How to: Hardy freeze-ups with nVidia cards

[zieglerj]

I'm running a AMD 64 bit Athlon 2Ghtz, 4 gb ddr2 ram, with wireless data card modem and a nVidia e-Geforce 6200 dual display.
Before this my system was completely freezing two - three times a day even if I only had a couple of windows open.
I followed this how to: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=797270
substituting :
sudo init 3
sudo sh NVIDIA*

where it says to type:

sudo sh NVID[tab]

and haven't had a single freeze up all day while running multiple windows on four different desktops with extra compiz effects and widgets. Not only have I not had a freeze-up, my system has been running smoother than it has since I installed my video card.

I figure I'd post this since there seem to be a lot of problems reported with nvidia related freezes in hardy.

If you're out there Xiong Chiamiov, Thanks! I owe you big time.

[zieglerj]

I spoke too soon. While the driver I downloaded from Nvidia does work great, Hardy froze up just after I finished writing the above post.
Now I am in the process of trying using the rt kernel as was sugested by another poster.

[zieglerj]

24 hours, no freezes.

[zieglerj]

Ok, I've made it weeks now with heavy usage and no freezes. I'm going to consider this a pretty effective way of getting around hardy's lock-ups if you have a nvidia card.

Download the latest nvidia driver from here:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

then move it into your home folder.
Now type in terminal:

sudo aptitude install linux-image-rt linux-restricted-modules-rt
sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia*
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) libc-dev build-essential

Now copy down the next commands because we are about to drop to the command prompt interface then type:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

hold alt+F1
enter in your username and password then type:

sudo init 3
sudo sh NVIDIA*

this should open the installer program for the nvidia drivers. Follow the instructions it gives you and at the end let it reconfigure your xorg.conf.
Once completed type:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

If you are using a dual display card and are used to having your "nvidia X server settings" program under system>administration> I should tell you that it's not gone but setting up the drivers this way moves it to applications>system tools>
I hope this works for many of you, I know it has vastly improved the performance of my machine. Even if you're not having freezes I would recomend these drivers.

[oxman]

Still smooth sailing after a week?

[zieglerj]

yes, smooth sailing. I'm back to being a very satisfied Ubuntu-er

[oxman]

Thanks for the reply. I have heard that the new kernel fixed the problem for some.