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

Fri May 28 23:30:30 EDT 2010

I was at whit's end with 9.10 KK and could not boot the live Fedora 11 I
had nor CentOS (drat).  Startcom works just fine but that's another
story...back to the topic at hand...

Currently running:  ASUS A8N (nForce 4), AMD 4200+ X2, 2G, 250G/1000G,
XFX 6800 GS (single GPU but have two for SLI but not installed at this
time).  Running x64 (never use it) on sda1 and Fedora 12
(2.6.32.12-115.fc12.i686 currently) on sdb5 booting with Grub 0.97 from
sdb.  Under 9.10 in a native installation I could NOT get proper aspect
ratio on my Sceptre X20 widescreen (1680x1050 not available).  Attempts
to install the NVIDIA driver all resulted in failure to boot and had to
resort to rolling my own xorg.conf file.  This did solve my aspect ratio
issues BUT I didn't have 3-D acceleration to the GPU.  This and a couple
of other nagging issues led me to return to trying 10.04 (beta) which
solved NOTHING -- all the same issues.  

Next I tried Fedora 12 (Live).  The first run test was a home run!  All
needed components running just as desired!!  The ONLY thing that I'm
having issues with are my spam filter (not a show stopper for me) and
will be sorted out with time.  I've been running FC12 for about a month
now and LOVE IT.  I have full 3-D acceleration but did have to install
the Nvidia driver for the build (not a big deal) and now use Livna.
Compiz does what I want -- makes my wife envious as she's stuck with M$
due to h/w limitations to her workstation role (uses broadcast quality
sound-cards w/Windows only drivers for the DSP).

NVIDIA Driver Version:  195.36.24
GPU:  GeForce 6800 GS (256MB PCI Express x16) 

For soots-n-grins here's my xorg:

# Xorg configuration created by livna-config-display
Section "Files"
	ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/nvidia"
	ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
	Option	    "AIGLX" "on"
EndSection
Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Videocard0"
	Driver      "nvidia"
	Option	    "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
EndSection
Section "Extensions"
	Option	    "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

I am a new convert with having taken the Linux "oath" last year so for
all I know the config file may be not the best.  Still much to learn but
still a daily driver of Linux and loving it!

Cheers!!

-----Original Message-----
From: James Sumners <james.sumners at gmail.com>
Reply-to: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux! <ale at ale.org>
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux! <ale at ale.org>
Subject: Re: [ale] [video] I'm At My Whit's End: Nvidia and Linux
Date: Fri, 28 May 2010 21:02:44 -0400

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

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