[ale] [video] I'm At My Whit's End: Nvidia and Linux

[James Sumners]

The nv driver is a 2D only driver that is essentially reverse
engineered. The problem you are describing is confirmed at [1]. I
recommend you install the official nVidia drivers.

[1] -- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=480393

On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 8:22 PM, Marc Ferguson <marcferguson at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Gang,
> As the subject implies, I'm at my whit's end when it comes to my current
> specs and running the latest of anything! I know it's a pretty broad
> statement... I tried running Ubuntu 10.04 Live and Fedora 13 Live, but
> neither one of them is showing me any love.  I've load both distros,
> independently, onto my USB flash drive in order to test and install them.
> UBUNTU
> I'll start off with this one because it's easy. So; with a fresh quick
> format and then load the distro files onto my USB key, I boot the Ubuntu
> flavor. I get their startup screen and then it gives me the options to boot,
> test, etc. When I try to boot, it seems to go into some odd loop and it
> never starts the kernel. It counts down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... <repeat> 5, 4, 3,
> 2, 1... So; that's the end of that experiment. :(
> FEDORA
> Now; this is my distro of choice, but I have been having serious
> video-related issues since the end of Fedora 10. Currently I'm running a
> nVidia GeForce 9400 GT. Before it was an 8600 GT. I stick with nVidia
> because I game on my Windows partition... but I've been without a linux
> desktop for about a month and it's really starting to get to me. I've tried
> just about everything to get nVidia support.  The "nv" drivers aren't
> working. When the x server tries to load them I literally lose the signal to
> my monitor and I have to reboot the machine. I end up changing xorg.conf to
> use the "vesa" drivers just to log in. I've tried the forums, IRC, bug
> reports... no one has an answer as to why it's not working.
> With the latest Live boot experiment, when Fedora tries to load it's x
> server the oddest thing happens. I get a grid of images on my screen. Not of
> Fedora Live, but my last Microsoft Windows session.  It seems that there's a
> cache in the video card (I really don't know, just a guess). The grids are
> all out of sync so nothing matches, but if you were to try and put them
> together it would be my desktop in Windows. I've tried booting into runlevel
> 3 and creating an xorg.conf file, setting it to "vesa" and still no luck.
> So; I can't get into Fedora and I can't get Ubuntu to start. Any suggestions
> before I put a gun to my head? Thanks. :D
> Oh my specs are:
> * Motherboard: BioStar TA690g AM2 (onboard video ATI)
> * Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3600+
> * Memory: 4BG
> * Video: nVidia GeForce 9400 GT
> --
> Marc Ferguson



-- 
James Sumners
http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
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