NVidia Driver

[gewitty]

I'll try installing the driver again. One odd thing I noticed is that when the driver is active and I reboot, the NVIDIA X server option disappears from the menu.

I'll try again now.

[gewitty]

The 'nvidia' bit appears OK in the Device section, but, as you can see below, the Screen section looks wrong:

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously
# in this file, now are automatically configured by the server and settings
# here are ignored.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

[balaknair]

Is that how it looks after you adjust the resolution with nvidia settings?

[gewitty]

No, that's how it looked after I installed the driver and before a reboot. I am not able to make any changes to the resolution through the NVIDIA server, because of the warnings that came up (see my previous post). All that shows up is an initial Settings panel with the following tickbox options:

Enable Tooltips (ticked)
Display Staus Bar (ticked)
Slider Text Entries (ticked)
Include X Display Names In The Config File (not ticked)
Show "Really Quit?" Dialogue (ticked)

Below that is a button, 'Save Current Configuration', plus a Help and a Quit button. So this is just a set-up screen for the real Settings utility.

If I run sudo nvidia-xconfig in a terminal, then it reconfigures to:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder58) Tue Nov 4 17:18:57 PST 2008

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously
# in this file, now are automatically configured by the server and settings
# here are ignored.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "NoLogo" "True"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "nvidia-auto-select"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Immediately following this, the NVIDIA Server option disappears from the menu.

[balaknair]

Normally, once you have installed the driver and restarted the system, you ought to be able to open nvidia settings(alt-F2> gksudo nvidia-settings) and set the resolution there under XServer Display Information. Then save the settings to xorg.conf.

If that doesn't seem to be working, we can edit xorg.conf manually(if the nvidia settings app doesn't detect the correct resolutions). To do that however we have to know the correct parameters for your monitor(resolution, horizontal refresh rate, vertical refresh rate, etc), this should be available along with the manual provided by the manufacturer.

Then go to this page
http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl

Enter the parameters in the appropriate boxes, and click the 'Calculate Modeline' button.
This will generate a line like

Modeline "1440x900@60" 108.84 1440 1472 1880 1912 900 918 927 946

Copy paste this line into xorg.conf in the 'Monitor' section so that it looks something like this

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
Modeline "1440x900@60" 108.84 1440 1472 1880 1912 900 918 927 946
EndSection

Next, in the Screens section, add this mode to subsection 'Display'

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
        Depth        24
        Modes      "1440x900@60"
    EndSubSection

EndSection

You can also add a line to set a preferred mode line to the 'Monitor' section thus

Option          "PreferredMode" "1440x900@60"

Save the file and exit. Restart X by logging out and back in.

As always, make a backup of xorg.conf(the one which works best) before making changes(you can have multiple backups- named backup1, 2, 3 and so on).

Try this carefully(no typos, copy paste wherever possible, and make backups as described earlier).

[gewitty]

This is really starting to annoy me. I've tried every which way to get this thing working and it STILL refuses to cooperate!

Right. Here's what I currently have:

A completely fresh installation of 9.04
NVIDIA 180 driver enabled
xorg.conf set up as follows:

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously
# in this file, now are automatically configured by the server and settings
# here are ignored.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
Modeline "1440x810@60" 95.28 1440 1472 1832 1864 810 826 834 851
Option "PreferredMode" "1440x900@60"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1440x900@60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection


Result: Same as before. The graphics card seems to be enabled OK and I have Compiz effects working. However, the screen resolution is stuck at 640x480 4:3. If I uninstall the driver, the screen resolution reverts to 1440x900 16:10.

Does the message at the top of the xorg.conf file have any bearing on the fact that the graphics card seems to be ignoring the settings? This says:

# Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously
# in this file, now are automatically configured by the server and settings
# here are ignored.

If so, then maybe the NVIDIA server set-up screen is the only place where things can be changed. If I go to the X Screen 0 options in there, I see the following:

Layout
(hidden because the screen height is less than 600 pixels)
Display
Model: DFP-0 (DFP-0 on GPU-0)
Configuration: Separate X screen
Resolution: Auto (the max setting in the drop-down options here
is 640x480)

The Detect Displays button has no effect.

Are we running out of ideas? This surely has to be something to do with the hardware, otherwise there would be loads of other reports on the forum. I can't be the only one running this particular combination of screen and graphics card.

[balaknair]

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
Modeline "1440x810@60" 95.28 1440 1472 1832 1864 810 826 834 851
Option "PreferredMode" "1440x900@60"
EndSection


I believe the modeline should match the preferred mode.
Could you just try changing that to "1440x900@60"(you might need to change the rest of the modeline too; use the modeline generator on the webpage link I mentioned earlier) and log off and log in again?

Maybe that will make a difference(nothing to lose anyway).

BTW, changing stuff at the nvidia-settings applet doesn't matter, since those changes will need to be saved to xorg.conf anyway(the nvidia drivers still use xorg.conf settings, whereas (I think) the xorg.conf method has been deprecated in most recent open source drivers).

[gewitty]

For some reason, the Modeline generator will only accept either 1440x810 or 1600x900. If I try entering the actual resolution of my screen, it forces one of these two options.

I tried using the 1440x810 modeline, but with no effect.

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously
# in this file, now are automatically configured by the server and settings
# here are ignored.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
Modeline "1440x810@60" 95.28 1440 1472 1832 1864 810 826 834 851
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1440x810@60"
EndSubSection

EndSection

[balaknair]

Try this(what I got with the parameters 1440x900, 60Hz, 16/10 ratio).

Modeline "1440x900@60" 108.84 1440 1472 1880 1912 900 918 927 946


Right now I'm not sure if this just a flaky nVidia driver that's the issue here. Something seems out of place, not sure what.
Will do some more digging around, and post here if I can come up with something.

If nothing seems to work, the way I see it, you have two options:
1) Try the nv drivers(the open sourced drivers)- you won't get 3D and hardware acceleration, but it ought to give you the proper resolution and be stable. You'll be able to use metacity compositing and xcompmgr to use stuff like docks and screenlets.
2) Try the nVidia beta drivers(185)- they're not all that stable, and there's absolutely no guarantee that they'll solve your problem, but some people seem to have found that it fixes some issues with the newer cards. I wouldn't recommend this on your primary PC, it's pretty much a shot in the dark and risky. Beta drivers are to tried only if you - know what you're doing, and/or have nothing to lose, and/or are desperate. If you do want to give it a shot, there's a thread here by tinivole(posted in this thread earlier)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1125400

All the best, buddy.

[gewitty]

Thanks balaknair.You have the patience of Gandhi himself (and he was a pretty patient guy).

I tried that last modeline, again with no improvement, so I guess we've run out of ideas.

One last thing I did notice, quite by chance, was that when using Nautilus just now, I got this message:

** (nautilus:4217): WARNING **: Unable to add monitor: Operation not supported

It may mean nothing, or just be because the NVIDIA driver is not installed currently.

Once again, thanks for all the time and help. If I ever get this fixed, I'll post here with the solution.