Nvidia drivers. What's the deal?

[ibi]

So, what's the story with these Nvidia drivers? Last week I did a fresh
install, using 2012.12 KDE. The DVD failed at the point where XServer was
supposed to load -- couldn't detect "nvidia" driver or some such. This
installation was done on the first PC I ever installed PCLOS on, in July 2011,
using the 2011.06 release. That first installation went without a hitch, and I
haven't made any changes to the PC's hardware since.

My card is Nvidia Quadro NVS 280 SD. Searching through the forums, I found
a number of related incidents, where the installer didn't recognize the "nvidia"
driver, and a post by Old-Polack describing how you can get around this by
editing the xorg.conf file with vim to set Driver "nv" or, failing that,
"vesa." Well, the "nv" got me in and the reinstallation was successful.

During my forum search, I read that if the Nvidia driver installed
correctly, you should have an NVIDIA Display Settings under Menu >> More
Applications >> Configuration. I didn't have that, so I paid a visit to the
PCC. I looked around under the Xorg selections, and did not see any driver
resembling "nvidia," other than "nv" which was already currently installed.

Leaving well enough alone, I quit the graphics-card configuration but was told
that a proprietary driver was available for the GeForce 2MX to GeForce 4
series, and did I want to install it? That sounded like a good idea, maybe that
was why I didn't have an NVIDIA Display Settings like others.

Bad idea. The reboot failed. I vimmed my xorg.conf file again, and Driver had
been set back to "nvidia."

So, what I don't understand is, if the installer doesn't recognize "nvidia,"
then why does it put "nvidia" in the xorg.conf file? Also, why don't I see
these other drivers listed that other people are using? Like nvidia173 or
nvidia-current?

Running "lspci -vvn -s 01:00" from the command line shows that they're on my
system:

    Kernel driver in use: nouveau
    Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidiafb, nvidia173, nvidia96xx, nvidia-current

But under the Xorg selections in the graphics-card configuration screen, the
only drivers listed that seem to apply to my card are "nv" and "nouveau." Where
are "nvidia173" and "nvidia-current," and how are people installing them?
Manually editing the /ect/X11/xorg.conf file and rebooting?

At this point, I'm at if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it. On the other hand, if
those "nvidia173" and "nvidia-current" drivers would be better for my card, I'd
hate to miss out on the improved performance.

Any help would be appreciated. I spent over three hours searching the forums
last night. I found a lot of bits and pieces related to this Nvidia issue, but
haven't been able to put it all together. Thanks.

By the way, at that failed reboot, I vimmed my xorg.conf for Driver "nouveau" just
out of curiosity. That got XServer going again and, to my surprise, the NVIDIA Display
Settings was now in my menu.

[Bald Brick]

The proprietary Nvidia drivers are in the "nonfree" section of the repository, so you may have to add "nonfree" to the "Section(s)" line in Synaptic's Settings/Repositories dialogue before you can install them with Synaptic. (To install, for instance, nvidia-current you need both x11-driver-video-nvidia-current and dkms-nvidia-current.) The noveau driver has improved a lot lately, so if you can't install the right proprietary one noveau may be a better alternative than nv.

[Old-Polack]

ibi:

According to nVidia, that card should be using the driver for the FX series of cards, which would be the173.14.31 driver. When doing the configuration in PCC, first choose your monitor, then the video card, and last the desired resolution, in that order.

[ibi]

Old-Polack,

OK, I just tried that. Went into PCC >> Configure Graphics Card. I selected my monitor first. Then I selected the driver, this time the FX Series. The resolution was already set where I wanted it.

I got the "There's a proprietary driver available..." message, and had the machine install that one. Then, on my way out, it showed me a list of what the final configuration would be.

Yet again, the driver was reset to be "nvidia." This is the problem, like going around in circles. "nvidia" driver is not recognized by XServer. "nvidia" driver does not exist to the XServer.

Well, I knew what I was in for, but I also knew how to get out of it from an earlier post of yours. So, what the heck.

Rebooted and, of course, XServer does not know what "nvidia" driver is. So I vimmed my xorg.conf back to Driver "nouveau", and "startx" got me right back in. (Although I first tried setting the driver to "nvidia173". Also not recognized.)

The problem here is, whether I select the GeForce 2MX or, now, the FX Series, the system keeps resetting my xorg.conf file to Driver "nvidia".

So where is this "nvidia" coming from, since XServer doesn't even know what it is?

Is anyone out there using the driver for the FX Series? If so, please tell me what driver is listed in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. I will have to manually type the name of the correct driver in, because the machine seems only to want to put the non-existent "nvidia" driver in my xorg.conf file.

Thanks!

[mellon]

This is the section in xorg.conf on my laptop using a NVIDIA Corporation G98 [GeForce 9200M GS]

Section "Device"
    Identifier "device1"
    VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce 6100 to GeForce 360"
    Driver "nvidia"
    Option "DPMS"
    Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
    Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals"
EndSection

lspci -vvn -s 01:00 on the laptop results in
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
kernel modules: nouveau, nvidiafb, nvidia-current

And on my desktop using NVIDIA Corporation GF119 [GeForce GT 520]

Section "Device"
    Identifier "device1"
      BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce 400 series and later"
    Driver "nvidia"
    Option "DPMS"
    Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
    Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals"
EndSection

lspci -vvn -s 01:00 on the desktop results in
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
kernel modules: nouveau, nvidia-current, nvidiafb

Both systems have the 3.2.18-pclos2.pae.bfs kernel.

After switching to that kernel (from a 2.6 version) I noted that on the desktop during boot the screen resolution changed and xserver would not start.  The kernel seems to load the embedded(?) nouveau driver.  I needed to add a nokmsboot option to the menu.lst file to make the kernel ignore the nouveau driver and use xorg settings. 

For the laptop this was no needed.   

Mellon

[TerryN]

If the card has the id 10de:018a then the correct driver is nvidia96xx (see here).
The 96xx driver is configured by using "NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX to GeForce 4" in PCC.  However NVIDIA dropped support for this driver a while ago so it is possible that it does not work with more recent kernels and/or Xorg.

The "nvidia" you see in the config is an alias which gets linked to whatever proprietary driver has been selected via PCC (nvidia173, nvidia96xx, nvidia-current etc.) and most error messages will also refer to the alias "nvidia".

Terry

[Old-Polack]

If the card has the id 10de:018a then the correct driver is nvidia96xx (see here).
The 96xx driver is configured by using "NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX to GeForce 4" in PCC.  However NVIDIA dropped support for this driver a while ago so it is possible that it does not work with more recent kernels and/or Xorg.

The "nvidia" you see in the config is an alias which gets linked to whatever proprietary driver has been selected via PCC (nvidia173, nvidia96xx, nvidia-current etc.) and most error messages will also refer to the alias "nvidia".

Terry

Nvidia actually says that for this card the 256.44 Certified driver is the correct one, and lists the cards covered by that driver as seen here;

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-display-ia32-256.44-driver.html

...which is in between the 173 and the current driver we now have. Note that it also says this driver covers the GeForce 6 7 8 and 9 series, all of which I have, or have had, as well as the FX series. Our 173 also covers all of these cards, but just barely for the GeForce 9 series. (works, but doesn't recognize the card by name - reports unknown)

Were it my card, I would install this driver, but recommending that course of action to others violates the rule about installing from outside our repo or recommending such action. It might also be difficult to do, for those new to Linux.

Would it be possible to create a dkms package for this driver, so it could be placed in our repo? I ask, because I have no idea what that actually entails. I seem to recall that either this, or a very closely related driver, was once our "current" driver.

[TerryN]

Nvidia actually says that for this card the 256.44 Certified driver is the correct one, and lists the cards covered by that driver as seen here;

That one is possibly the Quadro FX 330/Quadro NVS 280 PCI-E  Device-id: 0x00FD
The original poster said he had the NVS 280 SD which is Device-id: 0x018A which why I asked for clarification

Support for Device-id: 0x00FD was dropped at some later point in the 2xx and 3xx series and moved into the 173 legacy package.  I guess we need to know exactly which card we are talking about (i.e. the device-id) before we can proceed.

The legacy packages we have already cover the all the supported cards (although I have my doubts whether 96xx still works with kernel 3.2) and I will soon be adding a 304 legacy branch (when 310+ is moved out of testing) to retain support for GeForce 6 & 7.

Terry.

[ibi]

Terry,

"nvidia" as an alias, now that clears things up for me. I was wondering why "nvidia173" or "nvidia-current" wouldn't work in the xorg.conf file. Now it all makes sense.

The device ID for the NVS 280 SD is indeed: 10DE&DEV_018A.

For now, "nouveau" (and also "nv") boots my machine and the results are quite acceptable. As Bald Brick said, the driver's not bad at all. I just didn't want to miss out on any extra performance by not having the proprietary installed.

I really appreciate everyone's help with this. I've learned a little about drivers and vimming a config file on the fly during a failed boot process. What more could one ask for?

Thanks again.

[NoIBnds]

See this post and try reply 3   http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,111836.0.html

[TerryN]

See this post and try reply 3   http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,111836.0.html

That won't help in this case I'm afraid.

Terry.

[ibi]

Terry,

By the way, as I was messing with this, I put the 2012.12 LXDE CD into this
same computer. The LXDE version also fails to boot X Server. But, unlike the
KDE version, which kicks you out to a login prompt, allowing you to change the
driver name with vim, the LXDE installer has its own GUI-based routine for
trying to change the X Server configuration. However, the only options offered
are to change the display and the display resolution. No chance to change the
driver name.

I'm not a coder, so I don't know how complicated it would be to add the option
to change the driver name also, but I think it would be a nice option.

Or, is there some keystroke I can use during the LXDE boot process that would
allow me to get into the xorg.conf file to change the driver name manually?

Best,
Kevin

[TerryN]

I suspect the GUI you are seeing comes from pclinuxos-fix-screen.  As I understand it this is a GUI front-end to the xrandr tool.  This tool can only change the run-time parameters of the X server, it cannot change the hardware configuration.  Hardware and driver configuration needs to be done by the draktools (PCC/XFdrake) in order to ensure that ALL the necessary changes are made to the config.

I'm not familiar with the details of the LXDE startup sequence but if X is running I would try using CTRL-ALT-F1 to switch to a virtual console to access the command line (CTRL-ALT-F8 to switch back to GUI).  Or use the Kernel Option key on the grub menu and add a 3 to the default kernel option string to boot the system to runlevel 3.

Terry.

[gseaman]

The legacy packages we have already cover the all the supported cards (although I have my doubts whether 96xx still works with kernel 3.2) and I will soon be adding a 304 legacy branch (when 310+ is moved out of testing) to retain support for GeForce 6 & 7.

Terry.

The 96xx still builds with 3.2 and with the 3.4 test kernel. I haven't heard reports about if it still works, though. I actually have an old machine with that uses the 96xx, but it is in storage in another town. 

Galen

[Old-Polack]

The legacy packages we have already cover the all the supported cards (although I have my doubts whether 96xx still works with kernel 3.2) and I will soon be adding a 304 legacy branch (when 310+ is moved out of testing) to retain support for GeForce 6 & 7.

Terry.

The 96xx still builds with 3.2 and with the 3.4 test kernel. I haven't heard reports about if it still works, though. I actually have an old machine with that uses the 96xx, but it is in storage in another town. 

Galen

I have an old Compaq that has what is reported as a GeForce 4 MX on board GPU that Nvidia says uses the 96xx driver, but it doesn't work with that driver; terribly distorted screen. Using the 71xx legacy driver worked perfectly, while we still had it available. Has anyone tried building that legacy driver recently?