downgrading the drivers while we wait for the next nvidia release, and is easy to revert if it doesn't work anyway. Good luck.

Latest updates in 12.10 have fixed this for me.

Modifyng the xorg.conf worked for me also. Thank you!!!

Downloaded and installed NVIDIA-Linux-x86-304.51.run last night (using sh).

Thank you, Doug McMahon (mc3man)! (Post #37) This worked for me!

To be a bit more verbose - for those looking for a tmp workaround till fixed -
if no current /etc/X11/xorg.conf then create one with this in it

Section "Device"
  Identifier "NVIDIA GeForce"
  Driver "nvidia"
  Option "ConstrainCursor" "no"
EndSection

If there already is an xorg.conf with a device section then just add a line line in the section
 Option "ConstrainCursor" "no"

Still not working for me. Purged nvidia-.*; installed NVIDIA-Linux-x86-304.51.run from nvidia.com. Interestingly the xorg.conf it created has ConstrainCursor in the *screen* section. However, the launcher doesn't reveal whether it's there, or also in the Device section.

/var/log/Xorg.0.log contains:

[ 316.060] (**) NVIDIA(0): Option "ConstrainCursor" "no"

Also tried setting the following to no effect:
* Launcher Reveal Pressure: 1
* Launcher Edge Stop Overcome Pressure: 1

This, combined with bug #741869 is having a real impact on me.

Same here with Nvidia update. Tried every solution with no help except for the xorg.conf fix in #37, works again ;-)
Thanks Doug !

If it weren't for this community, I would have switched to Windblows 2 days after my 12.04 install ! I love Ubuntu but I tell ya, 12.04 has been quite testing on my nerves lol

Hi,

Thank you everyone for reporting and adding data to this bug. We will have an update to the graphics driver in a few weeks time. It was a mistake that it was fixed by 304.51.

Hi. I am affected by the same problem as well.

I've also found that having synergys running causes additional problems if there is a screen configured to the left.

Thanks for the extra feedback. I've communicated this bug to NVIDIA, and they confirm it is due to a recent change in the driver, and I expect we'll see a fix in an updated driver.

Fixed in 310.14: http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-display-amd64-310.14-driver.html

We will have an nvidia-experimental-310 driver package of this available later this week.

It will be available through the Additional Drivers dialog. See my blog
for more details.

As a general FYI... 310.14 has been published in the xorg-edgers PPA.

Seeing some gnome-terminal text rendering weirdness with nvidia 310.14, so beware, it's a beta after all. (Output text sometimes appears invisible at first...) That being said, it does fix the pointer velocity issues.

The verification of this Stable Release Update has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regresssions.

Closing the quantal bug since the buggy version got reverted and the next version will not have the issue

nvidia-graphics-drivers (304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1) quantal; urgency=low

  * Revert to 304.43 (LP: #1057000).

I have this problem after updating from 12.04 to 12.10 using the nvidia-current-updates driver. Adding
  Option "ConstrainCursor" "no"
fixed it.

Nvidia released 304.60 which fixed this issue.

Last update (304.60) for Precise was corrected the problem for me too.

I'm using nvidia-current-updates 304.51-0ubuntu1 and still have this problem.

Does Chris Halse Rogers (raof) in #64 mean this bug has been fixed?

Just updated to 304.60 in Precise, problem is resolved for me!

304.60 is not in the repositories for quantal. This is not fix released. 304.43 is the latest driver.

Latest update for 12.04 solves the problem. Also, I just upgraded to 12.10 and 64 bits and the problem doesn't appears anymore. Good journey buggers :)

As of 2012-10-29, the upgrade from 12.04 to 12.10 broke my Launcher. ConstrainCursor-workaround fixed the issue.
So the fix from 2012-10-22 didn't help me during upgrade.

I have 32bit 12.10 with latest updates, and still have this problem.

I am using 12.04 and I have tried both 304 drivers and the newest 310 driver and I still have this issue. I run a dual monitor (cloned) setup and when I press the super key, the dash appears, but the launcher still does not. The only driver that works for me is 295.40.

nvidia-graphics-drivers-experimental-310 nvidia-settings-experimental-310 are released to quantal-updates for people wanting to try that instead.

#35 & #37 fix it for me. Thank you! (I have an nvidia card too - GeForce 8400M GS))

Using nvidia-graphics-drivers-experimental-310 drivers fixed it for me!

Using nvidia-graphics-drivers-experimental-310 drivers *also* fixed it for me!

However, having other machines with the same problem, this did not seem a reasonable solution, so unblocked and removed nvidia-graphics-drivers-experimental-310 using synaptic, and now *nouveau* is the driver in use.

In other machines, installed "lubuntu-desktop" and switched to use it, instead of "ubuntu-desktop", even with nouveau.

Some people, who did not know what to do nor how to run programs without the launcher, reinstalled the whole system, due to this bug, so I agree with comments that find this a *critical* bug.

Autohidden works now with nouveau, but not perfectly: sometimes pointing the mouse to the left edge just show a "left arrow", the launcher only appearing after some attempts. This makes one think that something is wrong with the launcher, either software or configuration.

Just to give more information, some data from one machine:

$ lspci | grep -i nv
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G84 [GeForce 8600GT] (rev a1)
$ uname -r
3.5.0-21-generic
$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=quantal
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 12.10"
$ lsmod | grep nou
nouveau 823577 3
ttm 75534 1 nouveau
drm_kms_helper 47303 1 nouveau
drm 238768 5 nouveau,ttm,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit 13197 1 nouveau
mxm_wmi 12859 1 nouveau
wmi 18590 2 nouveau,mxm_wmi
video 18847 1 nouveau

I'm aware that I'm probably missing something and/or posting in the wrong place.

I am trying to find an active bug addressing the non reveal on autohide issue with 12.04.1 LTS. I don't have the nvidia driver package installed but am still suffering from the same bug.

There are a number of confirmed and incomplete bugs related to this - Bug #971018, #923749, this one #1057000 and many more. It is therefore impossible to unpick what problems are actually being addressed.

The bugs seem to suggest that the problem has been narrowed down to

1 incorrect settings,
2 lack of user skill, or
3 nvidia driver problems.

However there seems is a separate problem for people who

1 cannot make the toolbar appear even with CompizConfig adjustments,
2 have fully followed the instructions on how to push to get the launcher to appear, and
3 don't use nvidia drivers, or have tried the nvidia fix and it did not work.

I have already posted (probably incorrectly) on https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/971018.

Any advice on what bug to post on (to avoid further forum pollution from yet another new bug report) would be welcome.

quantal has seen the end of its life and is no longer receiving any updates. Marking the quantal task for this ticket as "Won't Fix".