Installing NVidia driver

bakunin · 09-14-2012, 05:57 AM

I have downloaded driver for my NVidia card from nvidia.com. I followed instructions during the installation. After finish, my xserver cannot started. If I remove xorg.conf file everything is fine.

These are my hardware and system details.

Driver info
Version:
304.43 Certified
Release Date:
2012.08.27
Operating System:
Linux 64-bit
Language:
English (U.S.)
File Size:
61.1 MB
NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.43.run

System
Slackware64-current with xfce

Graphic Hardware
nvidia geforce GT 630M. 2GB

KookieMonster · 09-14-2012, 05:59 AM

Please have a look at the wiki for this issue. Using the Slackbuilds might be the easiest thing to do.

WhiteyMcQ-Tip · 09-14-2012, 06:43 AM

I actually just did this again with the same driver your trying to use. What works for me is by logging in at start-up, cd to the directory where your driver is and run "./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.43.run", and lastly blacklist the nouveau driver in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf (This is achieved by simply adding "blacklist nouveau").

bakunin · 09-14-2012, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteyMcQ-Tip

I actually just did this again with the same driver your trying to use. What works for me is by logging in at start-up, cd to the directory where your driver is and run "./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-304.43.run", and lastly blacklist the nouveau driver in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist (This is achieved by simply adding "blacklist nouveau").

There is no blacklist file in /etc/modprobe.d dircetory or /lib64/modprobe.d

WhiteyMcQ-Tip · 09-14-2012, 06:59 AM

I apologize the file is blacklist.conf, if it's nowhere to be found that is interesting to me.

wildwizard · 09-14-2012, 07:02 AM

The wiki linked to previously has the correct method for dealing with the nouveau driver, simply use the package from extra to kill it off.

What is missing from the wiki is the need to configure X to use the nvidia driver.

This goes in a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-nvidia.conf

Code:

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Device0"
    Driver  "nvidia"
    VendorName "Nvidia Corporation"
    BoardName ""
EndSection

You should not have any other X config files at this point

bakunin · 09-14-2012, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildwizard

The wiki linked to previously has the correct method for dealing with the nouveau driver, simply use the package from extra to kill it off.

What is missing from the wiki is the need to configure X to use the nvidia driver.

This goes in a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-nvidia.conf

Code:

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Device0"
    Driver  "nvidia"
    VendorName "Nvidia Corporation"
    BoardName ""
EndSection

You should not have any other X config files at this point

/etc/X11/xorg.conf was created after install. And again it doesn't work! It gives me that error `no screen found`. I create a file in /etc/modprobe.d/disable_nouveau.conf that contains

Code:

blacklist nouveau
options nouveau modeset=0

lines.

God! Help me!

EDIT: And there is no 10-nvidia.conf under xorg.conf.d

clod89 · 09-14-2012, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakunin

Graphic Hardware
nvidia geforce GT 630M. 2GB

I see it's an nvidia mobile (the M stands for mobile usually) card, if that's the case are you sure it's not an optimus video card? In this case you'd need to install bumblebee.

bakunin · 09-14-2012, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clod89

I see it's an nvidia mobile (the M stands for mobile usually) card, if that's the case are you sure it's not an optimus video card? In this case you'd need to install bumblebee.

On the driver select menu I can see my card name and it shows as (Notebooks) then it gives me that driver file.

wildwizard · 09-14-2012, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakunin

/etc/X11/xorg.conf was created after install.

Created by what? What does it contain?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakunin

And again it doesn't work! It gives me that error `no screen found`.

If you have a broken xorg.conf file then of course things wont work, this is why I say you should not have any other configuration files for X at this point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakunin

EDIT: And there is no 10-nvidia.conf under xorg.conf.d

You need to create that file as it tells X what video driver to use, and that is all it does.

bakunin · 09-14-2012, 08:09 AM

/etc/X11/xorg.conf was created by nvidia installation. It contains

Code:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 304.43  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-13)  Sun Aug 19 21:19:28 PDT 2012


Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib64/X11/fonts/misc/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib64/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib64/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib64/X11/fonts/misc/"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib64/X11/fonts/Type1/"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib64/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib64/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib64/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib64/X11/fonts/cyrillic/"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib64/X11/fonts/TTF/"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

After creating /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-nvidia.conf file what do I need put it in? All of belowed lines?

el chapulín · 09-14-2012, 08:43 AM

The GT 630M is an optimus GPU... I haven't a clue about those, but I know you have to use bumblebee which I believe you will beed to build from source: http://bumblebee-project.org/install.html

Your xorg.conf achieves the same end result as wildwizard's .conf file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ - there is no point in having both.

You probably don't need that much configuration however...

Edit xorg.conf as follows to remove most of unnecessary lines

Code:

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
EndSection

It looks like you've done the blacklisting correctly, but check...

Code:

$ lsmod | grep nouveau

That should return nothing at all.

bakunin · 09-14-2012, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by el chapulín

The GT 630M is an optimus GPU... I haven't a clue about those, but I know you have to use bumblebee which I believe you will beed to build from source: http://bumblebee-project.org/install.html

But... I don't understand why nvidia.com gives me an driver for 630M GT for linux?

Didier Spaier · 09-14-2012, 09:00 AM

They are working to add Optimus support, see there.

Since then, your driver is usable, but in addition you need bumblebee, as already noticed by el chapulin, and probably switcheroo (included in Slackware).

So search this forum for nvidia + optimus + bumblebee to get a clue.

I wrote a nano-how to about switcheroo that I never published here, just because I can't really test it as I don't have switchable graphics. Not sure it's really relevant but I attach it to this post anyway.

BTW, if somebody wants to check & review it and put it on SlackDocs, feel free to do so, no need to credit me.

PS I just updated the attached file to correct an error.

PS2 See for instance this post.

rinias · 09-14-2012, 09:04 AM

EDIT: Yeah, what Didier said!

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakunin

But... I don't understand why nvidia.com gives me an driver for 630M GT for linux?

It seems from Bumblebee that you need the nvidia driver also. As to why they don't fully support Linux, no idea. Here they think it may be because the card is designed to give full 3D support only on demand that it is causing so many problems. The up-side of this is supposedly power savings by reduced GPU consumption.

Good luck installing and setting up Bumblebee! Let us know how it goes.

Here's the Wiki Install page from Bumblebee : https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project...tall-and-usage