nvidia driver works only on 2.6.18-4
 

Hi!
I had installed nvidia driver legacy on etch , changed xorg.cong from "nv" to "nvidia" and was loading fine on kernel 2.6.18-4-686

Trying with kernel 2.6.18-5-686 and 2.6.21-686(lenny), x doen't start not finding nvidia and I have to go back to nv in order to startx with a different kernel than 2.6.18-4

This is happening similar on 3 different pc which have nvidia cards

The installation run fine anytime and no output error until I reboot.
Is it a link problem?
Thanks for any help
Ciao
Emanuele
debian etch 4.01r

did you reinstall the driver with each kernel upgrade?....

The driver must be recompiled for each kernel update. that's whty I use module assistant for my nvidia drivers..

Any time I get a kernel update I can simply

aptitude update
m-a update
m-a prepare
m-a a-i nvidia
aptitude install nvidia-glx

and X will now start..

not sure how you installed the driver originally, but repeat the process and it should start working again.

your driver is legacy. it means old. you need new ones.
I think, firstly you uninstall all nvidia drivers with this command:
sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia-*
and try it again.

I got an error like this, my reason was some sourcelist which is not for etch. check it!

Legacy means His card uses a GPU that is no longer supported in the latest nVidia drivers.

Cards such as the 440 MX or the Geforce2Go, or even my old TNT2 cards.. these all require the legacy nVidia drivers..

just fyi..

sorry for this. my fault! I knew that this legacy means old.
thanks for explanation.

Thank you for help, i did install using module assistant:
http://www.e-pillole.com/linux/post/...u-debian-etch/

I will try again if this is the right way..
Ciao
Ema