For some reason, OpenGL applications and screen savers have managed to frequently crash my whole system (i.e., not just an X crash, a whole kernel crash). The stability issue gets to be of Windows 98 severity. I use an NVIDIA video card with NVIDIA's proprietary driver, so I first suspected that NVIDIA was at fault. I googled around, and found that the issue probably is with NVIDIA's installer. According to lots of people, including a guy from RedHat, the solution is to download an RPM version of the drivers from livna.org through yum. I've tried this, but it requires that I have kernel version 2.6.7-1.494.2.2. Of course, this is an outdated kernel; I wonder if there's a way to use my kernel.org 2.6.8.1 kernel with the livna.org driver. If not, how do I download outdated versions of packages with yum? Thanks.

lasindi

Which nvidia driver are you using? The 1.0-6106 driver should have addressed that problem. There was also a 1.0-6111 release on August 5. If you want to use 2.6.8.1 kernel, the Nvidia installer should work fine.

I'm using 2.6.8.1 with Nvidia 1.0-6111 driver on a GeForceFX 5200 without any problems.

I'm still having this problem with the newer kernel and driver....I'm going to guess no one has solved it yet.

There is an updated driver from NVIDIA which I think was released last week. Give it a try.

Already tried it and nope...no luck.

I now know that the problem didn't have anything to do with Fedora, or even with any software. My motherboard (SiS 735 chipset) seems to have caused this, because I bought a new motherboard (with NVIDIA nForce2 chipset) and I'm having no problems with the same hard drive (i.e., all software, configurations, etc. are the same). I tried my sister's SiS 730 motherboard, and although it didn't have problems with OpenGL, it became very unstable with KDE applications. So, at least from my experience, one ought to avoid SiS motherboards at all costs.

lasindi

I've attempted to install the nvidia 3D drivers using both the suggested methods: the livna RPM method, and
the NVidia script method.

Using the Nvidia script installer, when I try and switch to run level 5 (after modifying /etc/xorg.conf), I just get a blank screen. I can't even log into the machine from another computer, so I can only assume the whole system has crashed.

Upon installing the Livna RPM (which uses the 6111 driver), I get a lot farther, in that once the RPM is installed, the xorg.conf file modified, I can switch to RL 5 and I get the Nvidia logo screen. It's after this point that I begin my trip through the mine field. Sometimes I can log in, sometimes I can even run a couple of apps. But, eventually, at some point, X and the rest of the machine, crashes. I'm even able to run Tux racer. I tried to deliberately run glx apps to see if I could isolate it to that, but no dice. When it crashes, it requires a hard reboot (removal of power).

Nvidia has I few suggestions in their readme, such as their appendix C, which lists locations of all installed components. I found this only applies if you use the nvidia installer script. The livna RPM puts things in slightly
different places, so it's hard to tell if I'm having a library conflict issue.

I run an ASUS A7n266-VM motherboard, running an athlon XP1800. I'm running the 2.6.8-1.521 kernel.

I was running Mandrake 9.1 previously to FC2, and the nvidia drivers worked flawlessly using the nvidia script installer.

Any troubleshooting tips anyone? I'd really rather stay at this kernel (and at FC2), since I'm in grad school, and literally everything else about FC2 works flawlessly, including a crossover office install which i use to run a couple of windows apps.

Thanks

I know that my problem, at least, wasn't Fedora. I switched to Slackware before I bought my new motherboard, and I had exactly the same problem. Maybe you should try switching to FC3 now that it's come out, and see if you still have these problems.

lasindi