NVIDIA woes

[LibertyShadow]

thanx a ton mate that worked.

YAY now all my problems are sorted

Good to hear. I hope the same goes for the OP!

[sbentjies]

I think I needed to install some stuff before it would work - read the Debian bit at the bottom. http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=72490

Make sure you have build-essential installed as well I think - but can't remember exactly.

Now I can't even get that package to run. I get "command not found".

Ok, back to a more mundane question then. Do I get that from nVidia? Someone esle here said that envy won't work. I am more than willing to get the .07 driver and try it. I don't care if it's beta-all I want is minimum 1024x768. This box is for training (and light web-surfing) only. Thanks a million!

SB

Many cards do not require the use of .run's from nvidia. You can simply go to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers, select the driver, and then restart X and be done with the issue. The OP (original poster) needs to install a card for which it is actually not this easy.

Nvidia has put out a beta driver that supports "legacy" cards on the new kernel (2.6.27). It has worked its way into the proposed updates, but has not been put into the repositories as of yet. In other words, if you want an nvidia driver under Intrepid Ibex, you must download and install the driver manually.

The reason that you have to recompile the kernel module each time there is a kernel update because the nvidia driver is closed source. They only provide a binary, which must compile the module when it is run. Their binary compiles the module for the currently running kernel. When you install (update to) a new kernel, the module must be recompiled.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Vor has written up a tutorial to automatically recompile the kernel module. See: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=835573

I'll admit that I probably should have started by asking what card and what version of Ubuntu the OP was using, but alot of the 10 pages has been repeats of previous posted commands and posts like this.

That being said, if we can just get this thread concentrated on helping the OP, that would be best.

@sbentjies It's up to you:

You've said you would go with the 2D "nv" open source, built-in driver. And I've posted a reasonable set of instructions to do that: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...7&postcount=79

If you want 3D functionality (including desktop effects) you should probably switch to the LTS (8.04), which will use the nvidia-glx-legacy package.

If you really want to use 8.10 with the nvidia driver, you should do a fresh install and follow these instructions. Each line is a separate command, and you should copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+Shift+V) into the terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal) when possible.

(Some of this is reposted)

Prepare to compile by getting the necessary packages:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-source gcc build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`
cd /usr/src
sudo tar xvjf ./linux-source*.tar.bz2

I was all prepared to follow these steps in this order. Unfortunately this is as far as I got with the compilation:
"jpleace@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update
[sudo] password for jpleace:
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid Release.gpg
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/multiverse Translation-en_US
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates Release.gpg [189B]
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/restricted Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/universe Translation-en_US
Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/multiverse Translation-en_US
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid Release
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates Release [51.2kB]
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/restricted Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/restricted Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/universe Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/universe Sources
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/multiverse Packages
Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/multiverse Sources
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/main Packages [164kB]
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/restricted Packages [3861B]
Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/main Sources [61.6kB]
Get:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/restricted Sources [1169B]
Get:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/universe Packages [26.6kB]
Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/universe Sources [5336B]
Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/multiverse Packages [14B]
Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/multiverse Sources [14B]
Fetched 314kB in 3s (98.0kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
jpleace@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-source gcc build-essential linux-headers-jpleace -r
E: Command line option 'r' [from -r] is not known.
jpleace@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-source gcc build-essential linux-headers- 'jpleace -r'
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
gcc is already the newest version.
Package linux-headers is not installed, so not removed
E: Couldn't find package jpleace -r
jpleace@ubuntu:~$ cd
jpleace@ubuntu:~$ sudo tar xvjf ./linux-source*.tar.bz2
tar: ./linux-source*.tar.bz2: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
jpleace@ubuntu:~$
jpleace@ubuntu:~$
jpleace@ubuntu:~$
jpleace@ubuntu:~$ "

#I've inserted it here so you can see where I get stopped. If I could just write a script to do the whole thing, with the right permissions it would be great. It would be the first script I wrote however.





Create a symbolic link from the extracted folder to /usr/src/linux, based on which version. For 2.6.27 it would be:

sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.27 /usr/src/linux

Disable conflicting modules:

gksudo gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

Add nv nvidia_new to DISABLED_MODULES:

DISABLED_MODULES="nv nvidia_new"

and save the file (Ctrl +S), then exit gedit.

Prevent more conflictions: (see http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=72490\)

sudo rm /lib/linux-restricted-modules/.nvidia_new_installed
sudo apt-get --purge remove nvidia-glx* nvidia-settings
sudo rm /etc/init.d/nvidia*

Get the driver:

cd /usr/src
sudo wget ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/71.86.07/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-71.86.07-pkg0.run
sudo chmod +x ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-71.86.07-pkg0.run
sudo ln -s /usr/src/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-71.86.07-pkg0.run /usr/src/nvidia-driver

****************BEGIN Installation
We can't install the nvidia driver with X running... so you might want to write down/print this section
Hit Ctrl + Alt+ f2 to get to a full screen tty. Login, and enter the following commands:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
cd /usr/src
sudo ./nvidia-driver

Follow the on-screen steps. Choose yes when it asks if you would like to run the nvidia configuration utility. When all is said and done you can start the gui with:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

*****************END

Important:
When there is an update to mesa you will need to reinstall the package by repeating the steps marked in the Installation region.

Also Important:
Again, when you update your kernel, you will have to recompile the kernel module. You can have post-update scripts do this for you by following the instructions here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=835573

I hope that this is reasonable...[/QUOTE]

[LibertyShadow]

`uname -r` is actually a literal that tells what the currently running kernel version is. You can copy and paste that command literally. You don't need to replace uname with your username. (` is next to the 1 key on most keyboards)

Again this whole section is literal, copy and paste each command without replacing any of the code. The only thing you should be replacing in the last guide I posted is the driver version if you are installing a different driver.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-source gcc build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`
cd /usr/src
sudo tar xvjf ./linux-source*.tar.bz2

[brigadoon]

From reading this thread (very long thread) it appears that the OP has the driver loaded but is stuck with a low resolution. Has the OP tried a custom EDID file to force a higher resolution? This is a very long thread and I may have missed it.

I have an old NVIDIA device and was stuck in low resolution when I tried to use the NVIDIA driver. The problem with my driver was that it didn't recognize the resolutions of the display device. When I created a custom EDID file I was able to get a 1024x768 resolution.

[LibertyShadow]

In response to brigadoon's comment, you can use this command to see if the nvidia module is loading:

lsmod |grep nv

I tried to have you dump this into a text file earlier, but I believe it will be easier for you to just copy (Ctrl+Shift+C)from the terminal and paste into a new reply.

[sbentjies]

How do I make a custom EDID file?

[LibertyShadow]

@sbentjies: There's an order of operations here, and the first of which is to get the nvidia beta driver working. Have you really done that yet? If you run

lsmod |grep nv

and you see "nvidia" is loaded and you are still stuck in low resolution, then we'll look to other solutions.

Do you have any updates on your install? Did you have success? Remember `uname -r` is a literal, you don't replace uname with your username. Just copy and paste

@brigadoon, I've read on launchpad that some people have had luck with

Option "UseEDID" "False"

under the Device section in their xorg.conf using their nvidia driver as an alternative to creating a custom EDID. Plus, customizing an EDID is not so friendly... see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...92/comments/21

[brigadoon]

How do I make a custom EDID file?

I put the details in my post located at...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=773391

A custom EDID is not the preferred solution and it may not be the best. However, for my system it did the trick. I have several friends with NVIDIA drivers that were stuck in low resolution while running Ubuntu. The custom EDID was able to help them as well. Good luck.

[sbentjies]

My results of lsmod | grep nv were:

nvidia 3933512 0
agpart 42184 2 nvidia, intel_agp

Does this mean it's using the Nvidia driver? If so, it's resolution is terrible.

[sbentjies]

Liberty,

Given that it's been a week since I tried anything due to work, I'm kind of at a stasis. Here's how I see it. Intrepid Ibex does not play ball with legacy Nvidia drivers well at all. This TNT2 is just such a driver. The fact that we are even considering using a custom EDID file tells me this is getting sticky. XP loves the card. I don't think it's an issue but I did install this using Wubi. Wubi, from what I can tell, is not an emulation but a partition on the drive and is a full version of 8.10. That said, how to pick up from here or start fresh. I did look at another card, the EVGA eGE force FX 5200 that uses Nvidia source. I would really love to get this bloody TNT working. Someone esle had a thought-perhaps when we tried to get the package installed, invoking "sudo apt-get update" we should have used "sudo sh apt-get update" as the root permissions may have died after fulfilling the first command thus the package couldn't finish compiling the new kernel. Just observation from another tech. Again I appreciate all your help.