Nvidia driver install with newest kernel

brantkings · 09-15-2011, 11:19 PM

Hello!

I desperately need to do some OpenGL programming to school. But I am struggling with my Nvidia driver card installation! I am using Ubuntu 11.04 64-bit.

I've tried to do it two ways: manually and by using the repository. Right now my video card is a Nvidia GeForce GT 5XXM, or as it is shown by the lspci:

Code:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Device 0df4 (rev a1)

This computer is new, so I guess this is a new card.

When installing with packages, I've stumbled upon a problem with jockey (or System/Administration/Additional Drivers) saying that the driver is activated, but not in use.

A search through the internet has brought me to this Ubuntu wiki page where is shown:

Quote:

If the restricted driver remains unactivated after attempting to activate it in the Additional Drivers dialog, you may not have the appropriate linux headers installed to compile the driver. Ensure that the linux-headers-XXX and linux-restricted-modules-XXX packages are installed, where XXX matches the version of the kernel you are using.

The problem is, I can't find this linux-restricted-modules package for my kernel (2.6.38-11-generic) in the repository, with apt-cache. Well, I can't find this package for ANY kernel whatsoever! The linux-headers package is fine, though.

Is there another way to find this package? Is the fact that my Ubuntu is 64-bit got any to do with it?

And about the manual install, when it asks for the kernel source, it says that the kernel is not configured because it can't find a "version.h" in some directory. I ran make configure in the kernel source but it doesn't fix the problem.

Turns out this version.h file exists, but is deeper down in another directory. What I think it is happening is that the installation thinks this is an older kernel, one that the file is on place (I don't know, maybe I didn't configure well).

Should I downgrade to an older kernel? Or am I doing something wrong? I still prefer doing a more high-level solution, so I won't mess my computer.

Thanks for you attention,

João

andrewthomas · 09-16-2011, 12:23 AM

This is what you want:
Package: nvidia-current (270.41.06-0ubuntu1) [restricted]
NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library

http://packages.ubuntu.com/natty/nvidia-current

See /usr/share/doc/nvidia-current/README.txt.gz for a complete list of supported GPUs and PCIIDs

tommcd · 09-16-2011, 01:52 AM

If the nvidia driver is still inactivated after installing the nvidia-current driver, try rebooting and then open a terminal and run:

Code:

sudo nvidia-xconfig

This command enables the driver.
You can check if the driver is working by running this command:

Code:

glxinfo | grep -i render

It should report something like this:

Code:

bash-4.1$ glxinfo | grep -i render
direct rendering: Yes
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce 8400 GS/PCI/SSE2 
...

The stuff in bold is what is important. Note that the video card that is reported will be your card and not the one in my example.

brantkings · 09-16-2011, 11:31 AM

I've got this nvidia-current package already. I apt-getted it with nvidia-current-modaliases. I've done it before, it changed the name of the driver in Additional Drivers to nvidia-current but that's it. It still doesn't work.

I've ran this

Code:

sudo nvidia-xconfig

And then I ran

Code:

glxinfo

That shows the following:

Code:

name of display: :0.0
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Error: couldn't find RGB GLX visual or fbconfig

Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".

And I tried to reboot only to discover that I can only boot in failsafeX mode. Any ideas? Maybe I should try to uninstall the video driver and then reinstall the right one? Thanks.

Thanks,

João

tommcd · 09-17-2011, 12:44 AM

The nvidia-current driver is the newest driver. It supports GForce 6 series and newer cards. It should be the driver for your card.
You could try booting to recovery mode, drop to a command line, and then run sudo nvidia-xconfig. Then reboot with sudo reboot.
What output do you get when you run "sudo nvidia-xconfig"?
Also, that output you posted from glxinfo looks like the tail end of the output. What do you get with this command that I posted before:

Code:

glxinfo | grep -i render