NVIDIA Display going black during processing: A possible fix.

[basskleff]

I have run into an issue periodically, where my EVGA GTX980 TI (classified) card will be in the midst of processing cuda-type load (cudahashcat and pyrit, for example), and the display will go completely black with no signal.
This necessitates a hard shutdown, and processing continuity is lost- a real pain in the ****. One could ssh or telnet in and shutdown, I suppose, but the point is that processing has to start all over again, and there's no knowing when the issue will resurface.

The following is my setup:

Dell XPS8900, Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 24GB RAM moved into larger custom case.
2 x Seagate Sata III 6GB/sec 7200 RPM drives in software RAID-0 configuration
2 x EVGA GTX980TI Classified graphics cards
# uname -srvi
Linux 4.0.0-kali1-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.0.4-1+kali2 (2015-06-03) unknown

In searching similar problems experienced by gamers in windows and in speaking with EVGA support, a propensity of certain NVDIA driver versions to cause this, came forth.
Unfortunately, one of those driver versions is built into the current Kali release.

I decided to try rolling forward the NVIDIA driver to the Debian jessie release. This seems to have worked.
Technically these jessie versions are UNMATCHED with the kali kernel and nvidia kernel ("nvidia-kernel-$(uname -r)"), and I want to caution clearly that behavior could very well be UNSTABLE and UNPREDICTABLE after electing to do this.
So please consider that with your data and setup.

However, I've been processing for 5 days straight now, and my display has functioned perfectly normally.
I rolled version 352.21 up to v.352.79-1~bpo8+1.


This is tedious and laborious, and I strongly urge backups of your work and critical data.
I am not going to step through literally line by line, my commands to perform this, as this is not a how-to document.

I will summarize a couple of key steps to help.

1) Now, version 352.79-1~bpo8+1 (my target) corresponds to a "jessie-backports" specific repository. You will want to stay with all the associated "jessie-backports" version packages and libraries when you are working through your dependencies. More on this below.
2) Use the following to take a snapshot of your nvidia packages and their versions:

# dpkg-query -l|grep nvidia

3) Add the debian jessie repository to /etc/apt/sources.list and update:

To the file add:

deb http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian jessie main contrib non-free
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian jessie-backports contrib non-free
# apt-get update


4) Use rmadison continuously to go out over the internet and verify versions available for those nvidia packages and libraries you see in the dpkg-query command.
Install rmadison if you don't have. Find out how to do that elsewhere if you need.

Example:

# rmadison -r debian nvidia-profiler
debian:
nvidia-profiler | 5.5.22-6~bpo70+2 | wheezy-backports/non-free | amd64, i386
nvidia-profiler | 6.0.37-5 | jessie/non-free | amd64, i386
nvidia-profiler | 6.5.19-3~bpo8+1 | jessie-backports/non-free | amd64, i386
nvidia-profiler | 7.5.18-2 | stretch/non-free | amd64, ppc64el
nvidia-profiler | 7.5.18-2 | sid/non-free | amd64, ppc64el
new:

5) Now this is the tricky and tedious part. You will need to work through the warnings and error messages about dependencies that are missing when you attempt to install the major packages.
Again, use rmadiosn to verify that those dependencies exist in a "jessie-backports" version and that all the dependencies are aligned in version with the major nvidia packages you are upgrading.
You will often need to keep drilling down into the library level and install ( upgrade) them using the general command format:
# aptitude install <package>= x.xx.x


This is what my nvidia environment currently looks like:

# dpkg-query -l|grep nvidia
ii glx-alternative-nvidia 0.7.2~bpo8+1 amd64 allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
ii libegl1-nvidia:amd64 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA binary EGL libraries
ii libgl1-nvidia-glx:amd64 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA binary OpenGL libraries
ii libgles1-nvidia:amd64 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA binary OpenGL|ES 1.x libraries
ii libgles2-nvidia:amd64 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA binary OpenGL|ES 2.x libraries
ii libnvidia-compiler:amd64 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA runtime compiler library
ii libnvidia-eglcore:amd64 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA binary EGL core libraries
ii libnvidia-ml1:amd64 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA Management Library (NVML) runtime library
ii nvidia-alternative 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
ii nvidia-cuda-dev 6.5.19-3~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA development files
ii nvidia-cuda-toolkit 6.5.19-3~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA development toolkit
ii nvidia-installer-cleanup 20141201+1 amd64 cleanup after driver installation with the nvidia-installer
ii nvidia-kernel-4.0.0-kali1-amd64 352.21+1kali1+1~kali1+4.0.4-1+kali2 amd64 NVIDIA binary kernel module for Linux 4.0.0-kali1-amd64 <---- NOTE: THIS STAYS AT KALI release level.
ii nvidia-kernel-common 20151021+1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA binary kernel module support files
ii nvidia-kernel-dkms 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA binary kernel module DKMS source
ii nvidia-kernel-support 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA binary kernel module support files
ii nvidia-libopencl1:amd64 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD Loader library
ii nvidia-modprobe 340.46-1 amd64 utility to load NVIDIA kernel modules and create device nodes
ii nvidia-opencl-common 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL driver
ii nvidia-opencl-dev:amd64 6.0.37-5 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL development files
ii nvidia-opencl-icd:amd64 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL installable client driver (ICD)
ii nvidia-profiler 6.5.19-3~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA Profiler for CUDA and OpenCL
ii nvidia-support 20141201+1 amd64 NVIDIA binary graphics driver support files
ii nvidia-vdpau-driver:amd64 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix - NVIDIA driver
ii nvidia-xconfig 340.46-1 amd64 X configuration tool for non-free NVIDIA drivers
ii xserver-xorg-video-nvidia 352.79-1~bpo8+1 amd64 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver


Good luck and I hope this helps others!

[kofphee]

Apologies in advance, my keyboard has been messing with me all day since i started installing Kali.
To that, i\m also an amateur when it comes to computer mechanics.
Additional note> if anyone is willing to help and needs specs or any additional info i will provide them.


This seems similar to what i\m experiencing, and, to be all honest and truthful, i\m pretty pissed off about it.

I started installing Kali like 15 hours ago, and after all the minor setbacks i saw light... I though there would be no more setbacks, as i had just managed to
install Kali on my pc, but then, out of nowhere> i get this black screen sh^t

When i launch Kali everything seems to go fine, despite the fact that there are a few errors in the black/white screen before login screen.
Now, after around 20 seconds to around 2 minutes my screen goes black all the sudden, and my TV\monitor goes in *sleep* mode, meaning that the computer doesnt respond to the monitor.
This only happens with Kali.
Also, in Windows 7 os my computer is making a weird, not loud, scratching sound.
I would appreciate very much to know what this sound is coming from, and if it\s harmful to my computer.

Thanks in advance/