Rickst29, I went and downloaded the nVidea driver installer from their WEB site as you suggested (I get curious). I'm using the legacy driver package since I have an old TNT2 card, and it seems to work OK. The install was a snap, but that is not why I responded. I have seen several posts about nVidia users inability to load glx. The installer puts a README file in /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0. It contains a wealth of valuable information. One little tidbit I picked up while reading was that if your /etc/X11/xorg.conf contains:

Option "Composite"

glx will not load. Composite was the only option in my "Extensions" Section, so I commented out the entire section like this:

# Section "Extensions"
# Option "Composite"
# EndSection

If your extensions Section contains additional options, you only need to comment out the 'Option "Composite"' line.

After saving my changes, and restarting X, glx loads and works as expected. This can be confirmed by executing 'glxgears' (no quotes) in a terminal window. If glx could not be loaded, glxgears would not run.

I tested the 3D Desktop, but no go here. Any text in the display is unreadable (like black text on a black background). When the mouse moves, blue patches are left in its wake, and graphics are improperly displayed (such as the background image). I restarted X, and selected the 3D Desktop session type at the log in screen, then disabled the 3D Desktop. When it restarted X, I selected the KDE Session type again, and all was well.

I suspect that my old 16MB TNT2 video card is simply not up to the task, although I have a few more things to investigate. If I learn anything new, I'll post here.

@wildar - HOW did you figure our which package was the correct one for your card, by the way?

@wildar - just tried it, and am still having trouble. I did install urpmi, included PLF servers as you said, but they tell me that there is no such package as kernel-source-2.6.17.5mdv :-(

Is there a typo, maybe??

okay, figured it out - it's now kernel-source-stripped-2.6.17.5mdv nvidia dkms-nvidia. However, it still does not work for me. He tells me he's de-installed the previous nvidia package and has now installed the new one. However, all I know is that the Elsa Gladiac (there is no driver for this card itself) is using a GeForce 400MX chipset.

However, no matter what I choose, I simply don't get anywhere :-( Anyone have an idea??

I did this same thing on a different system with GeForce4 Ti4200 card and selected Vendor > Nvidia > GeForece4 (generic), during XFdrake setup.

Have you tried using the Xorg 'nv' driver? It should work, but you wont get 3D.

If you've tried this already, what I would do at this point is download the driver from nvidia.com, but not the latest. GeForce 400mx is old and newest driver probably will not work for you (I tried already with the GeForce4 Ti4200). I'm just not sure which of their archive drivers will work for your card. Here's where you can get the archive drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_archive.html

Recommend uninstalling the nvidia rpms you downloaded from the PLF servers before installing the nvidia.com drivers. Do not uninstall the kernel-source.

I apologize if my success story is not working for you.

@wildar - thanks, but this Elsa Gladiac just not seems to hit it. I now switched to an old ATI Rage 128 that I still had lying around here and now installation and selecting drivers runs very smooth, and I have a much better graphic, I get the resolution I want, and everything basically looks great.

However, 3d still does not work, although he tells me it does. I can select 3D support, and I can modify the comiz settings, but when I login next time, he still gives me 2D, although the Mandriva Control Center is telling me that 3D is turned on. Strange indeed :-(

Hi,
where do you find the kernel file to download it and install it if someone(me) doesn't have a internet connection set up on the computer that has Mandriva on it. And how would I go about installing it when I do get it downloaded, I'm trying to get the nVidia driver to work, so I can get the GUI to work, thanks.

williams.benjamin,

In your situation, it may be easier to get the proprietary driver from the nVidia Unix download Page.
After you get the installer (.run file) on your Mandriva computer, you will have to make it executable. You can do this using the following command:Replace the file name NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7184-pkg1.run with the file name of the installer you download. Next, execute the installer:Again, replace the file name NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7184-pkg1.run with the file name of the installer you download. Follow the direction in the installer.

Finally, to set up Xorg, read the information in the README file at /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README in the file system.

If you have Midnight Commander installed, it is much easier to navigate the file system, read files etc. If you do not have Midnight Commander installed, you can switch to another console (ALT+CTRL+F1-6), log in as root, and execute:You will have to edit the Xorg configuration file /etc/X11/xorc.conf to make your changes. You can do this in yet another console as root. Midnight Commander has a text editor built in. If you do not have it installed, you can use the text editor of your choice.

If you decide you want to install Midnight Commander, execute:urpmi will install Midnight Commander from your Mandriva install CD, and resolve any dependencies (additional packages needed). To start Midnight Commander, execute:HTH,

I think Ernie answered the wrong question (William's got the instructions from previous posts, but needs to get ahold of the kernel-sources-stripped RPM). urpmi CAN'T GET THE PACKAGE from the Internet repositories, because he's got no Internet connection.

William, I have NO IDEA how you keep your system up to date, and I WOULD NOT mess around with building non-Mandriva stuff without Internet access (merely to make glxgears run faster, or build Beryl form Source, or whatever...).

Still if you INSIST on doing it anyway, here's how to get the kernel-sources-stripped: On a different computer which DOES have Internet access, go to one of the mirrors, such as:
http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/mand.../main/updates/

(the CURRENT, one for example, is "kernel-source-stripped-2.6.17.11mdv-1-1mdv2007.0.i586.rpm")

Download the corresponding file in THAT computer, burn it to a CD, copy from the CD to the Mandriva system hard drive, install using urpmi. BTW, you can get any OTHER updates you want from such a "mirror" directory too.


If you've NEVER updated your 2007.0 kernel, then the correct kernel isn't in "updates", it's in:
http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/mand.../main/release/

(it's "kernel-source-stripped-2.6.17.5mdv-1-1mdv2007.0.i586.rpm")

Thanks ernie an rick, both of your replies helped. I got the GUI working, and I do want internet on my mandriva machine but I'm currently setup with netscape and now trying to find a way to get that working on linux. If anyone could help with that I would appreciate it. Although I have these lines across the screen in any of the different desktop's and so I thought it was maybe something I might have messed up with the nvidia graphics card, but if anyone could give me some iformation on that I'd appreciate it.

Thanks, Ben

rickst29,

Sorry if I was not clear enough. I understood that the Mandriva computer has no Internet connection. I intended for williams.benjamin to get the installer from nVidia using a computer with Internet connection, then copy it to the Mandriva computer. He can get the sources package from his installation CD and install it, then install the driver from nVidia. He could also get mc from the install CD. It was late, and I may not have made all this clear enough.

I just managed to install the NVIDIA drivers after having all the problems mentioned in this thread. Everything was working fine untill I messed around with the 3D desktop settings. All I get now is a blank white screen with a mouse pointer and thats it. Is there a way to boot into KDE without the 3D settings applied so that I can change the settings back?

When you get to the log in screen (KDM), Click Session Type (bottom left) then select drak 3D in the pop up menu and log in. You will have to enter your root password, then you will get an input dialog allowing you to configure 3d desktop. Click the No 3D desktop effects radio button near the top. Click the OK button in the informational dialog telling you "You will have to log out then back in again for changes to take effect". You will be returned to the log in screen. If you are not, press CTRL+ALT+Backspace to restart Xorg. At the log in screen, click Session Type (bottom left) then select KDE in the pop up menu and log in. That should do it.

Well

It took a little time before I figured out how to get the goods with my geforce 6800, I'll elaborate on the thread starter's post (wildar).
I pretty much followed wildar's instructions and did not see a difference, after wrestling with other issues (ntfs), I did a complete re-build today and during the init 3 XFdrake configuration, I did something I did not do before. Originally, when in init 3, the XFdrake window showed the correct card and correct resolution, I would select "test" and accept, then I would Tab till "quit" was highlighted and hit enter. As I came to find out, that did not configure the drivers.
Today I did things a little different, when my geforce 6800 card was highlighted, I hit tab till "do" was highlighted and hit "Enter", and answered a couple questions, then I did the same thing for all of the five lines in the XFdrake window before quitting.
Then startx gave errors and I could not log into X as a user, so I "su" to root and issue command "/sbin/shutdown -r now" to re-start the box safely. For the first time as I watched the screen, I saw the Nvidia splash flash quickly, and had to re-do a couple settings, but the resolution was there and things happened allot faster. The drivers work. Just have to do the "do" for all entries in the XFdrake configuration step.