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-   -   OpenSuSe 10.2 - Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS problems (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/opensuse-10-2-nvidia-geforce-8600-gts-problems-556121/)

Spectrix33 05-23-2007 12:03 PM

OpenSuSe 10.2 - Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS problems
 
I have been trying to get this to work for over a week and no such luck. I've also tried looking up the same problem on different forums and even chatted with some people in IRC trying to find the solution...

I had just recently purchased a GeForce 8600 GTS for my Core 2 Duo computer. I was running Windows XP and OpenSuSe 10.2 with no problem at all, but as soon as installed the video card, linux would not boot startx. It would automatically go to the command prompt, but as soon as I took the video card out, startx would work again. I followed the directions in getting the correct driver for the 8600 which is NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-1.0-9755-pkg2.run found on nvidia.com/object/linux_display_amd64_1.0-9755. html
I made it an executable file and made sure that I had kernel_source, make, and gcc installed. After trouble shooting it for a while, I managed to install the driver... it had to make a kernel and seemed to be completed, but now it automatically goes to run level 5 and boots starx with a black screen. It seems like nothing is happening and there's no music or anything. I have everything on seperate partitions, so starting linux over is no problem at all...as long as I don't lose my boot sector. If anyone has had this problem before or can help me with this. It would be greatly appreciated.


Spectrix

Hern_28 05-23-2007 12:26 PM

Installation
 
Did you let the nvidia installer update x for you?

Spectrix33 05-23-2007 01:05 PM

honestly I don't remember. If it was an option when I was installing it, then yes. I plan on reinstalling linux this week and I'll record every step. Every set of instructions I've read on installing the driver differ in one way or another. Is there one definite way to do it for my card?

Hern_28 05-23-2007 01:13 PM

Not sure, might want to check some things first.
 
Not sure if you have an agp or PCIe card, but need to check in the bios and disable the old video card (if it was an onboard video card) and on my mb i have to set the bios to boot PCIe first option or linux hangs.

Cogar 05-23-2007 01:38 PM

Configure X.Org by entering the following on the command line as root:

sax2 -r -m 0=nvidia

(0 is a digit, not a letter!)

The rest of the process should be self-explanatory.

Pumalite 05-23-2007 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cogar
Configure X.Org by entering the following on the command line as root:

sax2 -r -m 0=nvidia

(0 is a digit, not a letter!)

The rest of the process should be self-explanatory.

There is one little piece that is worth remembering. If you have dual boot with XP and you had your old card installed in Windows: before you change cards you have to uninstall the old drivers. If I were you, I would plug in the old card (see if Suse works), then proceed to uninstall the old card from XP, by uninstalling the drivers first, then install the new card through XP, install the new drivers in XP, and then proceed with Suse.

Spectrix33 05-24-2007 01:06 AM

I have an on board intel video chipset. For windows, I didn't have to disable or uninstall anything. The video card I'm installing is PCI Express. I really don't know much about linux at all yet, so... sorry for asking simple questions. How can I get the boot screen to stay in run level 3 w/o uninstalling my current video card if it automatically goes to run level 5 for startx? and once I'm there, is there a certain order that I should do this in... i.e. go to the BIOS first and choose boot from PCI-E first or should I try to config the xorg file? Thanks for everyone's help so far, I didn't expect such quick replies.

jay73 05-24-2007 01:17 AM

When GRUB appears on your screen, select the Suse bootline and press E.
Then you select the line that looks like

kernel /vmlinuz...

and you press E again.
Append 3 (or 1 for single) to the line that now appears and press Enter to confirm.
You should be back at the previous screen; press B to boot into runlevel 3 (or single user mode if you added 1).
Sign in as root from the command line.
Issue this command:

vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Locate the "Device" section, more specifically its "driver" item.
Press i to enter edit mode and replace whatever is specified as driver with "vesa".
Press Esc to quit edit mode.
Save your edited xorg.conf file by typing
:wq (+ Enter)

And finally:
startx

You should now be using the generic vesa driver; not the best quality but at least you'll be able to have a GUI while you are sorting out your issue with the new card. Please note I said should: Suse can be pretty stubborn at times when you are trying to override its own hardware configuration choices.

Spectrix33 05-29-2007 10:57 AM

Jay 37, I followed the instructions you gave me for editing the xorg file, but I didn't know which one was the driver that I should replace with vesa. I ended up just reinstalling Linux again. This time I installed it with my video card already installed. I also set my BIOS to boot from PCIe. I now have a working version of opensuse with a GUI but it lags even worse than it did before I put the video card in. I followed these instructions exactly to install the graphics driver:

* Open a shell
* Change to root: su
* Download driver: cd ~/; wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree8...-9631-pkg2.run
* Issue command: telinit 3
* cd ~/
* chmod +x ./NVIDIA*
* sh ./NVIDIA*
* Accept License agreement
* Build kernel
* Automatically configure x
* sax2 -m 0=nvidia[/I]

This is what it told me after I entered the last command:

SaX: no X-Server is running
SaX: will start own server if needed
SPP: prepare device [0] profile : Depth24
SPP: prepare device [0] profile : NVidia
SPP: calling device [0] profile script: NVidia
SPP: including prepared profile(s)...
SaX: startup
xc: sorry could not start configuration server
xc: for details refer to the log file: /var/log/SaX.log
xc: abort...

I looked through the log file and found this:

NVIDIA: could not open the device file /dev/nvidia 0 (input/output error)
Failed to initialize the NVidia graphics device PC1:1:0:0
screen found, but none of them have a usable configuration.
Fatal server error! no screens found.

Once I run KDE it also tells me that my monitor doesn't support 32-bit color and I can't adjust any of the settings.

So that's what's happened so far and I don't know what other direction to take. I followed these instructions out of a LINUX + DVD magazine that came with opensuse 10.2 / I've also tried everything else that everyone's suggested. At least I have a GUI now but still no 3D support.


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