<Solved> i915 module fatal error - no such device. nvidia driver problems..

[t20racerman]

Hi all
A new Install on a recently built PC was working great until I installed a new graphics card - a nvidia one that works great. However, on boot I get error messages about the i915 module - whatever that is.

it reads something like:
"error /drm can't work with the AGP module" and
"i915 module fatal error - no such device"

I guess (after a bit of googling) that the i915 module is for the onboard motherboard graphics chip, whereas the installation of the nvidia card and software has now caused an error. Does this sound right?
I wouldn't mind an error message at boot, but occasionally the PC crashes and I have to 'Ctrl Alt Bksp' to log out, and after this I can only get text mode log-in. I then have to reboot the whole thing. I'm guessing that the module problem might be behind this?

Anyway, open to ideas and help, and please don't ask if "I've searched the forum" as if you read my other posting:

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,90711.0.html

you'll see that I can't!

Thanks

(NB - If you read this in the Software section, I deleted that post and moved it here as it was posted in the wrong area!)

[Texstar]

Disable the onboard graphics in your bios.
Boot to text mode
login as root
type rm -rf /etc/X11/xorg.conf
type XFdrake --auto
type reboot

[t20racerman]

Thanks for the reply. There is no obvious way of disabling the onboard graphics in the BIOS, so I have downloaded the Motherboard manual (Gigabyte 8195 GMF) and will try to work out a way. I suspect though that it was automatically disabled when I fitted the card as the monitor stays dead if connected to its output.

Will it do any harm to run the suggested commands without first ensuring that the onboard graphics are definitely disabled?

Thanks again for the help
 

[t20racerman]

OK, now I REALLY have problems!

Did an update last night (quite a lot was downloaded) and after finishing closed the computer down. I'm still researching how to disable the onboard graphics card with the Bios and/or jumper, but I'm convinced it IS automatically disable with this motherboard when you fit a graphics card.

Booting this morning and it refused to boot in graphical mode, it fell back to text mode. Seemed a good idea to try the commands Texstar suggested above as a fix...

Net result, can STILL only boot up in text mode, still get errors about error/DRM can't work with AGP module etc and now can't boot at all into graphical mode 
Was this the update, or the commands suggested above, or the original problem getting worse?
Any suggestions for a fix?
Thanks

[Old-Polack]

t20racerman:

Log in as root, then run XFdrake to manually select first your correct monitor, then the graphics card, then the resolution you want. When asked if you wish to use the proprietary driver say yes. When done, quit XFdrake and reboot.

[t20racerman]

t20racerman:

Log in as root, then run XFdrake to manually select first your correct monitor, then the graphics card, then the resolution you want. When asked if you wish to use the proprietary driver say yes. When done, quit XFdrake and reboot.

Ok - did that and chose the options you suggested. My Graphics card wasn't listed exactly - it is an Nvidia GT220 - and the option suggested, and probably that I chose was "Geforce 6100 or later". Is that right?
Other than that all seemed well. It told me at the end that I was using the xorg driver 'nvidia' if that info is useful.

On reboot, same error message about "error DRM can't work with AGP module" at which time the computer bootup falls back to text only log in. 

[Old-Polack]

t20racerman:

Log in as root, then run XFdrake to manually select first your correct monitor, then the graphics card, then the resolution you want. When asked if you wish to use the proprietary driver say yes. When done, quit XFdrake and reboot.

Ok - did that and chose the options you suggested. My Graphics card wasn't listed exactly - it is an Nvidia GT220 - and the option suggested, and probably that I chose was "Geforce 6100 or later". Is that right?
Other than that all seemed well. It told me at the end that I was using the xorg driver 'nvidia' if that info is useful.

On reboot, same error message about "error DRM can't work with AGP module" at which time the computer bootup falls back to text only log in. 

Try again, and this time say no to the proprietary driver. See if that makes a difference.

[t20racerman]

Hi

I tried that and the driver nv was loaded... but it didn't work, I got exactly the same result. I retried and chose the Geforce FX graphics card option, both with and without the proprietary driver but it failed every time. All I get is text mode log in every time. Incidentally, this PC is a Windows Dual-boot setup and Windows boots perfectly still, so it isn't a graphic card problem.

I do feel that the problem is the latest update which had a lot of nvidia files included.....

[Old-Polack]

Hi

I tried that and the driver nv was loaded... but it didn't work, I got exactly the same result. I retried and chose the Geforce FX graphics card option, both with and without the proprietary driver but it failed every time. All I get is text mode log in every time. Incidentally, this PC is a Windows Dual-boot setup and Windows boots perfectly still, so it isn't a graphic card problem.

I do feel that the problem is the latest update which had a lot of nvidia files included.....

If all was well before the update, try reverting to the last driver that successfully worked, as instructed here.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,90668.msg760426.html#msg760426

[Ramchu]

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-display-ia32-270.41.06-driver.html

[Old-Polack]

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-display-ia32-270.41.06-driver.html

Despite the nVidia claims, that is the newly installed driver that is not working for t20racerman. He is not alone on this, as Crow has the same card and is also having a similar problem after the driver upgrade.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,90764.msg760840.html#msg760840

[t20racerman]

OK, I'm now getting really frustrated as I can't get my computer to work since the upgrade.. 

What I've done since last posting... (including trying to copy error messages as best as I can!)

1) First I tried to remove my new Graphics card, reverting to the onboard one. I booted up and PCLinuxOS started to boot. In verbose mode I could read all kinds of info about things loading up.... and then the monitor goes absolutely blank and disconnects. There is absolutely nothing on the monitor, and trying typing blind - assuming a text mode log in - I tried root>password>reboot etc but nothing happened. Had to hit the reset button...
Watched the screen on reboot and exactly the same happened. Clearly, my onboard graphics card now refuses to work, as does my new one.

2) Refitted new graphics card and rebooted. As always, get initial error message of:

loading i915 module
FATAL: error inserting i915 (lib/modules/2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs/i915.ko.gz): no such device
cannot open file delete

Then final error message of:

error /DRM can't work with Intel AGP module

at which point the computer reverts to text only mode. I logged on and rebooted.

3) Boot up in Windows to check hardware is OK - everything fine, working great.

4) Read this post (using XP) as suggested:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,90668.msg760426.html#msg760426
and decided to follow the instructions best as I could for reverting to an older driver.
I downloaded:
dkms-nvidia-current-260.19.44-1pclos2011.i586.rpm    along with
x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-260.19.44-1pclos2011.i586.rpm

then as root run:
 apt-get remove --purge x11-driver-video-nvidia-current dkms-nvidia-current
 rpm -Uvh x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-260.19.44-1pclos2011.i586.rpm
 rpm -Uvh  dkms-nvidia-current-260.19.44-1pclos2011.i586.rpm

This seemed to go well, lots of success messages about removing things, kernel repackaging, adding things etc.

Hmm, just realised I forgot to run XFdrake afterwards.... but is it necessary? I'll go and see.

Anyway, I then rebooted and guess what?? ..... Same error messages, same problems, and reverted to text only log on.


I really am very fed up with this - any ideas anyone?
Thanks

[t20racerman]

I'm back having tried again with XFDrake, but to no avail.

I tried it with the proprietary driver again (the '260' driver this time) but to no avail. I then followed Texstar's suggestion above again to let XFdrake set itself up automatically:

Disable the onboard graphics in your bios.
Boot to text mode
login as root
type rm -rf /etc/X11/xorg.conf
type XFdrake --auto
type reboot

This didn't work either. 
Incidentally, I checked with the motherboard manufacturer and they tell me that fitting a new card disables the onboard graphics, so there should not be a conflict. To check this I plugged two mointors in - one to each card - and when booting in PCLinuxOS or in XP, nothing whatsoever showed up on the screen attached to the onboard graphics card.

I could reinstall from scratch I suppose, but then whhat - do an update and it all falls over again?
 

[Old-Polack]

t20racerman:

As suggested to Crow, and worked for him, do you have more than one kernel installed? If so, try to boot to another kernel. Any other kernel should already have the 260.19.44 driver module compiled, so if it worked before, should still work now.

[t20racerman]

t20racerman:

As suggested to Crow, and worked for him, do you have more than one kernel installed? If so, try to boot to another kernel. Any other kernel should already have the 260.19.44 driver module compiled, so if it worked before, should still work now.

Sadly no, this is quite a fresh install and I don't have any other options.