nvidia with FC3

[deltaclipper]

Still having problems trying to get the nvidia driver working with my FC3, no luck for 2 months. I've got a GeForce 5200 graphics card.

For the latest try I have kernel 2.6.9-1.724_FC3 and NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1.run

I install them, it says:
<quote>
WARNING: Your kernel was configured to include rivafb support as a loadable kernel module.
The rivafb driver conflicts with the NVIDIA driver; the NVIDIA kernel module will still be built and installed, but be aware that the NVIDIA driver will not be able to function properly if the rivafb module is loaded!
</quote>

I make the changes to xorg.conf

But on reboot it gets stuck, the load screen says

Starting udev:
Initializing hardware... storage network audio done

!then screen flashes black for half a second and returns!:

Configuring kernel parameters:

Then does nothing more, although keyboard still responds.

My questions are as follows

1. What is this about the Rivafb, is this important and how do I remove it?
2. I read about doing 'chmod 0666 /dev/nvidiactl' but I use udev and there is no such files
3. do I have to do 'mknod /dev/nvidia0 c 195 0' and/or 'mknod /dev/nvidiactl c 195 255' because of udev, if so where do I put these as I have no /etc/conf.d/local.start file in FC3.

Please help thanks.

[BaVinic]

there are a few work arounds for the nVidia problem with FC3, this is the one I use, and it seems to work for me.

1: after installing nvidia driver, edit /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit as root and under the line..

echo -n $"Initializing hardware... "

ide=""
scsi=""
network=""
audio=""
other="nvidia" <---- add nvidia here

save the file.

this will make sure the nvidia module gets loaded, however, there is still a problem that you must address as well, the RHGB or ( redhat Graphical Boot) for some reason unknown to me, this hangs when the nvidia driver is loaded, so you have 2 choice here, you can either remove RHGB from the init line in grub.conf or using this method, you can still use the graphical boot.

make a copy of your xorg.conf file, and move it to /etc/rhgb/.

edit it, and change nvidia back to nv in the video driver section and save the file.

now you can use the orignal nv driver for the graphical boot, and the enhanced driver for X.

Like I said though, there are a few fixes for this problem, this is just the one I use, and it works for me very well.


as far as the Rivafb, i have not found this to be a real problem, I get the same error when I install the enhanced video driver, but that is the only place I see it, and it does not effect my performance at all ( I have the 5200 as well)

hope this helps.

baVinic

[deltaclipper]

Hi,
did the said deeds:
modified/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit other="nvidia"
made /etc/rhgb/xorg.conf with Driver as "nv"

it gets further, the FC graphical boot comes on, but when it gets to the end of booting it says:

<quote>
I cannot start the X server (your graphical interface). It is likely that it is not set up correctly. Would you like to view the X server output to diagnose the problem?
</quote>

The output contains the following:

<quote>
(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module!
(EE) NVIDIA(0): *** Aborting ***
(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

Fatal server error:
no screens found
</quote>

I have gotten this far before with FC3 with an earlies kernel either the vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 or 2.6.9-1.681_FC3 and either the same NVIDIA driver or the earlier 6111, without modifying any files other than xorg.conf.

If I choose to setup my graphics with X config that appears then it goes and writes a new xorg.conf with "nv" as the driver and using the generic drivers.

[BaVinic]

I beleive you need to reinstall the nvidia driver, give that a shot, and let me know if it works. you can PM me, or contact me via aim (jimat350) or msn (bavinic@hotmail.com) if you would like more direct contact.

BaVinic

[deltaclipper]

reinstall? But I've only just installed it... Not sure how that will help.
I suppose you mean boot into run level 3, run 'nvidia-installer --uninstall' then again run 'sh NVIDIA-<whatever>'. Anything extra?

Well, can/will give it a shot 2 days later...

[Hmse]

Ok theres a couple things you should do. First of all, to remove the Rivafb, go into your kernel config file, and go to Device drivers--->Graphics support and in there is something called nVidia Riva support, remove that.
And next, kernel-2.6.9 breaks the nvidia drivers, fo one option is switch to 2.6.10, or the second option is get special patched nvidia drivers which work with 2.6.9. But I recommend just going with 2.6.10.

[deltaclipper]

Modifying the kernel config... You are implying I need to do a kernel recompile right?
If I go for the 2.6.10 kernel I do not need to remove the Rivafb?
I usually wait to update it with the standard up2date but there is no 2.6.10 yet... Where/How could I get a 2.6.10, tried to compile one myself before but it was extremely slow...

[zeddity]

Originally posted by deltaclipper
The output contains the following:

<quote>
(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module!
(EE) NVIDIA(0): *** Aborting ***
(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

Fatal server error:
no screens found
</quote>

I have gotten this far before with FC3 with an earlies kernel either the vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 or 2.6.9-1.681_FC3 and either the same NVIDIA driver or the earlier 6111, without modifying any files other than xorg.conf.


Getting nvidia drivers to work on Fedora does tend to be a bit nightmarish. Redhat's udev FAQ (http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/udev/) says how to fix this by doing "cp -a /dev/nvidia* /etc/udev/devices" and "chown root.root /etc/udev/devices/nvidia*" at the command line as root. You should also be able to get the Graphical Boot screen back by updating the udev RPM.

[deltaclipper]

cp -a /dev/nvidia* /etc/udev/devices

gives
cp: cannot stat `/dev/nvidia*': No such file or directory

same on both linux machines with nvidia graphics and up to date FC3 installations, one that I attempted to put the nvidia drivers and the other which still has the open drivers on.

[zeddity]

Originally posted by deltaclipper
gives
cp: cannot stat `/dev/nvidia*': No such file or directory


Are you using quotation marks in the command? If so, don't - it'll make the shell look for the file /dev/nvidia* (which doesn't exist) instead of copying each file starting with /dev/nvidia (eg /dev/nvidia0 /dev/nvidia1 and so on)

[Hmse]

Yes you should do a recompile, and yes you do need to remove Rivafb with both the 2.6.9 and 2.6.10

[deltaclipper]

OK, the kernel recompile resulted in an unstable machine the first time...

Just noticed there's a newer nvidia driver out. Does the new NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7167-pkg1.run package work straight off with FC3? Using 2.6.10-1.770 at the moment...
Or still have to do this kernel recompile?

[soulestream]

just a note when i first installed nvidia driver on my slackboxes I had to after installing and rebooting into init3

login as root
(don't login as user and su, that won't work)

then startx

after x starts

exit x logout and log back in as user


that fixed my problem, i discovered this after installing nvidia drivers 3 times. they all worked, just had to log into x as root first and I kept su_ing to root and that didnt work


soule