NVIDIA driver install - Error: Unable to find the kernel source tree

[moonwalk]

After following the very helpful guide from Starcannon in http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...ghlight=nvidia I managed to get the installer working.

Unfortunately the installer is having problems of its own. It had a warning along the lines of 'couldn't find kernel compiler' and attempted to download something to do with the kernel. This didn't work either and I'm currently looking at:

"Error: unable to find the kernel source tree for the currently running kernel. Please make sure you have installed the kernal source files for your kernel and that they are properly configured..."

This Leads to:

"Error: installation has failed. Please see the file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details

I've attached this file.

Any ideas on what I need to do to get this working? Thanks

[sim-value]

Install your kernel sources ?

[ceedub7]

I just want to update this thread to try and save someone some time. I was getting the same message as moonwalk and spent many frustrating hours trying to fix it before figuring out that I had a very simple problem:

/boot/grub/menu.lst wasn't updated properly and I was booting into the wrong kernel! I was booting into 2.6.24-19-generic when I should have been in 2.6.27-9-generic. Once I fixed this installing the Nvidia drivers was completely painless.

'sudo update-grub' didn't fix the file initially, so I backed it up and deleted it and then re-ran 'update-grub'. This time it worked, so I just copied the WindowsXP section from the backup file into the new one and everything was peachy.

[hdog]

I had this problem after my kernel got upgraded. I had to do a
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`
then run the Nvidia installer.

[tuket]

Re: NVIDIA driver install - Error: Unable to find the kernel source tree
I had this problem after my kernel got upgraded. I had to do a
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`
then run the Nvidia installer.

tank you very helpfull

[Cincinnatux]

Thank goodness for this thread! I've been struggling with nVidia driver issues for the past few days, burning precious hours trying to fix something that appeared to have spontaneously broken without my help. There are dozens of nVidia problem-solution threads, but none of the others I checked helped me make any progress. It turns out that my problem was the kernel source tree thing (which I only discovered by trying to manually install the latest nVidia driver), and this thread solved my problem! Woohoo!

[mister.zee.man]

Sorted for me also. Shouldn't kernel sources automatically download with the update? This should be stickied

[rennau80]

thanks for this thread. problem solved on my desktop too when i got graphics problems switching to natty narwhal.

[frosty555]

I had this problem after my kernel got upgraded. I had to do a
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`
then run the Nvidia installer.

This thread was a lifesaver for me as well! I was having a hard time figuring out what package to install to get the kernel source tree. This helped a lot.

(I was actually running Debian Lenny, but it works exactly the same way)

[_glook]

hdog, you sir are a gentleman and a scholar.

After spending hours on this, getting nowhere, your simple solution worked miracles, even on Natty Kubuntu.

This needs to be better indexed by google so it saves more people time.