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Having trouble installing a piece of hardware? Want to know if that peripheral is compatible with Linux?

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Old 04-05-2005, 02:38 PM   #1
leosgb
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nvidia goes black


I upgraded (had to undo it) my kernel from 2.6.5 to 2.6.11 and when i tried to boot i couldnt get to my graphical mode. My system logs in automatically to graphical mode and when it happens (after the upgrade) i get a black screen. I have an onboard geforce 2 card (asus a7n266) and it is well recognized by the linux installer. Does anyone know what can be going on? I cant reproduce the error messages right now but i can upgrade it again to get the same error and then have to reinstall linux from scratch here (which is not my intention). It seems to me to be a driver issue but since i use apt to update my system i cant see how it wont work. I appreciate any help,
 
Old 04-05-2005, 03:15 PM   #2
oneandoneis2
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Firstly: Does Ctrl-Alt-F1 get you to a console, or is it a total lockup?

If you can get to a console, either thru the above method or by passing your bootloader the necessary option for non-GUI mode, check the /var/log/Xorg messages in case it's not the driver at fault - when I was suffering lockups it was because it couldn't find my mouse. . .

Then re-install the nvidia driver - you have to do this every time you install a new kernel. It's a problem with the dirver being closed source, sadly
 
Old 04-05-2005, 03:37 PM   #3
leosgb
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It is a total lockup. I cant do a thing with it so the error message i could post here would be the one when i try to use the newest driver w/ the older kernel... which i dont think will help. I will try to edit my grub so i have a text log in for the new install before i reboot. This may give me a good error message to post here.
 
Old 04-05-2005, 05:29 PM   #4
leosgb
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well i did he upgrade and had it boot to a terminal window w/o graphics. Once i tried to "startx" it gets black and locks. Nothing else can be done except hit the restart button on my desktop's case. Any ideas?
---- new info:
Well since my desktop doesnt work i decided to boot in text mode and try to install nvidia suppiled drivers... it cant find precompiled drivers for 2.6.11 kernel so it tries to build one for me. The problem now is that i use a precompiled kernel so i think i dont have a file containing its config since the installer didnt go thru because it complain about missing config files for my header... Is there any way to find them?

Last edited by leosgb; 04-05-2005 at 06:12 PM.
 
Old 04-05-2005, 10:13 PM   #5
jiml8
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You need to obtain the kernel source that is appropriate for your kernel, and install it. Then compile the nvidia driver and everything should be fine.
 
Old 04-06-2005, 06:45 AM   #6
leosgb
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my problem here is that i use precompiled kernel and when i tried to compile nvidia driver (from their website) i couldnt since it asks for the config file used to generate my kernel... where can i find it in my case? Thanks.
 
Old 04-06-2005, 07:21 AM   #7
jiml8
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I will repeat myself.

"You need to obtain the kernel source that is appropriate for your kernel, and install it. Then compile the nvidia driver and everything should be fine."

I won't repeat myself again. The source is available for your distro and for your version of the kernel.
 
Old 04-06-2005, 07:49 AM   #8
leosgb
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I know it is avaiable and i have it. The problem is that the installer looks for the '.config' file that holds your kernel configuration... since i didnt compile it myself i DONT have this file. Right now i am compiling it from source so i can have it and then compile nvidia's driver. Thanks for your help anyway. You could try it, download a precomp kernel foro mandrake and check if the config file used to generate it comes along... if it does and you are not too busy to tell me, i wouldnt mind getting directions. As i already said, thanks once more.
---- ADDED ----:

while compilinig it i took your "advice" and looked further into the kernel's tree and found a directory called "configs" but there are many files there...which one am i supposed to use?

rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57303 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-athlon-enterprise.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57297 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-athlon-highmem-smp.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 59271 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-athlon-highmem.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57218 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-athlon-smp.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 59192 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-athlon.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40432 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i386-BOOT.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 51542 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i386-rbc.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57032 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i386-smp.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17270 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i386-uml-smp.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17572 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i386-uml.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 59018 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i386.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57207 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i586-smp.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 59170 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i586.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57326 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i686-enterprise.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57309 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i686-highmem-smp.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 59272 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i686-highmem.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57219 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i686-smp.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 59193 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-i686.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57280 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-pentium4-enterprise.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57274 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-pentium4-highmem-smp.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 59248 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-pentium4-highmem.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 57195 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-pentium4-smp.config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 59169 2005-03-18 21:34 kernel-pentium4.config

My 'uname -a' is:
Linux eyelet.localdomain 2.6.11-72032U10-_16cl #1 Fri Sep 10 15:32:42 BRT 2004 i686 unknown unknown GNU/Linux

Can you help me here?
----ONCE MORE----
Decided to take my chances here an chose the kernek-i686.config file. Then the installer says it doesnt like the riva support that is enabled so i go in there and edit it. this means i have to recompile anyway to remove the support, right? so this is what i am doing until someone stops me . Thanks for any help provided. Once removed from the config file the installer can(i tested it) compile the driver...

Last edited by leosgb; 04-06-2005 at 08:11 AM.
 
Old 04-06-2005, 08:26 AM   #9
PTrenholme
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Try looking at the help files that come with the nVidia drivers. They explain how to build and install the driver for a new kernel BEFORE you boot into the new kernal. (This assumes that you've got the new kernal built on your system, but are still booting into your old kernel. If you're moving from FC1 to FC3 (or FC4?), when you install the RPM, GRUB should be configured for dual boot, FC1 or FC3.)

Anyhow, once you've followed the instructions and updated the driver for the new kernal, you should be able to boot with no problem.

This works for me. (Um, upgrading from FC3 to a newer FC3. I never had anything before FC3 installed. A thought: The Xorg config file settings may be different for the two versions. Again, check the help files in the nVidia drive distribution directory to see what the recommended settings are. Also, check the version of Xorg you're running.)

Good luck!
 
Old 04-06-2005, 10:00 AM   #10
oneandoneis2
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Some distros have the default kernel config in /boot - take a look there, and if it's there, copy it over.
 
Old 04-06-2005, 12:24 PM   #11
leosgb
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Mine doesnt so i am trying now to make the recently kernel work w/ grub.

i did:
make menuconfig
make all
make modules
make modules_install
make bzImage

Then i ama trying to add it to grub but it is not working... i edited the file to addit and copied arch/i386/boot/bzImage to /boot
and i did mkinitrd initrd-custom 2.6.11-72032U10_16cl to create the initrd...

Both files are in /boot now but when i try the new option in grub it says it cant find the files... can anyone help me?
 
  


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