HOW TO: Older NVIDIA GPU won't bring up Deskstop or graphical install 15 March 2023, 04:23:55 This is a description of how I completely fixed a no graphical display, no DE problem.Note: from the online articles I read, this seems to be an NVIDIA problem with older GPUs. There may be other fixes, but this is how I did it.Symptom: When you boot from your live install USB thumb drive, it comes up in command line, no graphics. Also, when you try to start something graphical, you can get the "blinking cursor screen of death" which flashes a cursor usually in the upper left corner. Another symptom if you are running gdm is it will blink to a black screen and come back to a login screen. Oddly you choose GNOME and it works.I did the command line install. and so this assumes you will do that. To get out of the "screen of death" if you are trapped there, hit ctrl-alt-F2. That will get you back to the command line.From the command line, follow the directions in the Wiki-Installation up until the "exit - reboot" step, but don't unmount or exit. You want to say as root working in your mounted partitions so the changes are permanent. Note this assumes you went with openrc. I used lightdm and cinnamon also. I'd start by getting those working and make changes later.First you have to create the xorg.conf file. For the newbie like me, this is the simplest way to do it. You can write your own from scratch if you want.(NOTE: follow Wiki-Repositories method to install [universe] . Remember to pacman -Sy to register your updates.)type: pacman -S nvidia-utils.type: nvidia-xconfigThis creates the xorg.conf file. Verify it worked:type: cd /etc/X11 (note capital X)type: lsYou should see xorg.confNow remove nvidia utils because you don't need themtype: pacman -Rsc nvidia-utilsNow you have to edit the xorg.conf file:type: nano xorg.confGo down to Section "Device"Edit driver so it says "nouveau" with the quotesEdit VendorName so it says "FreeDesktop.org" (optional, but do it for completeness).crtl-o to write. enter. ctrl-x to exit nano.From the articles I read, this will prevent the blinking cursor of death and also allow X to start. So you are probably free to install the DM and desktop you want. So the following is optional, but it worked for me:Next install cinnamon: pacman -S cinnamonInstall lightdm: pacman -S lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter lightdm-openrccd /etc/lightdmnano lightdm.confgo down to seat[:*]Verify: run-directory=/run/lightdm should not have a hash sign in front of it.uncomment (remove hash) from user-session = , and change to user-session = cinnamonVerify: session-wrapper=/etc/lightdm/Xsession should not have a hash in front of it.ctrl-o to write. enter. crtl-x to exit.Now you can test it.type: lightdm --test-mode --debugYou should come up in Cinnamon.If you have problems, check logs in /var/log/type: cd /var/logtype: less Xorg.0.logAlso check lightdm log:cd lightdmless lightdm.logless x-0.logAssuming no problems, ctrl-alt-F2 to get back to the CLIAdd to openrctype: rc-update add lightdm defaultYou should get a confirmation it updated.umount -R /mntrebootPull out thumb drive and you should start up in graphics mode. Last Edit: 15 March 2023, 04:56:28 by jadep 1 Likes