[Techtalk] nvidia mystery

[Robyn W]

Hi

To run your own copy of the NVidia drivers and not the ones that come in 
linux-restricted-modules you need to uninstall the 
linux-restricted-modules and a few other packages.

Start X with the nv driver and open Synaptic and search for everything 
that has the word nvidia in the name or description. Uninstall the 
linux-restricted-modules, the nvidia-glx driver, the 
nvidia-kernel-source and nvidia-kernel-common.

Restart the computer so that it drops any kernel modules and redo your 
NVIDIA-Linux-x86-169.12-pkg1.run installation. It will protest saying 
that it is already installed but continue anyway. It should prompt you 
to changes the settings in X so let it do this and restart your computer.

This process should remove all trace of the NVidia drivers that come 
with Ubuntu. The Ubuntu drivers are way out of date and you will get 
better picture etc with the ones from NVidia.

The NVidia driver will have installed a program called nvidia-settings 
you can run this to fine tune your X if needed but be warned to can make 
X look horrible.

Cheers

Robyn

Michelle M wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I upgraded my LCD monitor from an ancient 15" to a 22" widescreen, and I 
> have been having all sorts of problems. I'm running Ubuntu Gutsy.
> 
> I suspect that it is because I never actually had the nVidia drivers 
> installed properly, and since it didn't matter for my monitor, I never 
> noticed it. Now that I need it, I'm running into trouble.
> 
> I have onboard video, an Asus motherboard, with this GeForce: nVidia 
> Corporation C51PV [GeForce 6150]
> 
> I went and got the most recent version of the nvidia drivers 
> (NVIDIA-Linux-x86-169.12-pkg1.run) I installed this, and had no errors. 
> But I already had a bunch of nvidia packages installed. (See 
> http://pearlbear.pastebin.com/m112517e9) I wonder if this was part of my 
> mistake. I wonder if there is a conflict?
> 
> On startup, I get this:
> (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module! Please ensure
> (EE) NVIDIA(0):     that there is a supported NVIDIA GPU in this system, and
> (EE) NVIDIA(0):     that the NVIDIA device files have been created 
> properly.
> (EE) NVIDIA(0):     Please consult the NVIDIA README for details.
> (EE) NVIDIA(0):  *** Aborting ***
> 
> If I use an xorg.conf that uses the "nv" driver, instead of the "nvidia" 
> driver, I get halfway passible video, but not what I need (max is 1240x720)
> 
> Googling around hasn't yeilded much, except maybe something with udev? 
> Which I totally don't understand.
> 
> When I do a 'modprobe nvidia' I don't get any errors. Restarting X at 
> that point is generally disasterous.
> 
> Anyway, any suggestions welcome. I'm stumped!
> 
> Peace,
> Michelle

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