I'm attempting to install the Nvidia graphics driver for my Geforce 6800 OC. I'm using SUSE 9.1 and the latest driver for 32 bit Linux from the Nvidia site.

I am following this procedure:

init 3
su
cd /usr/src/linux
make cloneconfig
make prepare-all
cd /"location of Nvidia driver"
sh /"insert driver name here" -q --kernel-source-path=/usr/src/linux

at this point it tells me that i have rivafb installed and that this will cause a conflict with the driver if it is run ... I continue

The kernel compiles.... reaches 100% ... says done... and hangs .... but the keyboard lights keep flashing ... nothing happens.. i've waited

then i reboot and continue:

modprobe nvidia ... and it tells me the driver is not found

any ideas what is happening here....

i've also downloaded nv_check.sh but i'm not sure how to execute this script to troubleshoot my install

any help is MUCH appreciated as I have already spent too many hours on this .. please keep your explanations in simple terms... linux newbie here :-)

I don't understand what this is for:
You don't need to rebuild your kernel.

Everytime I install the nVidia driver I just make sure /usr/src/linux points to my current kernel source then run:
That's it....

I was just following direction I got elsewhere. Even if I don't follow that portion the Nvidia driver installer still hangs when it reaches 100% and says done.

Can you post where you found these instructions...

I had a look in the Makefile, and cloneconfig is not a valid make target. prepare-all seems to be an internal target for preparing to build the kernel and modules. Again, I have never seen the nvidia module built this way, and I am not sure why you would want to do this.

My advice...clean out your kernel source by running "make mrproper" (back up your .config file first). This will return your source to a default state. Then try again using only the command I listed above.

If this doesn't work I don't know what to tell you.