# Monitor always black screen.



## Beastwick (Jan 30, 2019)

Hi, 

I've installed the nvidia driver from ports. Every time I try to start an x session with any window manager, I am getting a black screen. I have tried nvidia-xconfig to generate a default configuration, but still no luck. Please help 

log:








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xorg.conf:








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## SirDice (Jan 30, 2019)

There's good news, and bad news. Good news first, the driver correctly loads:

```
[116930.386] (II) Loading /usr/local/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so
[116930.387] (II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[116930.387] 	compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
[116930.387] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[116930.387] (II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver  390.87  Tue Aug 21 15:27:50 PDT 2018
[116930.388] (II) NVIDIA Unified Driver for all Supported NVIDIA GPUs
```
And detects your graphics card:

```
[116930.889] (II) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA GPU GeForce GTX 970 (GM204-A) at PCI:1:0:0 (GPU-0)
[116930.889] (--) NVIDIA(0): Memory: 4194304 kBytes
[116930.889] (--) NVIDIA(0): VideoBIOS: 84.04.31.00.70
[116930.889] (II) NVIDIA(0): Detected PCI Express Link width: 16X
```

The bad news, it doesn't detect any monitors attached to it. 

```
[116930.889] (II) NVIDIA(0): Validated MetaModes:
[116930.889] (II) NVIDIA(0):     "NULL"
[116930.889] (II) NVIDIA(0): Virtual screen size determined to be 640 x 480
[116930.889] (WW) NVIDIA(0): Unable to get display device for DPI computation.
...
[116930.908] (II) NVIDIA(0): Setting mode "NULL"
```

Remove /etc/X11/xorg.conf. You don't need it and shouldn't be created any more. Instead, create /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/driver-nvidia.conf:

```
Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Card0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
EndSection
```

That should be all that's needed for Xorg to work, everything else usually gets auto-detected nowadays.


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## Beastwick (Jan 30, 2019)

I did what you said and unfortunately still no dice. I want to say that earlier in the year I had installed the OS on the same exact hardware and it worked with Gnome and KDE, however I didn't use ports. I have tried with the normal packages as well and still no go there. I can see the console fine without X.









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Thanks for your help!


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## OldSubSailor (Jan 31, 2019)

SirDice said:


> There's good news, and bad news. Good news first, the driver correctly loads:
> 
> ```
> [116930.386] (II) Loading /usr/local/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so
> ...



I did have /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ on my iMac, however, that directory is empty, but /etc/X11 does have the xorg.conf file in it. Nor do I have any nvidia modules installed, although I installed the NVIDIA Driver from ports. <startx> just returns a bunch of server errors, and then gives up, so clearly I do not know what I am trying to do.  So I once again wiped my hard drive and reinstalled a new clean version of freeBSD; I mean why not, I am retired and am just using the other iMac to keep my mind busy.  I am thinking about forgetting X11 for now, at least until I work my way through the freeBSD book that I ordered, along with working through learning unix.  
I hope that I will learn how to send someone a copy of the the Xorg.0.log from the freeBSD command line, along with capturing the errors that are generated when I do enter the <startx> command.


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## Beastwick (Jan 31, 2019)

OldSubSailor said:


> I did have /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ on my iMac, however, that directory is empty, but /etc/X11 does have the xorg.conf file in it. Nor do I have any nvidia modules installed, although I installed the NVIDIA Driver from ports. <startx> just returns a bunch of server errors, and then gives up, so clearly I do not know what I am trying to do.  So I once again wiped my hard drive and reinstalled a new clean version of freeBSD; I mean why not, I am retired and am just using the other iMac to keep my mind busy.  I am thinking about forgetting X11 for now, at least until I work my way through the freeBSD book that I ordered, along with working through learning unix.
> I hope that I will learn how to send someone a copy of the the Xorg.0.log from the freeBSD command line, along with capturing the errors that are generated when I do enter the <startx> command.



I spoke too soon. Your advice worked! Although, I don't understand why. Before I ran nvidia-xconfig, I had solely the driver section in my xorg.conf, which didn't work so I tried the other methods. Why does having no conf work with putting small configs in the config.d directory? After a reboot, I have a working desktop now. Thank you very much for your time!

Also, install pastebinit to quickly create online logs like I have done.


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## OldSubSailor (Jan 31, 2019)

Beastwick said:


> I spoke too soon. Your advice worked! Although, I don't understand why. Before I ran nvidia-xconfig, I had solely the driver section in my xorg.conf, which didn't work so I tried the other methods. Why does having no conf work with putting small configs in the config.d directory? After a reboot, I have a working desktop now. Thank you very much for your time!
> 
> Also, install pastebinit to quickly create online logs like I have done.




I think that you meant to reply to SirDice??????


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## Beastwick (Jan 31, 2019)

Yes, I meant to respond to SirDice. Thank you both for replying to this thread and giving me your input.


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## twllnbrck (Jan 31, 2019)

Beastwick said:


> Why does having no conf work with putting small configs in the config.d directory? After a reboot, I have a working desktop now.


Xorg supports most common devices which are automatically detected and do not require any manual config. Nvidia cards are generally not that sort of device .

Using multiple files under /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d has some advantages. First you keep application files separate from the OS system files. The old /etc/X11 still works but it is not recommended to mix application and base system files.
Then it is easier to configure and maintain only specific settings in multiple small files. A single xorg.conf needs a full config and is neither as easy nor as flexible than files in /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d.


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## shkhln (Jan 31, 2019)

There is no functional difference between _xorg.conf_ config file and _xorg.conf.d_ directory (other than the order in which they are being read by X server). If anything, I personally consider pretty obnoxious splitting small 100-200 loc configuration file into multiple 10-20 loc config files and would _never_ do it.

The _/etc_ vs _/usr/local/etc_ point is technically true, but since the base system doesn't ship Xorg it is also moot.


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