Ok, I've just installed Mandrake Linux 9.0, it was all good until it came to the device detection part. My mouse, keyboard and monitor were detected fine, but I couldn't get my video card to work. As stated in the subject I have a geforce4 MX 440, and I tried selecting any relvant drivers that come with the installation, but whenever I tested it, no device was found. I'm wondering if I have to install the nVidia drivers that come from their site, but it won't even boot into the OS. I can choose what I want to run, then the loading screen comes up, but pushes me out to a DOS-like screen where I can log in but not actually do anything.

This is my first try of Linux and is really putting me off. Any help would be welcome. I'm hoping it's an easy solution that I've overlooked. Thanks in advance.

The errors are

(EE) No devices detected

And

No screens found


The XFree86 version is 4.2.1. It's a bit old.

It's been a while since I had Mandrake loaded, but I would think that with 9.0 you could select the nvidia card from the installation screen, although it may just say geforce4, no 440 with it. Or, if geforce4 isn't there try geforce3, maybe. (Is that what you did?) Look for Nvidia in the list, not the manufacturer name of the card. That should load the 'nv' driver and set up /etc/X11/XF86Config and let you proceed anyway. (Mandrake could be a little different than this.)

And, yes, then you should get the nvidia driver from nvidia, http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_d..._1.0-4496.html and be sure to look through the README there for installation stuff, especially the editing of XF86Config.

Good luck.

It is now coming up with a box telling me it cannot run the X server, which I take to be the GUI. It says that the problem may be that it is not set up correctly, and gave me the option of going through and changing some setting. I've tried various things, but nothing has worked. I've tried all the nVidia drivers, plus nv, and changed the screen resolution all to no effect.

Do the later released of Mandrake support my card better, and if so, are the ISO files free for download somewhere? If there's no obvious solution to this I'll just start over.

the nvidia driver is "nvidia". not "nv".
also, as itsjustme said, just go through the readme on the nvidia site. you have to make a couple of changes in the xf86 config file.
i just installed the nvidia driver for my geforce4, and it works great (barring that one issue which i posted as another thread, which is not a problem really, just strange).

also, there is only 1 nvidia driver for graphic cards, as it is supposed to be a 1-size-fits-all approach they have taken. this is what i got from their download site - "NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run".
i stopped X, ran that installer, modified the xf86 config file to say "nvidia" (and uncommented GLCore and DRI modules, as per the readme). and its just beautiful.

How do you install a driver and modify a config file from the terminal I seem to be in? I fiddled around, trying to remember some of the console commands, found two folders under \root, \tmp and \draskx. \tmp is empty and \draskx has a few files in it.

Ahhhh this is frustrating. Maybe another version of Linux will be more compatable.

use the wget command to download a copy of the driver from ftp

wget ftp/http://location-of-file


once you have the file downloaded, the instructions on nvidia's website should be set up to explin how to do it from the command line.

good luck

well i use redhat, that is real good for nvidia cards,

1. you can download NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run from www.nvidia.com.
2. install it by typing sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run on the dos window after logging in as root.
3. after installing you can go to the directory specified by the installer for read me at the end of installation.(go there by following steps A-)

well i use redhat, that is real good for nvidia cards,

1. you can download NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run from www.nvidia.com.
2. install it by typing sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run on the dos window after logging in as root.
3. after installing you can go to the directory specified by the installer for read me at the end of installation.(go there by following steps A-)
a. type pico at the prompt (it is like notepad, a text editor)
b. open the xconfig sample file from nvidia glx directory in pico.
c. modify the XF86config files by following the readme(or the resource specified at the bottom) and save the file in the appropriate location (/etc/x11/ in redhat) and make sure everything is right.
4.type startx at the prompt to start x (the gui).

for more resouces got to :
http://www.xfree86.org/current/XF86Config.5.html (for configuring xf86 file)
www.xfree86.org (you can install the package and just type XConfurator at the shell to setup everything atep by step)

Xavier did you get your question answered? Even with the new versions of REd Hat, Mandrake, and Suse, you still need to download the drivers. I believe that the driver NVIDIA has of now will work on Mandrake 9, but not sure about that.
The newest versions of Linux (Red Hat 9, Mandrake 9.2, SUSE 9) will at least install a generic one at installation time so you can get you to GUI, which you can then use to download the driver from NVIDIA. from the home page of NVIDIA, click on "download drivers." Next, click on the blue type for "Linux and BSD drivers." Click on the Linux-IA 5328 version. Save it to your home directory.
AFter that, it is a simple procedure:
Once the driver is downloaded (remember where you saved it), reboot.
1. At the boot screen, choose "failsafe."
2. Once at the prompt, login with your user name and password.
3. then type (without the quotations) "su" and press enter
4. It will ask for your root password, type that and press enter
5. now type "sh nvidia-installer" and press tab
6. The line should be filled in with "sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5328-pkg1.run" and press enter
7. accept the license, use the arrow keys to navigate to 'yes.'
8. It will then attempt to install the driver for your version of Linux.
9. When it is finished and you are back to the prompt, type "vim /etc/X11/XF86Config-4" and press enter. (Make sure your prompt ends with "#" to indicate that you are still root.
10. using the arrow keys to navigate, find the heading "Modules," and make sure it says "Load glx" (It should).
11. then, go down to the heading "Device", and go to the line that starts with "driver" it should be listed as "nv."
12. Using the arrow keys, navigate to the letter "v" Press the letter "i"
at the bottom of the screen, it should say "INSERT"
13 Type "idia" so that the line says: driver "nvidia"
14. Press "esc"
15 Press ":" (again no quotations), then type "wq" and press enter
16. It should rewrite the file and save it.
17. Type "shutdown -r now" and press enter
18. When you get back to the boot screen, choose Linux
You should see during bootup an NVIDIA screen.
Wala, you are done!
If you search for NVIDIA, you will come across a sticky that explains how to do this as well.

Xaiver, my mistake. on number 5, the correct thing to type is "sh NVIDIA" and press tab. Linux is case sensitive.