howto nvidia driver and 10.1
 

After perusing this forum and the nvidia forum I installed my nv this way
First install the file bash completion if you have not already done so, it allows you type the first bits of a command then press tab to complete it or give you options
Also completes file names.

1) edit /etc/inittab to runlevel 3
2) edit /etc/X11/XF86Config to name driver as nvidia in lieu of nv everything else for me was ok
3) reboot
4) boot into root in console mode
5) cd /pathway to file download/your nvidia file likely to be intel/amd 32 x86 file if you are reading this
6) sh NV press TAB if you have bash completion installed and let file execute and accept agreement
7) still in console mode Mdk 10.1 has a bug apparently. So you need to add an entry to your /etc/modprobe.preload file called ¨ nvidia ¨ I use vi to edit then I can type startx.

If you do not like vi type startx and edit file in a graphical mode using a text editor

8) still in console mode reedit your inittab if you know vi or startx and edit it back to run level 5

If you want to try vi commands are
vi /etc/inittab
Press the key I for INsert
arrow down to the run level and type 5 for gui and delete the 3
Press Escape key to get back to command mode
Press :wq! to issue command WRITE/QUIT/QUIT WITHOUT warning
8) reboot to test

9) When in graphical mode open a console type nv Press TAB to see some nv commands like settings to play with

examples only below

BELOW are outputs of my modprobe file
# /etc/modprobe.preload: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file should contain the names of kernel modules that are
# to be loaded at boot time, one per line. Comments begin with
# a `#', and everything on the line after them are ignored.
# this file is for module-init-tools (kernel 2.5 and above) ONLY
# for old kernel use /etc/modules

amd64-agp
nvidia

BELOW is the line to find in inittab
id:5:initdefault:

########so 5 for gui and 3 for login for many users but without gui

I hate to be a pessimist but....
I tried yesterday two intalls of the nvidia driver on my machine in morning and neither one was successful. Both barfed into the terminal login, and I uninstalled it and went back to nv driver. Looked at how you did it and thought that is strange, the only thing you did different was edit your files before the install, and I did them after. Anyway, I followed your guide, and to my surprise I have a graphical desktop. The stock Mandrake 10.1 install has rivafb module built into the kernel. The installer did warn of this, saying it was still able to compile and install nvidia driver but it was in conflict with rivafb and would not work without removing rivafb. Then I got to thinking, 10.1 uses xorg, not xf86. Mandrake 10.0 used XF86Config. So we are telling Mandrake to load nvidia driver in a file that is no longer used, but the file that 10.1 actually uses xorg.conf we did not edit, and still is calling the nv driver.

As a last note, did you see the full screen nvidia splash screen prior to your desktop loading?
I would like to know how to remove rivafb module (built into kernel), without building a new kernel.

Lakota.......

you can ignore the RIVAFB warning & proceed with the install. that only pertains to if you have a RIVA based card. it will do no harm.

i think your problem relates to what aus9 posted. there seems to be a bug/glitch/conflict with udev & Nvidia drivers in 10.1. after you install the drivers via the normal procedure & after you edit xorg.conf, if X still won't start use vim (or vi) and edit your /etc/modprobe.preload file to add a line simply saying nvidia. i don't have an example of mine at hand right now to show you, but it's just a matter of adding the word nvidia somewhere underneath the header text in that file. save it, reboot & X should start fine.

also, check the Nvidia link in my sig for install help if you need it.

otis

It is a good idea to summerize the installation of the NVIDIA driver. Howerver, in my case an additional step was necessary (GeForce4 488 Go, kernel 2.6.8.1-12mdk, driver NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run, more recent drivers didn't work).

I followed more or less the steps you propose. All seemed okay, it was also possible to leave X and to restart X without problem. Unfortunately, after reboot, each times, I was obliged to reinstall the driver.

I solved this problem by adding two lines in a script executed at boot (/etc/rc.d/rc.local for example):
mknod /dev/nvidia0 c 195 0
mknod /dev/nvidiactl c 195 255

(also add nvidia at in /etc/modprobe.preload).

Hope it will help.

Ok, I am now sorted out.

My post is correct, if you follow the intructions by aus9, you will have the nvidia driver installed but be running the nv driver. If you look at #2 of his post, it tells you to edit /etc/X11/XF86Config which is not used in mandrake 10.1

Last night I did not bother editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf, as I had two failures the other morning. After reading your post otish100c, I figured I would edit xorg.conf and see what happens. Saw nvidia splash screen and now my openGL works. To figure out what was different from my failed attempts, the only thing different was the other morning when I added nvidia to the xorg.conf I also uncommented the load 3d layer line. So, did that and could not bring up my xserver like other morning. So commented out that line again and all is well.

So if aus9 reads this, maybe you could edit your post to tell newbs to add nvidia to /etc/X11/xorg.conf, not /etc/X11/XF86Config. And it would be a perfect install guide.

I had to add nvidia to /etc/modprobe.preload in Mandrake 10.0 as well after I had upgraded 10.0 to a newer kernel, or it would boot with nv driver. So that appears to be kernel related, not Mandrake.

Hmmm, I already did exactly what this article says to do and im still having problems.

Only thing differnt is when I did mine I just ctrl+alt+f1 and then did an "init 3" as root. and restarted X with startx -- :0 I don't know why mine still doesn't work. I stuck using the nv driver. I have nvidia in my modprobe.preload although it is after my intel-agp driver.

Thanks a lot for this tip, this really solved my problem. I don't know what those parametters mean, but they worked just fine! I was having the same problem.

Raxxal

That also worked for me on reboot! I wish I knew what those commands did as well :p I am a super noob, but as long as it works, I'm happy. Thank you! :D

to all that need to know

ls -l /etc/X11/xorg.conf gives output of
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Dec 13 23:11 /etc/X11/xorg.conf -> XF86Config
= it is a link file to XF86Config.
I have hidden files on so dunno know if that is the issue.

2) Yes I get the splash screen....glxgears on my fx5200 gives me 1150 to 1193 with some minor tweaks with xvidtune and yes I am aware of the warnings thankyou.

3) thanks for the tip on mknod will check it out when I can jfi

that is an annoyingly weird quirk with Mandrake. i don't know why they retain the XF86Config file & symlink xorg.conf to it. sorta defeats the purpose of the xorg file, if ya ask me.

if you want to eliminate it, do the following........

open a terminal as root. type kwrite etc/X11/xorg.conf, to open the file with kwrite in root mode. (or, same method for any text editor of your choice.) then open a file manager as root (kdesu konqueror, for instance), go to /etc/X11/ & rename the XF86Config file to XF86Config~. (you could just delete it, too, but you might wanna keep it around as a backup/template) rename the xorg.conf file to something like xorg.conf~. now save the xorg.conf you have opened in kwrite as xorg.conf in that same directory.

you could also rename/delete the files in terminal with various commands, but the above is an easy gui way. restart X for the unlinked xorg.conf to be used exclusively.

otis

glxgears gives the following on a HP zd7260:

alex@localhost:~$ glxgears
14152 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2830.400 FPS
16432 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3286.400 FPS
16411 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3282.200 FPS

Hmm, after a reboot now, it starts up without actually loading KDE. I have a terminal window that is half off the screen, I can exit and log back in, and then startx brings kde up fine, I am very confused :newbie:

Edit: just forgot to say, I do get the nvidia splash, then the messed up terminal view.

To fix my nvidia, this is what I did. All these steps were found somewhere in this board.


Disable the X server: Alt+Ctrl+F1
Switch to run level 3: Init 3
Uninstall the nvidia driver: sh NVIDIA.... --uninstall
Find my kernel: uname -r
Install the nvidia driver using this parametter: sh NVIDIA... --kernel-name=2.6.8.1-12mdksmp
Did the hack wih mknod as listed on this thread.
Reboot.
Bingo!
Everything works just fine. By the way, I am using an HP laptop ZD7260.

Don't have a dual cpu (is that the smp is?) uninstalled the drivers and commented the xorg file back to nv, still giving me this terminal window even after removing, I think it is probably something else, I'll take a screen of it if I can.

You're right, smp is for a dual or multiple cpus, I have the Pemtium 4 3.2 Ghz, this cpu has Hyper-Threading Technology , the kernel thinks there are two CPU.
uname -r will tell you what kind of kernel you are using. You can use either the standard or smp if you have more than one cpu, or a cpu with Hyper-Threading Technology, the standard kernel will not make sense in a dual cpu system or a cpu with Hyper-Threading Technology.
If you have a cpu without Hyper-Threading Technology, you cannot use the smp kernel.

I went and disabled all the stuff I had tried (commented the stuff out) and then tried it all again, boots fine now. Not sure what was going on. I am perplexed and happy :p

thanks for your link
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=194100
otish1000c

2) And my old video card was a shocker, so I was rather proud of my glxgears until I read that I am supposed to post it only when running in full mode.....not sure if resolution is an issue but in 1024 x 768 it drops to 159 FPS ....shucks so much for a fx5200 heh heh and yes not worried as I do not play serious games on pc

3) not sure where I read it but for those yet to see it heres a nice link with pictures on installing nv driver
http://www.mandrake.tips.4.free.fr/nvidiainst.html

4) altho the info on the net is fine for NvAGP I have not understood the extra stuff on mknod.....however I had 2 /dev/ entries but one of the posters has created 6 entries.

5) I am also testing the x86 Mdk but I have a AMD 64 so I may see if running a version more suited to this lovely processor is viable.

I hope I have not offended anyone in posts.

Thanks to jfi. At last, I made my PC [Athlon XP 2700+, MSI KT6V, nVidia GeForce FX 5200LE, Mandrake 10.1] boot correctly in runlevel 5 with the trick proposed by him (version of the nVidia driver = 5336, 'nvidia' in '/etc/modprobe.preload' after the agp line), but I only achieve that putting the 'mknod' lines in the script '/etc/rc.sysinit' (cause' in '/etc/rc.local' it simply didn't work), just after the 'if-fi' statement that calls '/etc/init.d/mandrake_everytime'.

Someone knows why that lines solve the problem? Why they have these names? (nvidia0 & nvidiactl).

On the other hand, the use of Xorg instead XFree86 is quite dark, hostile and an unespected shift. Moreover, Mandrake 10.1 is very incomplete and lacks a lot of useful packages present in previous versions of that distribution.

The best reference I found for "mknod" was http://www.rengels.de/computer/linux/linux-nvidia.html in which there are some explanations and a more complete script.

It is true that "/etc/rc.d/rc.local" is not the best place for the script of the above reference because it is not executed with the right permission.

Otherwise afters hours of trials and errors I couldn't solve an additional stability problems: the computer was freezing after 5 to 30 minuts of use, even using the "nv" driver, so I swiched to Fedora Core 3 which works like a charm....

I have installed my PC few days ago, so I haven't used it intensively. However, it seems to run as stable as it can be, even running Quake III Arena (and unloading it, a problematic issue with the ATI Mobility Radeon accelerated driver that I have configured in my laptop (P-IV 3 GHz, 1 GB RAM), over Mandrake 10.0). However, my complaints about the last Mandrake release (10.1) are growing as I look for the missing applications from elder versions (such as Mandrake 10.0 or 9.2). How they arrange themselves to spend the space of 3 CDs and exclude that amount of software?

A little off base for this thread, but directed to hfranco.........
Just curious, what applications do you feel are missing in 10.1 that you enjoyed in previous releases?

jfi's solution with hfranco's improvement was exactly the answer for me. My 10.1 is running great now! Thanks guys! :cool:

Nvidia install
 

I have no problems at all to install nvidia drivers on mandrake 9.X to 10.X

The way it worked for me:

- installing the kernel sources for the running kernel
- getting the latest version of the nvidia drivers from nvidia.com
- go to runlevel 3 by doing a init 3
- checking if x-server really stopped
- chmod a+x Nvidia-drivers name
- execute the it, in bash like go to the directory and do a ./NVIDIAdriver name
- following the instructions displayed on the screen
- after it is done, changing the XF86config file as supplied in the readme or on nvidia.com
- and go to init 5

And it works great.... bzflag is very nice to play.... cube too.

The most recent driver I was able to install was 5336. All the others gave errors during the installation, so I kept going back until I hit on 5336.

If anyone could offer advice on newer ones, that would be great.

I am no expert but the forum below is useful
www.nvnews.net

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=14

which you can join as long as you have a no-hotmail/yahoo email.

2) the other traps are downloading the non-ia32 nv driver.....if you are using mdk 10.1 you are highly likely to need this one and not the one for say amd64?

3) and b4 installing convert your /etc/XF86config back to nv or vesa?

4) running in a teminal you should get an error message and then see the readme on what the likely cause may be?

good luck or feel free to post your outputs if the posts an nvnews is of no help

Yes, maybe we should start a new thread... however I'll mention some of the missing software: Lyx, KDevelop, wxWidgets (former wxWindows) libraries, etc.

The games/multimedia packages seem to be untouched, but the most useful applications don't come with the 'official' release.

hfranco,
Oh, I see what you mean, most all those appz are now on cd #4. Absent for those downloading the three cd public version. That still is not so bad, as long as people are aware they should go to easyurpmi and set up their sources. When I disable all cd's in media manager, I have access to all the appz you listed through the "main" download source. Except for a part of the wx group.

Curiosity satisfied, Thanks.