Few questions and problems with Slack 10.2

Zmyrgel · 02-19-2006, 06:27 AM

Okay,

I just installed the Slackware 10.2 with the basic kernel. Now I updated the kernel to the newest stable release (2.6.15). I installed grub as a bootloader and Nvidias newest display drivers. To my suprise the linux booted well but the problems appeared...

Now I can't get my KDE to start at all. If I choose to use "nvidia" module for my driver I get no signal at all on the screen (Screen just has box telling me to check my DVI / VGA connection). If I use more generic Nvidia driver ("nv", right?) I can get to KDE but the screen is greatly distorted so that's not a solution. Right after the installation, the KDE worked nice except for the low resolution (1024x768). Cause is most likely the nvidia drivers but how could I fix this.

Secondly, after compiling the kernel I run the "make install" command but I'm not sure is that necesary. Can't I just copy the arch/i486/boot/bzImage to /boot myself and mod the menu.lst to boot from that file or is there something more to do? This worked on Gentoo but I'm not sure on Slack with that System.map around.

cwwilson721 · 02-19-2006, 06:33 AM

You can copy bzImage yourself, and edit your own menu.lst. You can also copy the System.map over too, just name the new files something else, like 'System.map-mine','vmlinuz-mine' and 'config-mine'

When I compile I only use 'make' and 'make modules_install', then copy those files myself

Zmyrgel · 02-19-2006, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwwilson721

You can copy bzImage yourself, and edit your own menu.lst. You can also copy the System.map over too, just name the new files something else, like 'System.map-mine','vmlinuz-mine' and 'config-mine'

So I need to copy those System.map and .config files from where? And to /boot and link the files correctly. Check.

Any idea about the display error?

Alien_Hominid · 02-19-2006, 07:59 AM

Did you try to run on lower resolution? What happens then?

cwwilson721 · 02-19-2006, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zmyrgel

So I need to copy those System.map and .config files from where? And to /boot and link the files correctly.

From /usr/src/linux or wherever you compiled your kernel at.
Example:

Code:

cd /usr/src/linux
make && make modules_install
cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-mine
cp /usr/src/linux/.config /boot/config-mine
cp /usr/src/linux/System.map /boot/System.map-mine
rm /boot/System.map
rm /boot/config
rm /boot/vmlinuz
ln -s /boot/vmlinuz-mine /boot/vmlinuz
ln -s /boot/config-mine /boot/config
ln -s /boot/System.map-mine /boot/System.map

Then edit menu.lst

The above assumes /usr/src/linux is where you compiled kernel at

Zmyrgel · 02-19-2006, 09:12 AM

Okay, got it and tested it. Seemed to work nicely. Was pretty depressing as the "make install" uses LILO and I'm trying to use Grub

but that's been taken care of now.

On the nvidia driver issue, I just noticed my horizontal and vertical frequences have been wrong. I use it with digital cable so the analog frequences could be wrong. I found this info in some stores site but manufacturer's page doesn't list separate values for those frequences....
Analog (H/V): 30-81 / 56-76
Digital (H/V): 31-64 / 59-61

Gotta test these new values if these work.

But more problems / tweaks appear...

At boot time when the texts float by I noticed following:
-Complains about DMA off on harddrive which makes it slow
-FATAL: Module agpgart not loaded or something
-FATAL: Module ide-scsi not loaded or something

Then when I try to mount a partition in my command prompt from my SATA drive it tells me that "/dev/sda6 is not a valid block device"
Could it be that I have no SATA support enabled from kernel?

The agpgart seems to be some useless think enabled from kernel as is the ide-scsi thing so I just disable them from kernel?

Zmyrgel · 02-19-2006, 10:00 AM

Okay, I reinstalled the nvidia drivers and changed the hortzontal/vertical values in xorg.conf but still no success. I worries that the monitor isn't getting any signal.

Here's my xorg.conf at the moment:

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Simple Layout"
    Screen         "Screen 1" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files" 
#    ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
    RgbPath         "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/"
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"  	# Double buffer extension
    SubSection     "extmod"
        Option         "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialise the DGA extension
    EndSubSection
    Load         "type1"
    Load         "freetype"
    #Load        "speedo"
    Load         "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard1"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Mouse1"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "PS/2"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/mouse"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "My Monitor"
    HorizSync       31.0 - 64.0
    VertRefresh     59.0 - 61.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    #VideoRam    4096
    Identifier     "GeForce 7800GT"
    Driver         "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen 1"
    Device         "GeForce 7800GT"
    Monitor        "My Monitor"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth      16
        Modes      "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
#    SubSection     "Display"
#        Depth       32
#        Modes      "800x600" "640x480"
#    EndSubSection
EndSection

Zmyrgel · 02-20-2006, 01:57 AM

Okay, I got it to work.

I first quickly checked the /var/log/Xorg.log.old but I didn't see any errors. Later I checked it again and noticed it detected 2 monitors and decided to use the first... which appaerantly is my TV, so I just unplugged my S-Video cable which goes to TV and everything starts to work