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skakillers
March 10th, 2009, 11:04 PM
I'm having problems with my GeForce 5200. I'm using 8.10, and everything is installed perfectly. The problem is that the card wont display any resolutions above 800x600 without the driver installed, and when I do install the driver it wont go above 640x480. This is on a monitor (NEC lcd panel) that can display 1024x768. The system specs are as follows:
shuttle mainboard
2 ghz celeron
Geforce 5200 w/ 128 mb vram
2 gigs of ram
40 gb hard drive

I could really use some help here. I have no idea what to do and have exhausted my googling skills.

taurus
March 10th, 2009, 11:18 PM
Which nvidia drive have you tried so far? Have you tried the legacy version, 173, in System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers?

Neo_The_User
March 10th, 2009, 11:35 PM
AFAIK, 5200 is a Geforce FX series meaning its "new" so use the new driver.

skakillers
March 12th, 2009, 02:26 AM
I used the 173 version driver, which I guess is the newer one? I'm not really sure, but after activating the driver it actually performs more poorly.

upchucky
March 12th, 2009, 03:36 AM
the following works on most up to 8.04, I have not tested it on 8.10 simply because i read a while back that 8.10 had compatibility problems with nvidia, but I also read that there are fixes for it.

I am not upgrading until the next LTR and will test it then.

If you decide to try this please post the results.

This is the proper way to set up a nvidia card, envy and other methods are workarounds that do not enable all the cards features.

Set up Nvidia driver

Print out this guide, you will be in pure CLI for part of the install.

1) Download the driver for your Nvidia Card from http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
1.a) Make sure its in your home directory, this will make it so we don't have to change directories later when were in terminal.

2) Open a terminal: Applications--> Accessories--> Terminal

3) sudo apt-get install build-essential

4) gksudo gedit /etc/modules
4.a) Add "nvidia" without quotes to the list.
4.b) Save and Exit

5) gksudo gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common
5.a) Add "nv" without quotes to the restricted list. It should look exactly like this: DISABLED_MODULES="nv"
5.b) Save and Exit

6) sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf ./xorg.conf.backup

7) sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
7.a) Were just deleting your old xorg.conf file, we backed it up in step 6 just in case we ever need it back again.
7.b) Getting rid of old drivers, use one or more of the sections that apply to you:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you used Envy to attempt a previous nvidia install please run this command now before you go on:

sudo envy --uninstall-all
sudo dpkg -P envy

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have some old Ubuntu repository/restricted driver manager attempts installed please run this command before you go on:

sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia*
sudo rm /lib/restricted-modules/.nvidia*

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have a failed NVIDIA*.run (drivers from the nvidia.com site) run this command before you go on:

sudo nvidia-installer --uninstall

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
################################################## ##################################
##................................................ ................................##
## Alright Now Assuming That You are starting with a clean slate lets move forward##
##................................................ ................................##
################################################## ##################################

8) CTRL-ALT-F1
8.a) Okay were in Command Line only now, we have a little left to do in here.
8.b)login:
8.c)Password:

9) sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
9.a) This step shuts down the x-server and gnome desktop manager

10) sudo chmod a+x ./NVIDIA*.run
10.a) We made the nvidia installer executable.

11) sudo ./NVIDIA*.run
11.a) Answer to the affirmative for all questions.
11.b) Be sure to specifically say you DO WANT it to write a new xorg.conf
11.c) If you somehow answered incorrectly on the last question in the installer then:
c.I) sudo nvidia-xconfig #this will write a new or attempt repair of
an xorg.conf file for you.

12) sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start
12.a) You should see an Nvidia Logo, and then be put at your login screen,
you should also be able to enable desktop effects.

Optional But recommended:
13) To get the driver to update itself when a new kernel is installed from the update
manager be sure to follow the guide in this link:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5227704&postcount=1

lindsay7
March 12th, 2009, 03:58 AM
FYI, I had trouble with that card and the same issue as you. It all happed with a very old crt monitor that I was using while I was waiting for a new lcd monitor to be delivered as I was putting this computer together as the parts arrived. It turns out that as soon as I plugged in the lcd monitor you problems with the nvidia 5200 went away and everything is just fine with the 173 driver no other changes had to be made.