I have been playing around with my Mandrake 10.1 CE install over the
weekend, and I just can't get X started.

I have read countless threads about problems with the NVIDIA driver on
Mandrake 10.1, and I have followed all the help offered to to no avail. I
am a relative newbie to Linux (I run SUSE 9 recently upgraded to 9.2 at
work) but do have UNIX platform experience.

I have done the following:

1). Downloaded NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1.run.
2). Installed the kernel source - urpmi kernel-source-2.6
3). uname -r to find my kernel level to use in the install.
4). installed the driver - sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1.run
--kernel-name='2.6.8.1-10mdk'
5). I have got the entry in the module section of xorg.conf to say Load
"glx"
6). I have nvidia in /etc/modprobe.preload
7). I initially had via-agp in modprobe.preload, but have also tried it with both sis-agp and nvidia-agp.
8). I have alias char-major-195* nvidia in /etc/modprobe.conf
9). The error I always get when trying to startx is (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA graphics device!

I cannot run the nvidia-bug-report.sh script and post it as I don't know how to get it from the madrake partition. I have tried mounting /mnt/windows as rw to copy it but it doesn't work.

I have never been able to run X as this is my first Mandrake install.

I have a NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 card and an 'Exair' monitor. The monitor runs at 1024x768, fh 31.5-60 fv 56-75. I don't know if it is the driver/card/monitor that is causing X to fail so any help in determining this would be great.

Please help!

Pete.

I had trouble getting the nvidia driver to load even though it was listed in modprobe.conf as well. I suspect your nvidia driver is not loading despite being listed in modprobe.conf. To test if this is the case, boot to a command line login, login as root and run:

# modprobe nvidia
# init 5

The first command will manually load the driver and the second command should start your graphical loogin screen. If it works, then I've correctly guessed your problem. To force the nvidia driver to load, edit /etc/rc.d/rc.modules by adding this at the end of the file:

You need to be root to edit this file.

ok, I tried that but it still did not allow me to startx.

I believe my nvidia module loads without a problem as I can run lsmod and see it listed as well as nvidia-agp and agpgart.

Can you post your XF86Config file? If it worked with the nv driver, you might want to try editing XF86Config back so at least you can post your logs and the config file.

This is my first Linux install so I have never been able to run X.

I have tried to copy the results from the nvidia-bug-report that I ran to /mnt/windows, but i can't as it was mounted as read only. I re-mounted as rw, but for some reason still couldn't copy across (I obviously can copy from windows to my MDK partition). I therefore don't know how to get a copy of my xorg.conf or anything else needed to debug this problem. I dont have a floppy drive in my PC.

Any ideas?

I have managed to startx by using the "nv" driver.

Once I have setup my internet access i will post my bug report to nvidia.

This seems to be a known issue with the Nvidia installer vis-a-vis Xorg.

Mandrake provides a set of RPM's for Nvidia cards that works fine.

People are well advised to start with these first, before resorting to utilizing the Nvidia downloads.

I've installed the nvidia driver on mdk10.1-OE on two boxes and in each case, the driver was not loading per my above post. there were some real problems with the 6111 driver where you had to edit one of the driver's C source files for the module to compile but that problem is gone in 6629. In short, I haven't heard any really tough problems with the 6629 driver. I'd suspect it is a problem with your X config file. If you post your XF86Config file we can go through the edits.
Given your kernel, I assume your running mdk10.1-CE which may have some issues I'm unaware of. The OE edition should be available for public download by the end of this month so you might want to give that a try as it's more stable. However, I did get the nvidia driver working with 10.1-CE on one box so I'm sure it's possible.

dont you need to be registered with mandrakesoft to get that RPM? i looked for that a while back and i thnk thats what i ran into.

i have a prob with my driver aswell.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=255934 to see my thread and link to my error log.

I believe it was last week that someone posted links to where the RPM's could be downloaded...

i found them through google.
same prod thou. the module isn'y loading

Does the AGP module load at all?

What appears as output from dmesg after you unload then reload the module?

i think it said unable to locate module. but ill regenerate the problem and try to remeber what is said.
http://www.geocities.com/mountainless/Xorg.0.log may be able to help you answer.

So then the problem is that the module has not been placed into the correct directory under /lib/modules/x.x.x-xmdk?

Or is it actually found?

ok, here is my xorg.conf(XF86Config) file.

When I issue lsmod i do see the agp module loaded.

I have also read lots of posts about problems with the 6111 driver which have now been fixed in 6629 and thought it would be easy to install and configure!!!! :-)

# File generated by XFdrake.

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the XF86Config man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "Files"
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Mandrake 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
FontPath "unix/:-1"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
#DontZap # disable <Crtl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse doesn't work
#DontZoom # disable <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
Load "extmod"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
#Load "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.a"
#Load "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.so"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "Keyboard"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
Option "XkbOptions" ""
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "monitor1"
VendorName "Plug'n Play"
HorizSync 31.5-60
VertRefresh 56-75

# Sony Vaio C1(X,XS,VE,VN)?
# 1024x480 @ 85.6 Hz, 48 kHz hsync
ModeLine "1024x480" 65.00 1024 1032 1176 1344 480 488 494 563 -hsync -vsync

# Dell D800 and few Inspiron (16/10) 1280x800
ModeLine "1280x800" 147.89 1280 1376 1512 1744 800 801 804 848

# Dell D800 and few Inspiron (16/10) 1680x1050
ModeLine "1680x1050" 214.51 1680 1800 1984 2288 1050 1051 1054 1103

# Dell D800 and few Inspiron (16/10) 1920x1200
ModeLine "1920x1200" 230 1920 1936 2096 2528 1200 1201 1204 1250 +HSync +VSync

# TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
# 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
ModeLine "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630

# 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
ModeLine "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "device1"
VendorName "NVidia"
BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce FX (generic)"
Driver "nv"
Option "DPMS"
Option "IgnoreEDID" "1"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen1"
Device "device1"
Monitor "monitor1"
DefaultColorDepth 16

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Virtual 1024 768
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 15
Virtual 1024 768
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Virtual 1024 768
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Virtual 1024 768
EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
Screen "screen1"
EndSection