TITLE: Does smooth target space and smooth fibers imply smooth total space?  
QUESTION [6 upvotes]: Suppose that $f: X \rightarrow Y$ is a morphism between algebraic varieties.  If $Y$ is smooth, and the fibers of $f$ over closed points of $Y$ are proper and nonsingular, does it follow that $X$ is smooth?
Update:
The answer to the question as posed, is NO.  See a comment by Karl Schwede below for a counterexample.  
Modified question:
Let $f$ be a surjective morphism of algebraic varieties (reduced, irreducible, separated schemes, finite type over an algebraically closed field).  Let $x \in X$ be a closed point and let $y = f(x)$.  Just because the fiber $f^{-1}(y)$ is smooth does not mean $X$ is smooth at $x$.  What if $X \times_Y Spec \mathcal{O}_y/m^n$ is smooth over $Spec \mathcal{O}_y/m^n$ for every positive integer n - is $X$ smooth at $x$?  Here $m$ is the maximal ideal of the local ring at $y$.  
Is there any condition on $f$ or the fibers which will guarantee smoothness of the total space?  Flatness plus smooth fibers is one, is there anything weaker?

REPLY [2 votes]: I apologize for answering such an old question, but it seems fundamental.  A classical counterexample occurs for the abel map of a Prym variety with exceptional singularities on the theta divisor.  The point is that the fibers of the abel prym map  X-->Y of the double cover C'-->C are included among those for the abel map of C', hence are all smooth.  (A map obtained by restricting another map over a subvariety of the target has the same fibers.)
Nonetheless X is singular at any exceptional divisor. (see lemma 2.13 of A Riemann singularities theorem for Prym theta divisors, with applications).
The point of the previous paper was that generalizing the Riemann - Kempf singularity theorem to prym varieties is easy when X is smooth.  But when X is singular it is considerably harder:
A necessary and sufficient condition for Riemann's singularity theorem to hold on a Prym theta divisor
Singularities of the Prym theta divisor
For a detailed discussion of the case of the abel prym map for a prym variety isomorphic to the intermediate jacobian of the cubic threefold, see:
On parametrizing exceptional tangent cones to Prym theta divisors
The answer is yes however if the target Y is a smooth curve, since X is smooth at any point lying on a smooth cartier divisor,  (compare Mumford, chap.7, Prop. 2, redbook.)