"UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xff in position 0: invalid start byte" when removing nvidia-current package

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

same thing happen to me even when i try to downgrade to version 304,also i try to install ".run" driver from nvidia website.
to fix my system (12.04 TLS) i have to login as a root in console mode and remove all nvidia files:
apt-get purge nvidia*
then i have reboot my pc and everything was returned to normal especially the screen resolution.
note: i have attached the jockey.log file.

Purge doesn't work for me.

In the file: /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/Quirks/quirkinfo.py
Look at line no.45 in for item in self._quirk_info.keys():

value = open(os.path.join(self.sys_dir,
                    'class', 'dmi', 'id', item)).read().strip()

add mode='rb' to open() like this:

value = open(os.path.join(self.sys_dir,
                    'class', 'dmi', 'id', item), mode='rb').read().strip()

I think this bug is being fixed in the upstream already.
https://github.com/tseliot/ubuntu-drivers-common/commit/cee1ac2aaa4ee79b81c154fed282268fbbe7a9a2

We can close this bug with ubuntu-drivers-common (>= 1:0.4.19).

Thanks for uploading the fix for this bug report to -proposed. However, when reviewing the package in -proposed and the details of this bug report I noticed that the bug description is missing information required for the SRU process. You can find full details at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#Procedure but essentially this bug is missing some of the following: a statement of impact, a test case and details regarding the regression potential. Thanks in advance!

Hang on, this has been stuck in yakkety-proposed due to being FTBFS for six weeks(!) now. I'm rejecting the upload to xenial-proposed now as this takes too much time away from the SRU team by re-visiting the same SRU over and over.

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-drivers-common - 1:0.4.20

---------------
ubuntu-drivers-common (1:0.4.20) yakkety; urgency=medium

  * Remove PackageKit plugin. This stopped working with packagekit 1.0 as its
    apt backend is gone and aptcc does not support plugins.
  * debian/control: Drop obsolete XS-Testsuite:.
  * Bump Standards-Version to 3.9.8.

 -- Martin Pitt <email address hidden> Tue, 16 Aug 2016 11:46:36 +0200

Hello Dwi, or anyone else affected,

Accepted ubuntu-drivers-common into xenial-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-drivers-common/1:0.4.17.2 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

I do not experience the bug with package version 1:0.4.17.2.

Sorry after reading SRU wiki I found out I am not supposed to do that.

...but the launchpad comment tells me to mark it.

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-drivers-common - 1:0.4.17.2

---------------
ubuntu-drivers-common (1:0.4.17.2) xenial-proposed; urgency=medium

  [ Alberto Milone ]
  * gpu-manager.c:
    - Fix memory leak in get_alternatives(). Make sure to always free
      alternatives->current_core and alternatives->current_egl.
    - Partially drop the drm code, and get information about connectors
      from sysf. This fixes a long standing performance issue (LP: #1586933).
    - Disable persistence mode before powering down the dGPU.
      If persistence mode is not disabled, gpu-manager will not be able to
      unload the nvidia module (LP: #1619306).
    - Make sure to load and unload nvidia-drm. This fixes a problem that
      prevents the dGPU from being powered off in hybrid systems with
      recent nvidia drivers (LP: #1619306).

  [ Ying-Chun Liu (PaulLiu) ]
  * Quirks/quirkinfo.py:
    - Catch and ignore UnicodeDecodeErrors in dmi info, as some machines
      may report board_name as ffffffffffff0a to mean empty, and this
      causes an error in python 3 (LP: #1320868).

 -- Alberto Milone <email address hidden> Mon, 06 Jun 2016 12:49:19 +0200

The verification of the Stable Release Update for ubuntu-drivers-common 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 regressions.