nvidia drivers in Squeeze
 

Before I start, I must say that I'm very much a Linux rookie so please bear with me.

I'm hoping someone could help me with installing the current nvidia drivers in Debian 6.0.5 Squeeze - amd64. I've followed the instructions found here http://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers/ to the letter, but I always encounter the same problem. X refuses to restart, and I have to reboot into recovery mode and delete the xorg.conf file to get back to the desktop. I've pulled this error out of the Xorg log file:

After hours of searching for answers, and retrying the installation using various different approaches, I've hit a brick wall. Does anyone have a solution?

If it's any help, I'm running what I think is a GeForce 525M (I've tried using lspci | grep VGA but it just returns 'nVidia Corporation Device 0df5 (rev a1)').

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

The driver's version included in the stable repo (195.36) is probably too old for your gpu, thus it does not support it at all.
Install the one from the backports repo which is on version 295.x.

Btw, is this some optimus thing? The intel+nvidia switchable graphics thing?

Perhaps it might be your card causing problems - what model is it?

You could also try this install script here, I have used it successfully in the past.

The GF525M is to new for the drivers in Squeeze, as jim_p already pointed out.
Install the drivers from the backports repository: http://backports-master.debian.org/
Add this line to your /etc/apt/sources.list:After that launch the commands:

Firstly, thanks for the replies.

Tobi, I tried what you suggested but I'm getting the same error:

I can see that the 259.59 driver is now installed. Do I need to go back and rebuild the kernel, and if so what's the best way to do that? I'm working right at the limits of my understanding now and I'm not sure how to move forward.

Thank you everyone for your help so far.

No need to recompile the kernel. Please post the output of and the manufacturer and exact model number of this laptop.

Do you need an xorg.conf file?
 

Do you have a specific need to use an xorg.conf file? I'm playing with Squeeze right now, using a GeForce GT 550M and driver version 302.17.

I deleted /etc/X11/xorg.conf and created /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-nvidia.conf

contents of 10-nvidia.conf

My laptop does not have Optimus. The RegistryDwords option allows me to control the brightness of my laptop's screen.

Post the outputs

@Cheesesteak: The file you've created in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ is identical in function to an xorg.conf file located in /etc/X11/ or a whatever.conf located in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/. X11 looks for configuration files on all of those locations. The short version is: you may as well have an xorg.conf - nvidia and amd proprietary drivers need it anyway.

Tobi, my laptop is a Dell XPS 15 (L502x).

lpsci returns:

Here's the output you asked for caravel:

Yes, it does. Dell XPS 15 L502x models with 'sandy bridge' CPUs and nVidia GPUs are all optimus setups.

That is a typical lspci output for an optimus laptop.

To get the nVidia GPU going with linux, you'll need bumblebee (or one of the other projects)-

http://bumblebee-project.org/

And in case you are looking for a repo with bumblebee > http://suwako.nomanga.net/
I hope it works properly. However, if I was in your position, I would stick with windows since nvidia does not officially support optimus on linux.

Possibly better to link to the offical debian wiki on bumblebee?-

http://wiki.debian.org/Bumblebee

While its not exactly fun to setup, bumblebee works in most cases (and should work on a L502x).

As for 'nvidia does not officially support optimus on linux'.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_36yNWw_07g

(yeah, I know Linus is mostly talking about nVidia + android).

The problem is apparent:

Install the kernel headers and reinstall the nvidia driver.

It would appear not...

Fair point. I was following the instructions for the first method and, since nothing appeared to go wrong during the installation process, proceeded to the next step.

Anyway, I've installed the headers and reinstalled the driver. It appears I now have drivers that correspond to the kernel module version, and headers that match my kernel. now returns:

Still no joy though. Rebooting results in a blank screen with a blinking _ in the top left corner.

If you guys are willing to persevere, I would appreciate any further help you can give. Again, thanks for what you've done so far.

Have you tried installing the official nVidia driver? http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/unix-uk.html for starters :)

Step by step:

• get the latest driver from nVidia
• install the build-essential package. This gives you a build environment the script needs to compile the actual driver
• the installer will fail if there's an X11 session active. To solve this, become root, reboot into init 1 (just issue the command "init 1", w/o the " please ;)) and navigate to the directory you've stored the installer script
• still on the command line, start the installer by invoking its name, preceded with sh and a space
• follow instructions on the screen, including installing the 32 bit libs and have the installer modify/create the xorg.conf file
• when done, reboot

You should now have a normal desktop in front of you. Report back if you didn't!

If you get really stuck/desparate you may want to investigate disabling optimus in your BIOS, (pretty sure Dell's give you this option) and see if that gets you any joy. Maybe not what you want but at least it provides a starting point.

I have a Dell XPS 17 (L702X), and I certainly DO NOT have Optimus. I ordered it this way. Yes, it has a Sandy Bridge i7 CPU, but it does not have a functioning IGP.

The first L702X laptops with the 3D-ready 1080p screen did not support Optimus, and that's what I have. I would have ordered an L501X with Nvidia-only graphics, but opted to wait after seeing that this 15" model didn't provide easy access to the hard drive.

output of lspci:

No, but I can't count the number of times I've read "Don't install the proprietary drivers, do it the Debian way!" or words to that effect. I don't know any better, however it seems the consensus is to avoid the official nVidia drivers. Am I correct?

I vastly prefer the Nvidia drivers, and have been using them on multiple machines (2 desktops and 1 laptop) for several years.

That said, while Optimus is enabled, you won't get any Nvidia only drivers working without bumblebee.

And according to what you posted, you do indeed have Optimus:

That's exactly what my E6520 looked like also. I had to disable Optimus in the Bios since I wasn't in any mood to try Bumblebee.

Especially when you are a newbie you can run into serious problems when you use the driver from the website. There are two things that can cause problems if you use that driver:
1. When you get an update for the kernel or X.Org the driver possibly may have to be recompiled. This will happen automatically when you install the drivers from the repositories, but since the drivers from the website circumvent the package management system you have to do that manually. This means that the system will start without GUI after such an update, which can be very difficult for a newbie to handle.
2. The driver replaces some libraries with own versions. This is handled by Debian's alternatives system when you use the driver from the repository. If you use the driver from the website the libraries are overwritten directly. If you now get a Mesa update, which will install the original libraries, your driver will break.

This is also very true. Guess I'm just so used to re-running the driver installer after updates that I forgot it gets broken. :D

If I'm to proceed with Debian packages, where do I go from here?

I seem to have the headers, driver and kernel module aligned properly but X still refuses to start. What's missing? Is there something I need to to include in the xorg.conf file? Do these drivers even support cards with Optimus?

You have to install and configure Bumblebee.

Thank you, I'll get on it.

Thats the best way to go IMHO unless you really want Bumblebee to work. Several people I know have chosen the easy option when faced with this.

According to the Debian Wiki page, the nvidia driver from the backports repo is ok for bumblebee.

http://wiki.debian.org/Bumblebee

Yeah, if you're going to go for Bumblebee, I'd definitely suggest using the Debian packages for the Nvidia drivers. No use complicating it even FURTHER than it already is.

I just made a silly assumption that you would have said you were using a different model laptop to the OP....

If there is a BIOS switch to force the nVidia GPU or disable optimus, its the easier way than using bumblebee. AFAIK the Dell XPS 15 L502x doesnt have that option.

Yes, there is indeed a vocal group who claim the nVidia drivers to be bad, evil even. But that's not because the drivers are bad, on the contrary, the nVidia drivers were and are by far better then the OS community driver nouveau, especially for 3D stuff. But it's a "binary blob" that does not comply to the Debian Social Contract and is therefore banned by these Debian purists. Those with a more pragmatical approach just install the nVidia driver to get the most from their nVidia hardware. Besides, in Stable the kernel updates are scarce and far between, that's why it's called Stable in the first place!

But, one can beat even that, by compiling an even newer kernel from source (from the kernel.org guys) and have the nVidia driver compile itself against that :p It's what I do :) (kernel 3.1.3 on Squeeze but I could easily compile the current 3.4.4 kernel and reinstall the nVidia driver, should I choose so... ;))

I think you are mixing things up here. This is about installing the driver from NVidia's website compared to installing the same driver using the packages in the repository. this is not nvidia against nouveau.

I didn't realise the nVidia drivers are available from the Debian repo's? Assuming that's the case, these still are older drivers that (may) not work on modern hardware, so installing the latest nVidia driver using their installer does seem a good idea anyway... ;)

If you need newer drivers just use the backports repository, that is what it is made for. Of course you are free to use NVdidia's drivers directly, but I would not recommend that to a newbie, for the reasons I already stated earlier in this thread: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...7/#post4723537

Unfortunately, you are correct, that model doesn't have the option. SUPPOSEDLY there is a modded BIOS that adds it, however my understanding (having never actually taken the laptop apart) is that there is only 1 actual PHYSICAL connection to the LVDS port and it connects to the Intel IGP, which would make it impossible to disable Optimus while still using the onboard LCD.

I know that at least one of the Dell laptop models had a 'force nVidia/disable optimus' option that was deleted on later versions of the BIOS. Sorry, I cant remember the exact model number, but IIRC it was at least close to L502x.

If the modded BIOS is an older BIOS with the 'force nVidia/disable optimus' option, updated with newer code but keeping the 'disable' option it might be worth trying. If its just a modded standard BIOS, I wouldnt try it.