Linux have problem with video card.

Crusty5253 · 08-04-2013, 08:07 PM

Hello, I'm very new to Linux, but not to computers in general. I really have no idea what I am doing on Linux as of now, so I'm trying to learn fast.

My first issue is I cant seem to get my Nividia GeForce 550 TI to work with Linux Mint, how would I go about telling the OS to use this video card and not my motherboards?

Edit:
I do not have any of the GeForce softwear downloaded, because when I attempt to download it I cant execute any files even though I downloaded the Linux verion. I also attempted to use my disk that came with the video card, yet failed to prevale.

frankbell · 08-04-2013, 08:34 PM

Please provide more information, such as the make and model of the computer.

If you have a motherboard with an onboard video card and are trying to use an external video card (that's what it sounds like), please clarify the situation and tell us what the onboard card is. You will find the lspci command useful for this.

As an aside, it might be possible to turn off the onboard video card in the BIOS. How to get in the BIOS depends on the computer, but, generally, during the POST, you will see something like "Press [some key] to enter setup." "Setup" refers, in this case, to the BIOS.

Here's an article from the Mint site that might help:

http://community.linuxmint.com/softw...nvidia-current

And here's another one from a third-party site:

http://www.howtoeverything.net/linux...-in-linux-mint

cascade9 · 08-05-2013, 09:33 AM

One of best things to get in the habit of doing is to always list what distro, version, if its 32bit/64bit, and even the dekstop version can help and make a differnce.

So you really want to say not just 'linux mint' but at least 'mint 14', 'mint 13 KDE'is better and best yet 'mint 15 Xfce cinnamon 64bit'.

Your post is actually a great example of why. Mint has a software tool for finding and installing closed source drivers. But where it is varies with the version...

Mint 13- Menu > Preferences > Install Additional Drivers.

Mint 14- Menu > Preferences > Software Sources, then go to the 'Additional Drivers' tab.

Mint 15- Menu > Preferences > Driver Manager.

By the way, if you are using a version of linux mint eariler than mint 13, you shouldnt be. They are out of support (meaning they will get no bug or security fixes)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusty5253

Edit:
I do not have any of the GeForce softwear downloaded, because when I attempt to download it I cant execute any files even though I downloaded the Linux verion. I also attempted to use my disk that came with the video card, yet failed to prevale.

Its easier to use the nVidia driver version in your distros repos (software repositories) than to do a manual install. The drivers are also better tested with that distro, because many more people uses the repo drivers than doing a manual install).

Getting the drivers 'the easy way' with the mint software tool means you will be gettign the repo version.

I never use the software than comes on driver discs with hardware for linux or windows. They is pretty much always a newer version of the windows driver on the manufactuers site in my expereince, and even with linux that tends to be true (and I'd rather use the repo drivers with linux anyway)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusty5253

My first issue is I cant seem to get my Nividia GeForce 550 TI to work with Linux Mint, how would I go about telling the OS to use this video card and not my motherboards?

550Ti should be desktop only, not in some laptop, and with most desktop motherboards you can disable the onboard video and use just the video card. BTW, this is worth doing, as even if you use windows having the onboard video turned on means it will be using some of your main system RAM.

How to get into your BIOS and disable he onbaord video varies with motherboard manufacturer and model. Do yuo know or can you find out the model?

Crusty5253 · 08-05-2013, 02:08 PM

I don't seem to have a preferences option, how can I tell what version of mint I have? And it seems I cant find my onboard video card in BIOS, and I do not know my model, I could get it on windows, but is there anyway "other than tearing my machine apart" to find it on linux? Like a hardware manager?

cascade9 · 08-05-2013, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusty5253

I don't seem to have a preferences option, how can I tell what version of mint I have?

Open acommand line/terminal and enter this-

cat /etc/issue

My system gives me this in return-

Code:

Debian GNU/Linux jessie/sid

Not that it matters that much, but this will tell you if its 32bit or 64bit-

uname -m

iX86 (mostly i686, but some distros will be i586, or even i486 i386) is 32bit.
x86_64 is 64bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusty5253

And it seems I cant find my onboard video card in BIOS, and I do not know my model, I could get it on windows, but is there anyway "other than tearing my machine apart" to find it on linux? Like a hardware manager?

Yep, theresa few ways. I like lshw. Command line/terminal again, enter this-

sudo lshw

If it tells you lshw isnt installed-

sudo apt-get install lshw

You wont need to post the whoe output, just the motherboard section. Like this-

Code:

description: Desktop Computer
    product: GA-770T-USB3 ()
    vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
    width: 64 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.4 dmi-2.4 vsyscall32
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop uuid=36434630-3439-3735-3235-3838FFFFFFFF
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: GA-770T-USB3
       vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0

By the way, its best to put things liie lshw output into 'code' tags. It keeps the forum neater (aqnd with really big outputs, it really makes a difference) You can get code tags by hitting the '#' symbol above the posting area.

*edit- if you have issues finding the motherboard section, just [paste the whole output into code tags. Myself or someone else will find it easy

zrdc28 · 08-05-2013, 02:35 PM

Go to the menu and look for "additional drivers" it is probably under system! click on it and see if the
driver is not a part of the distro.

It is always best to know what version of mint you have, cinnamon, mate, kde, lmde, etc.

Crusty5253 · 08-06-2013, 12:17 PM

I believe that I am running Linux Mint 14 KDE, 32-bit

As for my motherboard

PHP Code:



  *-core 
       description: Motherboard 
       product: M2N-SLI DELUXE 
       vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC. 
       physical id: 0 
       version: 1.XX 
       serial: 123456789000

Quote:

Originally Posted by cascade9

By the way, its best to put things liie lshw output into 'code' tags. It keeps the forum neater (aqnd with really big outputs, it really makes a difference) You can get code tags by hitting the '#' symbol above the posting area.

*edit- if you have issues finding the motherboard section, just [paste the whole output into code tags. Myself or someone else will find it easy

Yea, I wouldnt want to dirty up the forums that i'll be spending so much time on

Edit: In no attempt to stray from my question about getting my GeForce video card activated, I have a few simple yet embarassing questions,

How would one change mouse sensitivity, I found a post that required you to enter a bunch of input into terminal but it didnt save my settings, so when I rebooted my mouse was still super sensative.

Also how would one go about making a program start on bootup? Is there a tool similar to windows msconfig?

Is there any task manager? So I could watch my processes?

Also the drivers under "Additional Drivers" that relate to nvidia are,

Experimental NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernal modual and VDPAU library. (There are two of these)

NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernal module and VDPAU library. (There are also two of these)

I also found this in Terminal

PHP Code:



  *-display 
             description: VGA compatible controller 
             product: GF116 [GeForce GTX 550 Ti] 
             vendor: NVIDIA Corporation 
             physical id: 0 
             bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0 
             version: a1 
             width: 64 bits 
             clock: 33MHz 
             capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom 
             configuration: driver=nouveau latency=0 
             resources: irq:16 memory:f8000000-f9ffffff memory:d8000000-dfffffff memory:e4000000-e7ffffff ioport:7c00(size=128) memory:fbf00000-fbf7ffff

Fred Caro · 08-06-2013, 06:28 PM

crusty,
the reason why people ask you to use the cli (terminal) is because it is effective on all the various flavours of "linux".

I don't use KDE very much but 'system settings' on the gui will have a way to reset mouse sensitivity and it will stick.

'startup applications'(gui) on Gnome is probably closest to msconfig I can think of, you don't need to use it like you do on Windows, and then msconfig is only a temporary fix.

The top and ps commands track processes on "linux". Top is a real-time viewer that allows you to manipulate processes.

Only a guess but you might have two sets of nvidia driver choices because the bios has no exclusive choice set to onboard or added?

Fred.

Crusty5253 · 08-06-2013, 06:45 PM

Is Linux Mint going to be the most friendly for someone knew to Linux? Is this what I should start with? I plan on doing map compiling and game developing on it.

cascade9 · 08-07-2013, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusty5253

I believe that I am running Linux Mint 14 KDE, 32-bit

As for my motherboard

PHP Code:



  *-core 
       description: Motherboard 
       product: M2N-SLI DELUXE 
       vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC. 
       physical id: 0 
       version: 1.XX 
       serial: 123456789000

Hmm...no onboard video withj that chipset.

Could you post the whole lshw output?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusty5253

Also the drivers under "Additional Drivers" that relate to nvidia are,

Experimental NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernal modual and VDPAU library. (There are two of these)

NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernal module and VDPAU library. (There are also two of these)

I also found this in Terminal

PHP Code:



  *-display 
             description: VGA compatible controller 
             product: GF116 [GeForce GTX 550 Ti] 
             vendor: NVIDIA Corporation 
             physical id: 0 
             bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0 
             version: a1 
             width: 64 bits 
             clock: 33MHz 
             capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom 
             configuration: driver=nouveau latency=0 
             resources: irq:16 memory:f8000000-f9ffffff memory:d8000000-dfffffff memory:e4000000-e7ffffff ioport:7c00(size=128) memory:fbf00000-fbf7ffff

As far as I kow its better to use 'code' tags not 'php' tags.

The 2 different versions are probably 'nVidia accelerated graphics driver (version current)' and 'nVidia accelerated graphics driver (post-release updates)'.

I wouldnt try either until this onboard video thing is figured out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusty5253

How would one change mouse sensitivity, I found a post that required you to enter a bunch of input into terminal but it didnt save my settings, so when I rebooted my mouse was still super sensative.

I dont know what menu version you are using ('application launcher' style or 'classic menu' style). This is all done from classic menu, if you use application launcher and cant find something, you can always right click on the KDE menu button and switch style.

KDE-> Settings-> System Settings-> Input Devices (its in 'Hardware')-> Mouse (In the list on the left)-> Advanced tab.

The terminal comamnd could be because many linux users find them easier (what can work on one distro version and even DE can often work on others). I did a bit of a look and saw a few posts here and ther suggesting using terminal commands to chaneg mouse speed because 'KDE has not built this into its control center yet'. I dont recall even early versions of KDE4 not having that mouse settings...maybe I'm mistaken, maybe some people just couldnt find the mouse settings...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusty5253

Also how would one go about making a program start on bootup? Is there a tool similar to windows msconfig?

KDE-> Settings-> System Settings-> Startup and Shutdown.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusty5253

Is there any task manager? So I could watch my processes?

KDE-> System-> KSysGuard.

That is the KDE system monitor, you can also use top/Htop (more console style). It might even be possible to use gnome or other DE system monitors, but I wouldnt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusty5253

Is Linux Mint going to be the most friendly for someone knew to Linux? Is this what I should start with? I plan on doing map compiling and game developing on it.

Very difficult to answer.

IMO the big issue with mint (and ubuntu which mint is based off) is 'Non-LTS versinos' with short support lenght.

'LTS' (long term support) versions like Mint 13 are suported for a long time. Mint 13 is supported until April 2017. Mint 14 has 18 months of support, and that runs out in April 2014. Mint 15 is based on ubuntu 13.04, and with that version (and all other non-LTS versions from now on) ubuntu dropped support lenght to 9 months, so it is out of support in January 2014. Mint 16 will be the same support lenght. Mint 17 (which isnt even 'on the drawing board' yet) should be another LTS version.