nvidia driver issues
 

As the nouveau driver for nvidia cards (installed by default with FC13)
does not adequately support dual monitors I would like to replace it
with a nvidia driver. I'm using this documentation:

http://rpmfusion.org/Howto/nVidia
http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-fedora-nvidia.html

Here's the procedure I've decided to follow, although I still have some
questions, mostly based on discrepancies between the two sets of
instructions:

1. determine card model and level of support
[98] ~ $ /sbin/lspci -nn | grep 'VGA|NV'
06:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation NV44A
[GeForce 6200] [10de:0221] (rev a1)
I found the card name and PCI ID (221) listed at
http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_18897.html:
GeForce 6200 0x0221
So apparently this card (GPU) is supported.

2. modify grub.conf to disable nouveau driver
Both instructions say to add this to the end of the entry for the active
kernel:
rdblacklist=nouveau
...but the rpmfusion.org/Howto/nVidia instructions differ in saying to
add instead:
rdblacklist=nouveau nomodeset

QUESTION: Google tells me that specifying "nomodeset" basically tells
the system to use an older set of software/drivers which does work but
may be slower or have some other issues that people would like to
eliminate. Is the "nomodeset" parameter necessary in this case?

The rpmfusion.org/Howto/nVidia instructions also say that SElinux
protection should be lowered:
setsebool -P allow_execstack on

QUESTION: Is this really necessary? Does it risk compromising the
security of my system?

3. Select and install proper kmod (Fedora Kernel Module) which matches
the driver. This kmod must match the specific driver for the PCI ID
determined earlier.

As far as I can tell from
www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-fedora-nvidia.html (and since my system
has been using PAE kernels) the proper kernel module to use is:
kmod-nvidia-PAE

...which I can install using yum (as I already have the rpmfusion
repository configuration files):
su -c 'yum install kmod-nvidia-PAE'

...and then reboot.

MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION: Suppose this doesn't work and the reboot hangs
(presumably with the X startup). Will I be able to use a previous kernel
(on the grub menu) or will yum have automatically associated
kmod-nvidia-PAE with all the retained kernels? Or is the back-out
procedure (from run level 3) to (1) yum remove kmod-nvidia-PAE (2) take
out the extra parameters on the kernel line in grub.conf, and (3)
reboot?

Thanks for the help!
Jerry




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nvidia driver issues
 

On Tue, Jul 6, 2010 at 1:36 PM, Gerhard Magnus <magnus@agora.rdrop.com> wrote:
>

Sadly the proprietary nvidia driver is a mess.

The best answer to all your questions is: Try and see. If you don't
have problems then you're fine.

> QUESTION: Google tells me that specifying "nomodeset" basically tells
> the system to use an older set of software/drivers which does work but
> may be slower or have some other issues that people would like to
> eliminate. Is the "nomodeset" parameter necessary in this case?

Some people claim the driver didn't work without it, while others
(myself included) have found it made no noticeable difference(?). It
only takes 1 extra reboot to test this.

> The rpmfusion.org/Howto/nVidia instructions also say that SElinux
> protection should be lowered:
> setsebool -P allow_execstack on
>
> QUESTION: Is this really necessary? Does it risk compromising the
> security of my system?

I would guess no (not any more). I didn't need it when I tested it on
a few different systems. I think it was needed once upon a time.
Again, test your installation without running that command (more
secure). If you find SELinux errors in your log files or that the
driver won't load due to SElinux then execute that command.

> MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION: Suppose this doesn't work and the reboot hangs
> (presumably with the X startup). Will I be able to use a previous kernel
> (on the grub menu) or will yum have automatically associated
> kmod-nvidia-PAE with all the retained kernels? Or is the back-out
> procedure (from run level 3) to (1) yum remove kmod-nvidia-PAE (2) take
> out the extra parameters on the kernel line in grub.conf, and (3)
> reboot?

Typically when you 'yum' install the Nvidia driver like this, it is
built for a specific kernel. The yum command may also install a new
kernel in order to match the nvidia driver. Going back the previous
kernel should work (I think). Try and see, no harm done.

In the case of a locked X-server, you can as you state go back to runlevel 3.
To force this at grub, hit a key to see the kernels menu and select
one but don't hit enter.
Hit 'E' (to edit) and scroll to the end of the 'kernel' line and add '3'.
Then hit enter and 'B' to boot.
Then you can do the steps you stated to remove.

Hope that helps.

--
Mauriat Miranda
http://www.mjmwired.net/linux
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nvidia driver issues
 

> The rpmfusion.org/Howto/nVidia instructions also say that SElinux
> protection should be lowered:
> setsebool -P allow_execstack on

I spent quite a bit of time fighting with this over the weekend and
found that the only thing that worked was lowering or disabling selinux,
and then only the kmod-nvidia rpm way worked -->when normally I use the
.bin file from Nvidia because it's the only way that usually works for
me.
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Nvidia Driver issues
 

First off I just would like to start off by saying please do not tell me
to use nouveau. They do not work and have not worked for me on multiple
distros for well over a year now. I also need cuda support on my laptop.
I am currently running the xorg-nv driver.


I am at a complete loss as far as what is going wrong or what I am
missing when trying to install the Nvidia proprietary driver. I have a
Nvidia GeForce GTS 360m card. I am fully updated, just updated xorg to
1.14-1. I have been trying since installing which started me at xorg 1.11.


What is going wrong is that everything installs fine, but any time I try
and shutdown/reboot it goes to a red screen and locks up there, no
blinking indicators on the keyboard, so does not appear to be a Kernel
panic but an xorg issue. If I do not get the red screen, what happens it
the screen goes black and sits there with a blinking cursor. There is no
way to change terminals either.


I have tried the nvidia nvidia-beta drivers and both have the same
issue. Is this due to the nvidia and xorg 1.11 issues I keep reading
about? What are my options to try and get this working properly? I have
followed the wiki, postings on the bbs. I have tried basically
everything I could find minus actually downgrading to xorg 1.10. Which
from what I read is the only way to get the proprietary to work, but on
arch forums and on here I read of many people with no issue with current
X and nvidia closed source drivers, so I would think it must be me who
is causing the issue.


Thanks for any help, info and most of all your time

Nvidia Driver issues
 

Hi,

do you have any log files? Because helping you just by reading about the
issues is quite hard. I haven't experienced anything similar to your
description so far.

Am 29.01.2012 19:54, schrieb Don deJuan:
> but on arch forums and on here I read of many people with no issue with
> current X and nvidia closed source drivers, so I would think it must be
> me who is causing the issue.

I'm currently also using the nvidia closed source drivers, although I'm
switching between nouveau and the proprietary ones quite often.

Do you use any kind of framebuffer? I had to install uvesafb in order to
get the closed source driver working properly, e.g. switching between
consoles.

Best regards,
Karol Babioch

Nvidia Driver issues
 

On 01/29/2012 11:28 AM, Karol Babioch wrote:

Hi,

do you have any log files? Because helping you just by reading about the
issues is quite hard. I haven't experienced anything similar to your
description so far.
Sadly I can not find any logs that state anything relating to the issue
I have. Nothing in Xorg logs, everything.log, nothing in Nvidia logs
show there even was a hang/lock up. Its really bizarre


Is there a way I can start things to possibly log this?




Am 29.01.2012 19:54, schrieb Don deJuan:

but on arch forums and on here I read of many people with no issue with
current X and nvidia closed source drivers, so I would think it must be
me who is causing the issue.


I'm currently also using the nvidia closed source drivers, although I'm
switching between nouveau and the proprietary ones quite often.

Do you use any kind of framebuffer? I had to install uvesafb in order to
get the closed source driver working properly, e.g. switching between
consoles.

Best regards,
Karol Babioch


No I am not it is just how it installs from the driver install no
changes other than running. nvidia-xconfig


Sorry for not being able to give better info, this is why I have tried
so long to figure this out myself since there is not much to show whats
happening, as I have things now. Hopefully there is some way to get
whats happening into a log file of some kind.

Nvidia Driver issues
 

On 01/29/2012 11:28 AM, Karol Babioch wrote:

Hi,

do you have any log files? Because helping you just by reading about the
issues is quite hard. I haven't experienced anything similar to your
description so far.

Am 29.01.2012 19:54, schrieb Don deJuan:

but on arch forums and on here I read of many people with no issue with
current X and nvidia closed source drivers, so I would think it must be
me who is causing the issue.


I'm currently also using the nvidia closed source drivers, although I'm
switching between nouveau and the proprietary ones quite often.

Do you use any kind of framebuffer? I had to install uvesafb in order to
get the closed source driver working properly, e.g. switching between
consoles.

Best regards,
Karol Babioch
Well still unable to dig up anything in any logs that seem relevant or
useful. Everything relating to the reboots just say switching to run
level 6. then the next message would be relating to the next boot after
the hang.


But I have been able to get some smooth reboots (have not tried shutting
down yet) by enabling pcie_aspm=force and issuing shutdown -rF 1
Doing reboots in this manner gives me about 60% percent success at this
point.


I have also tried booting with no xorg.conf and had no noticeable change.

If anyone has any other tips/suggestions I am open to them. Thanks for
your time.

Nvidia Driver issues
 

On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:47:33 -0800
Don deJuan wrote:

> If anyone has any other tips/suggestions I am open to them. Thanks for
> your time.

I know nothing about the binary blob on arch but download the more
upto date blob from nvidia.com for my TVs running mythbuntu, MCE etc..
Are you installing via pacman and if so will the nvidia.com .run script
tell you anything. It will certainly buld a module to match whatever
kernel you have.

--
Kc

Nvidia Driver issues
 

Hi,

Am 30.01.2012 13:33, schrieb Kevin Chadwick:
> I know nothing about the binary blob on arch but download the more
> upto date blob from nvidia.com for my TVs running mythbuntu,

Well, Arch is a rolling release distro and it usually takes just hours
to a few couple of days until the official releases hit the repositories ;).

Sure enough, the Arch package is up to date, so this shouldn't be a
problem. As long as you don't run a custom kernel you don't have to
worry about any kernel modules either.

Am 30.01.2012 08:47, schrieb Don deJuan:
> If anyone has any other tips/suggestions I am open to them. Thanks for
> your time.

Obviously I don't know that much about the nvidia package myself, so
unfortunately there isn't much I can tell you. When running into the
already mentioned problems with the closed source driver, I was pointed
to [1], which seems to be the official place to go when running into
trouble.

Just another guess: Have you tried any other distro (or even Windows for
that matter) in order to exclude any kind of hardware defect?

Best regards,
Karol Babioch

[1] http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=14

Nvidia Driver issues
 

On 01/30/2012 08:23 AM, Karol Babioch wrote:

Hi,

Am 30.01.2012 13:33, schrieb Kevin Chadwick:

I know nothing about the binary blob on arch but download the more
upto date blob from nvidia.com for my TVs running mythbuntu,


Well, Arch is a rolling release distro and it usually takes just hours
to a few couple of days until the official releases hit the repositories ;).

Sure enough, the Arch package is up to date, so this shouldn't be a
problem. As long as you don't run a custom kernel you don't have to
worry about any kernel modules either.
I am on the stock arch kernel. I verified my card is still supported by
the main blob. I normally do download the blob directly and install it
on other OS's but its the same version through pacman as on the site
right now.




Am 30.01.2012 08:47, schrieb Don deJuan:

If anyone has any other tips/suggestions I am open to them. Thanks for
your time.


Obviously I don't know that much about the nvidia package myself, so
unfortunately there isn't much I can tell you. When running into the
already mentioned problems with the closed source driver, I was pointed
to [1], which seems to be the official place to go when running into
trouble.

Just another guess: Have you tried any other distro (or even Windows for
that matter) in order to exclude any kind of hardware defect?

Fedora15, Debian-Sid both run without the shutdown/reboot issue that I
have on Arch, both I am using the exact same Nvidia blob. Windows also
works fine as well.



Best regards,
Karol Babioch

[1] http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=14


Thanks for the link, I will check it out and post there if this
continues after more testing. Though I did gain some ground last night.


I re read the wiki again and went through each step then hit the issues
section and found a part I either skipped before or thought was not
relevant for some reason but adding in:

options nvidia NVreg_Mobile=2 (since mine is a non-copal toshiba)
removed xorg.conf
did not boot with pcie_aspm=force those times also did not issue
shutdown as shutdown -rF 1 I just did the standard 0 and worked.


It seems I am able to shutdown/reboot now. I tested it rebooting and
shutting down 5 times before passing out for the night, and successfully
did 4 out of 5.


What I am noticing now, is the red screen I was seeing flashes for a
brief second then shutdown finishes. So my best (which probably is not
that good) guess is that when nvidia goes to switch either from runlevel
5 to 6 or when nvidia is shutting down Xorg that is where I see that red
screen flash. Something is not happy during that period. Generally its
just wifi that is running when shutting down, though I have tried it
with and without wifi running and had same issues.


Again thanks for both of you guys trying to help! I will test with my
new settings for another day and if all seems good I will mark this as
solved and put a link to the wiki page for reference.