Upgrading nVidia video card

mala fide · 04-18-2008, 03:57 AM

Hello!

I bought a new video card and just installed it hoping it would work just like that. Of course it did not.

Old Video card was/is GeForce 7600GS 256MB
and the new one is GeForce 8800GTS 512MB

What do I need to do because the new video card uses the same drivers (I Guess) and mostly the same xorg.conf. I originally thought that the identifier was used inside the xorg.conf only but does the driver get it as well. I also noticed while trying to get my new video card running that my old video card never had the nvidia drivers enabled but was running nv instead. I still had no problems with it.

Here's the current xorg.conf. As you can see I'm not doing so well and had to revert back to vesa driver.

Code:

# xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Generic Keyboard"
	Driver		"kbd"
	Option		"CoreKeyboard"
	Option		"XkbRules"	"xorg"
	Option		"XkbModel"	"pc105"
	Option		"XkbLayout"	"fi"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Configured Mouse"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"CorePointer"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/input/mice"
	Option		"Protocol"		"ExplorerPS/2"
	Option		"ZAxisMapping"		"4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Driver		"wacom"
	Identifier	"stylus"
	Option		"Device"	"/dev/input/wacom"
	Option		"Type"		"stylus"
	Option		"ForceDevice"	"ISDV4"		# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Driver		"wacom"
	Identifier	"eraser"
	Option		"Device"	"/dev/input/wacom"
	Option		"Type"		"eraser"
	Option		"ForceDevice"	"ISDV4"		# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Driver		"wacom"
	Identifier	"cursor"
	Option		"Device"	"/dev/input/wacom"
	Option		"Type"		"cursor"
	Option		"ForceDevice"	"ISDV4"		# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"nVidia Corporation NVIDIA Default Card"
	Driver		"vesa"
	BusID		"PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"VX2025wm"
	Option		"DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Device		"nVidia Corporation NVIDIA Default Card"
	Monitor		"VX2025wm"
	DefaultDepth	24
	SubSection "Display"
		Modes		"1680x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x640" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier	"Default Layout"
	Screen		"Default Screen"
	InputDevice	"Generic Keyboard"
	InputDevice	"Configured Mouse"

# Uncomment if you have a wacom tablet
#	InputDevice     "stylus"	"SendCoreEvents"
#	InputDevice     "cursor"	"SendCoreEvents"
#	InputDevice     "eraser"	"SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

knudfl · 04-18-2008, 06:36 AM

Your nvidia driver is probably as old as Kubuntu 6.10,
and 8800 wants the newest. Some info here:
http://digg.com/linux_unix/New_NVIDI..._9755_Released
Look for 'by josh1413 on 03/08/2007' half down the page, and see "View 3 replies to this comment"
(your xorg.conf is probably ok)

mala fide · 04-18-2008, 07:50 AM

Thanks!

However, my last installation is 7.10 and I like to do clean installs.
Maybe you did not know that nVidia has had confusing branding with Geforce 8 and 9 series. The geforce 8800GTS 320MB and 640MB have the older G80 GPU but my 512MB has the newer G92 GPU which was released in december 2007! I guess there should not be much difference between G80 and G92 but probably just the change in identifier string in the GPU is enough to screw the drivers.

Edit: Thanks also for reminding me to update my profile!

mala fide · 04-19-2008, 03:32 AM

I used Envy to get newer drivers because it appears that kubuntu doesn't update nvidia drivers in the repositories after the launch. Now I have nvidia drivers running but I have still a peculiar problem: I can not change the resolution higher. If I use my old xorg.conf, the control panel does not seem to see the higher resolutions and if I use its generic 20" 1680*1050 LCD panel model, I can't really change the resolution. The Desktop appears to be enlarged to 1680*1050 but the "perspective" is still 640*480 i.e. I can see only 640*480 around the mouse. I guess I'm feeling lucky and see if reboot fixes things.

Edit: I noticed that my old xorg.conf had only modes listed but the new xorg.conf that kubuntu generates has complete modelines.

BTW: I had exactly the same problem when I tried Kubuntu 8.04 Beta. I could install drivers but could not get the resolution working.

mala fide · 04-19-2008, 05:40 AM

I'm thinking this resolution problem is caused by the nvidia drivers because I can not select higher resolutions from the nvidia control panel. I noticed that the nvidia-xconfig already put UseEDID FALSE Option to my monitor so I'm guessing that bogus EDID is not the problem. I hope nvidia drivers wont allow me to select higher resolutions because control panel has only VGA resolution selected. Currently I'm using the Generic 1680*1050 LCD model that kubuntu's control panel provides.

Has anyone else had problems like this with Viewsonic VX2025wm monitor?

mala fide · 04-22-2008, 07:59 PM

After hours and hours of surfing on 640*480 screen (not fun) I found the answer in this thread and specifically in this post

However, this EDID file is specific to the Viewsonic VX2025wm so if you have similar problems, you might need to find the EDID file of your model or use working drivers or specific software to dump your monitors EDID to a .bin file.
Basically this problem can be diagnosed from the xorg.0.log. I saw all of my requested display modes being rejected because the nvidia driver was unable to validate them or something like that. Edit: When I was not using UseEDID=FALSE, the log stated something like "Can not read EDID for DFP-0" /Edit

I suppose this can be solved by using options like UseEDID=FALSE and then defining the parameters manually but custom EDID did it for me so i'm done with this for now.

IndyGunFreak · 04-23-2008, 07:46 AM

Envy..lol

You'll be envious all right.

IGF