On 01/13/2016 07:53 AM, Mark Stodola wrote:
> On 01/13/2016 01:35 AM, Yasha Karant wrote:
>> On 01/11/2016 08:52 AM, Akemi Yagi wrote:
>>> On Mon, Jan 11, 2016 at 8:43 AM, Mark Stodola <[log in to unmask]
>>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>>>
>>>     On 01/11/2016 09:57 AM, Yasha Karant wrote:
>>>
>>>         On 01/09/2016 04:37 PM, Akemi Yagi wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>             If you are sure the xorg.conf file existed but has been
>>>             removed with
>>>             no backup, then it was not done by ELRepo. I suggest you
>>>             look into the
>>>             code. You will find that ELRepo's package would not remove
>>>             xorg.conf
>>>             without backing up.
>>>
>>>
>>>         I respectfully disagree.  It is possible that there were 
>>> multiple
>>>         installs/updates of the ELRepo driver during the experimental
>>>         stages of
>>>         getting
>>>         SL 7 to work on the platform as the platform was delivered.
>>>         But -- both
>>>         the primary and backup copies have an ElRepo comment and no
>>>         "stock"
>>>         content.  Because of the way the Dell boot bios interacted
>>>         with the
>>>         platform after a power outage (beyond the limits of the 
>>> small UPS
>>>         attached to the unit -- that may need new batteries but the
>>>         Department
>>>         may not have the money to maintain), the only way to get to
>>>         the obvious
>>>         Dell boot configuration screen (GUI driven) was to remove the
>>>         Nvidia
>>>         card -- and the system does now boot to the text terminal
>>>         interface, but
>>>         no GUI.
>>>
>>>         I can email to you the xorg.conf files I found on the machine
>>>         after the
>>>         above actions.  I will do additional digging. Meanwhile, no
>>>         one has
>>>         responded so I either will find the X11 xorg configuration
>>>         utility or
>>>         attempt to copy one from a working machine that has no Nvidia
>>>         card.
>>>
>>>         Yasha
>>>
>>>
>>>     I haven't had much time to work with SL7 yet, but isn't it the
>>>     case that there is no xorg.conf by default?  Try just renaming the
>>>     nvidia generated one and see what happens.  I think the X server
>>>     attempts to autodetect settings, which has gotten fairly reliable
>>>     over the years for the most common setups.
>>>
>>>     -Mark
>>>
>>>
>>> That is my understanding. In SL7, there should be no xorg.cong file by
>>> default. In fact, |xorg.conf| is marked as deprecated in EL6, but will
>>> still be used if it is present. Graphical settings are supposed to be
>>> automatically detected and configured by the X server.
>>>
>>> Akemi
>>>
>> Precisely the problem.  The Nvidia X11 driver package seems to have
>> "hardwired" some version of the Nvidia (not noveau) driver into the
>> system.  How does one find this and revert to "stock"  for an Intel
>> graphics driver or for some more generic VGA style driver?   If I list
>> the installed RPMs and remove the Nvidia RPM will this address the 
>> issue?
>>
>> My laptop (upon which I am now working) has a laptop Nvidia "card". 
>> Thus,
>>
>> rpm -qa reveals
>>
>> nvidia-x11-drv-352.41-1.el7.elrepo.x86_64
>>
>> when I do the same on the workstation in question, I presume I will find
>> a similar (but perhaps different numbered) nvidia-*-el7.elrepo.x86_64;
>> if I rpm -e the version on the workstation, will this action force a
>> return to "default/stock" or must I do something in addition?
>>
>> Yasha Karant
>>
>
> Uninstalling both the kmod-nvidia and the nvidia-x11-drv should do the 
> trick.  It may leave behind the xorg.conf for you to manually remove, 
> depending on how the rpm was configured during build.
>
> It is the kmod-nvidia module which does the nouveau blacklisting using 
> /usr/lib/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf.
>
> -Mark
Mark,

You were correct.  After removal of the Nvidia PCI add-on card, and thus 
getting to a scrolling terminal screen (ctrl-alt-F2, etc.), login as root,
rpm -qa | grep elrepo , yielded the two packages.  yum -remove one of 
the packages (after a long wait to check many repositories) removed both 
packages (the other as a dependency), reboot, clean X11 GUI login.   
Thanks for the hint.  Presumably, in a future iteration of the elrepo 
packages, there will be an automagic test to verify that a Nvidia board 
really is present, and, if not, use the stock driver as if no elrepo 
Nvidia package had been installed.

Yasha